Taglines: The things she does to men can end only one way – in murder!
Scarlet Street movie storyline. Christopher Cross (Edward G. Robinson) is a lonely cashier married to a nagging widow Adele (Rosalind Ivan). Painting is the only thing that brings him joy. After a party celebrating his 25 years on the job, he sees Kitty (Joan Bennett), a comely young woman, being accosted by Johnny (Dan Duryea). Chris knocks Johnny out. Later Kitty gets Chris to open up to her and Chris admits that he paints pictures. Kitty assumes he is a highly paid artist because he seems so knowledgeable yet humble.
Johnny and Kitty, it turns out are partners and Johnny talks Kitty into extorting money from Chris. Chris, a cashier, sees his relationship with Kitty in idolized and romantic terms, unable to see her as the grafter she is. He sets up Kitty in an apartment and keep his paintings there as a studio, but to obtain funds he embezzles money from the company he works for. When Janeway (Jess Barker), an influential art dealer discovers Chris’s canvasses, he is told Kitty is the creator, and Johnny facilitates and encourages the collusion.
When Adele’s first husband (Charles Kemper) turns up alive, an ex-police detective taken for dead in the line of duty, Chris sees a way out and sets up the ex-cop to reunite with his wife. Chris sees this as a way to go to Kitty permanently but discovering her in the arms of Johnny, Chris does something impulsive, and his future days are affected by his actions in the most dramatic ways.
Scarlet Street is a 1945 noir tragedy film directed by Fritz Lang. The screenplay concerns two criminals who take advantage of a middle-aged painter in order to steal his artwork. The film is based on the French novel La Chienne (literally The Bitch) by Georges de La Fouchardière, that previously had been dramatized on stage by André Mouëzy-Éon, and cinematically as La Chienne (1931) by director Jean Renoir.
The principal actors Edward G. Robinson, Joan Bennett and Dan Duryea had earlier appeared together in The Woman in the Window (1944), also directed by Fritz Lang. Local authorities in three cities banned Scarlet Street early in 1946 because of its dark plot and themes. The film is in the public domain.
Scarlet Street (1945)
Directed by: Fritz Lang
Starring: Edward G. Robinson, Joan Bennett, Dan Duryea, Margaret Lindsay, Rosalind Ivan, Jess Barker, Charles Kemper, Anita Sharp-Bolster, Samuel S. Hinds, Vladimir Sokoloff, Arthur Loft
Russell Hicks as J.J. Hogarth
Screenplay by: Dudley Nichols
Production Design by:
Cinematography by: Milton R. Krasner
Film Editing by: Arthur Hilton
Set Decoration by: Russell A. Gausman, Carl J. Lawrence
Art Direction by: Alexander Golitzen
Makeup Department: Carmen Diri, Jack P. Pierce
Music by: Hans J. Salter
MPAA Rating: None.
Distributed by: Universal Pictures
Release Date: December 28, 1945 (United States)
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