‘Scarlet Street‘, the 1945 film by Fritz Lang, once again demonstrates that many of the secrets of the filmmaking profession were already discovered and used by the masters of cinema of those times. Here is a film made almost 80 years ago, with an finely written script, with heroes that reveal their characters as we advance in the action, a film about art and forbidden passions, about fraud and naivety, beautifully and interestingly filmed, and with an ending that defies the customs and the censorship codes of the era. ‘Scarlet Street‘ is one of those films in which Fritz Lang brings something of the shadows and darkness of German expressionism to the film noir genre very popular in American cinema of the 1940s. Finally, this film gives us the opportunity to admire one of the best roles of the great actor who was Edward G. Robinson, a role which is at the same time complex and very different from others in his rich filmography.
The story takes place in 1934. Chris Cross is a resigned man. He works as a bank cashier for 25 years, he married a widow who still adores her deceased husband and who nags him endlessly, he has given up on his dreams of becoming an artist and paints only on weekends. One rainy evening he intervenes on the street in defense of a young and beautiful woman who was being attacked by a man. In a short time, a relationship develops between the two, but everything is based on lies. Chris does not tell the girl that he is married, nor does he contradict her when she tells him that she believes that he is a rich painter who sells his paintings well. Kitty (that’s the name of the girl) is manipulated by her boyfriend, a conman, the two intending to get their hands on the money of the man who seems more and more in love. However, to satisfy Kitty’s demands, Chris has no other solution than to steal. He does it just as his paintings are starting to be successful. His problems are just beginning.
‘Scarlet Street‘ is a remake of a 1931 French film (‘La Chienne’), which was also an adaptation of a novel. The French film was directed by Jean Renoir and starred Michel Simon. The American version is before all Edward G. Robinson‘s movie. Unlike most of his other roles, he is neither a gangster nor a detective, but a middle-aged man who badly falls in love with a ‘femme fatale’. Since love is blind, evidences about the fraud are ignored and the story has little chance of ending other than tragedy. I was surprised at how nuanced Robinson‘s acting is here and how much empathy he can create around a character who is far from being an angel. The cinematography is also remarkable. Indoors, we are served with the portion of ajar doors and long shadows that we are familiar with from other Fritz Lang films. The surprise is in the outdoors shots, on the streets of New York in pouring rain or in Greenwich Village at the art markets. Fifteen years before the French New Wave, Lang and cinematographer Milton R. Krasner take to the streets to accurately recreate the New York of the previous decade. ‘Scarlet Street‘ is a film worth watching or rewatching, and one that I believe will interest not only classic film lovers and students of film history.