Scarlet Street

 Scarlet Street.

Edward G. Robinson and Joan Bennett star in this 1945 film noir directed by Fritz Lang. Robinson plays a meek office clerk whose meekness is compounded by one of the most domineering wives in film history. Anyway, one dark evening while walking home from an office party honoring him for years of loyal service, he gets involved in a street altercation and things spiral out of control with tragic results. 102 minutes. No subtitles.

The year before critics complained about the ending of Fritz Lang's film noir, The Woman in the Window, and so in 1945 Lang made a very similar film, Scarlet Street, with the same cast but with a dramatically different and dark ending.

Once again Joan Bennett is the femme fatale, and Dan Duryea the sleazy villain, but Robinson is again superb as the meek office clerk whose only consolation is painting which he does in his spare time despite the sneers of his wife. Eddie Muller's intro to this film claims that it is "essential" film noir, and Fritz Lange's best film. 

Dan Duryea and Joan Bennett

 

The Woman in the Window

 

Edward  G.  Robinson and Joan Bennett star in this 1944 film noir directed by Fritz Lang. Robinson plays a criminal law professor attending an academic convention in New York city who one night meets the model for a beautiful portrait displayed in his hotel window. This chance encounter leads to murder, blackmail and a very suspenseful climax. 99 minutes. 

Despite a long and brilliant film career, Edward G. Robinson never received even a nomination for an Academy Award. His Romanian Jewish family had settled in New York City before WWI, and he was educated in City schools where he developed an interest in acting. Eventually, he became a star during Hollywood’s Golden Age despite his small, stocky body, and unattractive looks. He burst into prominence in 1931 playing a snarling, vicious Italian gangster in Little Caesar. It was a role that would forever mark him as a tough guy, but unlike most stars he was able to have more than one film persona. 

Joan Bennett is a fine femme fatale in this film, and Dan Duryea establishes his own screen persona as a smarmy blackmailer. In his intro on TCM's Noir Alley Eddie Muller places this film with the wonderful crop of crime dramas from 1944 like Double Indemnity, Laura, Murder My Sweet, and Phantom Lady that established film noir in film history. ###

Edward G. Robinson and Joan Bennett

 

Human Desire

Human Desire. Glenn Ford and Gloria Grahame star in this powerful 1954 drama of love, lust, and greed. Ford plays a Korean war veteran who returns to his job on the railroad but gets involved with the boss’s wife, played by sultry Grahame. Broderick Crawford plays the boss. Directed by Fritz Lang and filmed in stark black and white by Burnett Guffey, the pace of the film never lets up.  

Maybe I just like trains but the opening credits featuring a speeding locomotive get you immediately into the film. Gloria Grahame gives one of her best performances. As in most of her film noir appearances she is more a victim than a femme fatale despite the lurid movie poster.

Grahame made her first big splash in 1946 playing Violet Biggs, Donna Reed's rival for Jimmy Stewart's affection, in Frank Capra's It's a Wonderful Life. She went on to star in classic film noirs like The Big Heat, also with Glenn Ford, and In a Lonely Place with Humphrey Bogart. She won an Oscar for her performance in The Bad and the Beautiful, and even played Ado Annie in the film version of Oklahoma.

Gloria Grahame and Glenn Ford

I could not find a good video review of this film, but the complete film, with the stunning opening, is available on Youtube.The film is based on a novel by nineteenth century French author Emile Zola. 91 minutes, CC. Click on this link for the opening credit sequence.

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