Scarlet Street

Since Fritz Lang's Scarlet Street fell into the public domain many years ago, home video copies have never been rare, but earlier transfers were made from substandard prints that signally failed to capture the nuances of cinematographer Milton Krasner's carefully lit images. Cineastes will appreciate Kino's DVD release of this noir classic, sporting an all-new digital transfer mastered from a 35mm negative held at the Library of Congress. While not as visually striking as Lang's early, expressionistic masterpieces (Dr. Mabuse, Spies, M), this tawdry melodrama is easily recognizable as the product of a director at the peak of his artistry. Edward G. Robinson stars as a middle-aged cashier who becomes obsessed with a vulgar streetwalker (Joan Bennett) he meets in New York's Greenwich Village. While the woman's chiseling pimp (Dan Duryea) figures out how he and the trollop can manipulate the smitten cashier into furthering their larcenous schemes, a cruel twist of fate is in store for all of them. Scarlet Street, like the best of film noir, is cynical to its core: Lang's characters wear doom-laden atmosphere around their shoulders like shawls, and screenwriter Dudley Nichols puts them through their paces with blood-chilling ruthlessness. Robinson imbues his cashier with enough humanity to make the sucker reasonably poignant, but the real acting triumphs here belong to Bennett (whose bad-girl performance is nothing short of iconic) and Duryea (who effortlessly goes from sleazy to serpentine). It's a grim fairytale—one whose participants surely don't live happily ever after. DVD extras include an audio commentary by Lang scholar David Kalat, and a photo gallery. Highly recommended. [Note: also newly available from Kino is Lang's House by the River.] (E. Hulse)[Blu-ray Review—Mar. 13, 2012—Kino, 101 min., not rated, $29.95—Making its first appearance on Blu-ray, 1945's Scarlet Street boasts a fine transfer with extras including audio commentary by David Kalat (author of The Strange Case of Dr. Mabuse) and a photo gallery featuring images of deleted scenes. Bottom line: a welcome Blu-ray debut for this classic melodrama.]