Search - Scarlet Street on DVD

Content Advisory: Not For Children Movie Release: 1945 DVD Release: 02/19/2002 Format: DVD - Black and White Audio Tracks: English SwapaDVD Credits: 1 Number of Discs: 1 Run Time: 1 hrs 43 mins Studio: Alpha Video Total Copies: 1 Genres: Drama, Crime, Film Noir, Crime Drama See Also: Scarlet Street, Scarlett Street, Scarlet Street, Scarlet Street

Masterfully directed by Fritz Lang, Scarlet Street is a bleak film in which an ordinary man succumbs first to vice and then to murder. Christopher Cross (Edward G. Robinson) is a lonely man married to a nagging wife. Painting is the only thing that brings him joy. Cross meets Kitty (Joan Bennett) who, believing him to be a famous painter, begins an affair with him. Encouraged by her lover, con man Johnny Prince (Dan Duryea) Kitty persuades Cross to embezzle money from his employer in order to pay for her lavish apartment. In that apartment, happy for the first time in his life, Cross paints Kitty's picture. Johnny then pretends that Kitty painted to portrait, which has won great critical acclaim. Finally realizing he has been manipulated, Cross kills Kitty, loses his job, and because his name has been stolen by Kitty, is unable to paint. He suffers a mental breakdown as the film ends, haunted by guilt. Kitty and Johnny are two of the most amoral and casual villains in the history of film noir, both like predatory animals completely without conscience. Milton Krasner's photography is excellent in its use of stark black-and-white to convey psychological states. Fritz Lang is unparalleled in his ability to convey the desperation of hapless, naïve victims in a cruelly realistic world. ~ Linda Rasmussen, All Movie Guide

Edward G. Robinson - Christopher Cross
Joan Bennett - Kitty March
Dan Duryea - Johnny Prince
Margaret Lindsay - Millie Ray
Rosalind Ivan - Adele Cross

Fritz Lang directs Edward G. Robinson in Scarlet Street, which comes to DVD with a standard full-frame transfer that preserves the original theatrical aspect ratio of 1.33:1. The English soundtrack is rendered in Dolby Digital Stereo. There are neither subtitles nor closed captions on this release. There are no supplemental materials of any consequence, but this is an inexpensive title from Alpha. ~ Perry Seibert, All Movie Guide