- Language: English
- Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
- Number of discs: 1
- Average Customer Review: 3.3 out of 5 stars See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
- ASIN: B00005YUN7
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Amazon Bestsellers Rank:
#23,602 in DVD (See Top 100 in DVD)
- #7 in DVD > Classics > Classic Stars > Edward G. Robinson
- #7 in DVD > Classics > Classic Directors > Fritz Lang
- #48 in DVD > Mystery & Suspense > Film Noir
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Product Description
From Amazon.com
Kino Video's remastered edition of Scarlet Street finally does justice to one of the best film noir classics of the 1940s. Less than a year after scoring a critical and popular success with The Woman in the Window, director Fritz Lang reunited with stars Edward G. Robinson, Joan Bennett, and Dan Duryea for this fatalistic New York City tale of a meek, middle-aged cashier and aspiring artist named Christopher Cross (Robinson) who unwittingly falls into a trap set by a pair of Greenwich Village con artists (Bennett, Duryea) who plot to sell his paintings and make off with the profits. In addition to Lang's masterful use of studio backlot locations and cinematographer Milton Krasner's exquisite control of light and shadow, the film draws its primary strength from the atypical performance by Robinson (typically so good at playing heavies, and a knowledgeable art collector off-screen) as a hen-pecked husband and self-professed failure whose withered ego makes him especially vulnerable to the false charms of Bennett, a femme fatale as heartless as she is ultimately doomed. Her scandalous behavior on screen and off (Bennett was the wife of producer Walter Wanger and Lang's mistress) and Duryea's pimpish amorality made Scarlet Street both immensely popular and scandalous enough to be banned in three states when the film was released in late 1945, but in Lang's dark vision of corrupted souls and avenging angels, nobody goes unpunished. The ending of Scarlet Street is as unforgiving as it is unforgettable, and in the hands of Fritz Lang, it's the purest essence of film noir at its finest. Kino's DVD release offers a high-definition digital transfer from a 35-millimeter negative preserved by the Library of Congress (in other words, it puts every previous video release to shame), and there's an astute, scholarly commentary by Lang expert David Kalat that puts Scarlet Street into critical perspective with Lang's career and film noir in general. For fans of the genre, this is a must-own DVD. --Jeff Shannon
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Most helpful customer reviews
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
1.0 out of 5 stars
Good movie...Horrible film quality,
By chuckju (Los Angeles, CA USA) - See all my reviews
This review is from: NEW Scarlet Street (1945) (DVD) (DVD)
Why is it that at least 4 of Edward G. Robinson's high qualitymovies have been "preserved," both in video and DVD, in horrid condition. Scarlet Street is probably the worst of the lot, but The Red House, Woman in the Window, and even The Stranger with Orson Welles are all available only in very bad condition. I would imagine there are many TV stations that own much better prints that could be used. Whether in the public domain or not, all of the above films except The Red House could be considered classics (Fritz Lang directing or original scripts and performances) and should have by now gotten a preservation treatment.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
4.0 out of 5 stars
This is one that Criterion definately needs to get a hold of,
By
This review is from: NEW Scarlet Street (1945) (DVD) (DVD)
The 4 stars is going for the movie itself. (As usual) Fritz Lang has made another excellent film, with an almost Hitchcockian twist during the last 15 to 20 minutes of the film. I've enjoyed Fritz Lang films since Metropolis. The copy of the film I got was from a studio called Front Row Entertainment. I think I paid under $5.00 for it with tax included, so I can't sqwak about the price. However, if one of the restoration studios (Criterion, Kino, etc.) decided to give it a face lift, I would have no trouble forking down $25 - 35 for this gem. In my copy, the film is weatherworn, spotty, too dark in some places, too light in others, and just plain makes it difficult to watch in general. The sound isn't much better. Here's an official appeal to the restoration studios. Please do with this one what you did with Metropolis, and M.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
1.0 out of 5 stars
Scarlet Street,
By
This review is from: NEW Scarlet Street (1945) (DVD) (DVD)
One of the best Noir films ever, this masterwerke of Fritz Lang is marred by the poor quality of this transfer. Only for extreme movie buffs who cannot live without this film. There doesn't seem to be a quality print to be found anywhere in any format. A real shame. To top it off the scene selection menu was off and lists "chapter one" as a scene in the middle of the film!
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