Scarlet Street (1945)
Scarlet Street is a 1945 American film noir directed by Fritz Lang. The screenplay concerns two criminals who take advantage of a middle-aged painter in order to steal his artwork. The film is based on the French novel La Chienne (literally The Bitch) by Georges de La Fouchardière, which had been previously dramatized on stage by André Mouëzy-Éon, and cinematically as La Chienne (1931) by director Jean Renoir.
Director – Fritz Lang
Writers – Georges de La Fouchardière (novel and play “La Chienne”), André Mouëzy-Éon (novel and play “La Chienne” in collaboration with), Dudley Nichols (screen play)
Cast –
Edward G. Robinson as Christopher Cross
Joan Bennett as Katherine ‘Kitty’ March
Dan Duryea as Johnny Prince
Margaret Lindsay as Millie Ray
Rosalind Ivan as Adele Cross
Jess Barker as David Janeway
Charles Kemper as Patch-eye Higgins
Anita Sharp-Bolster as Mrs. Michaels (as Anita Bolster)
Samuel S. Hinds as Charles Pringle
Vladimir Sokoloff as Pop LeJon
Arthur Loft as Delarowe
Russell Hicks as J.J. Hogarth
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Plot
New York, 1934 – Christopher “Chris” Cross, a meek amateur painter and cashier for a clothing retailer, is fêted by his employer for 25 years of service. After presenting Chris with a gold watch and kind words, company head J.J. Hogarth leaves the party and gets into a car with a beautiful blonde. Chris muses to a colleague about his desire to be loved by a young woman like that.
Walking home through Greenwich Village, Chris sees a young woman, Katherine “Kitty” March, being attacked, and knocks her assailant unconscious with his umbrella. After Chris dashes off to summon a policeman, the assailant, who is actually Kitty’s boyfriend Johnny, flees. Chris walks Kitty to her apartment. His wistful remarks about art suggest to her that Chris must be a wealthy painter. Enamored of Kitty and thinking she feels affection for him, Chris tells her about his loveless marriage. His shrewish wife Adele idolizes her previous husband, a policeman believed drowned while trying to rescue a suicidal woman.
Needing funds for a shady business deal, Johnny believes that Kitty should play on Chris’s naivete and feign romantic interest in the supposed rich artist to swindle money from him. Kitty persuades Chris to rent her an apartment, suggesting that he could use it as his art studio. To finance the apartment, Chris steals $500 in insurance bonds from his wife and later $1,000 cash from his employer.
Unknown to Chris, Johnny tries selling some of his paintings, leaving them with a street vendor who thinks them worth no more than $25. The paintings attract the interest of art critic David Janeway, who declares the work as exceptional. After Johnny persuades Kitty to pretend that she painted them, she charms Janeway with Chris’s own views about art. Captivated by the paintings and by Kitty, Janeway promises to represent her. However, Adele sees her husband’s paintings, signed “Katherine March”, in the window of a commercial art gallery and accuses Chris of copying March’s work. Chris confronts Kitty, who claims that she had sold them because she needed the money. Delighted that his creations are appreciated, he lets her become the public face of his art. She becomes a huge commercial success, although Chris never receives any of the money.
Adele’s supposedly dead first husband Higgins appears at Chris’s office to extort money from him. Higgins did not drown but disappeared after stealing $2,700 from the purse of the woman whom he had tried to save. Already suspected of taking bribes from speakeasies, he faked his death to escape his crimes and his wife. Chris steals another $200 from the safe at work for Higgins. Chris plots for Adele to see Higgins, hoping that his marriage will be invalidated when Adele realizes that Higgins is still alive.
Chris goes to see Kitty, believing that he is now free and that she will marry him. He finds Johnny and Kitty in an embrace, confirming his suspicions that they are romantically involved. However, Chris asks Kitty to marry him, but she spurns him for being old and ugly and laughs in his face. Enraged, he stabs her to death with an ice pick. The police visit Chris’s office. Higgins has told them that Chris embezzled money from Hogarth, who refuses to press charges, but fires Chris. Johnny is arrested for Kitty’s murder.
At the trial, Johnny’s past works against him. Chris denies painting the pictures, claiming to be an untalented artist. Several witnesses confirm Chris’s testimony and attest to Johnny’s misdeeds and bad character. Johnny is convicted and put to death for Kitty’s murder, Chris goes unpunished and Kitty is erroneously immortalized as a great artist. Haunted by the murder, Chris attempts to hang himself on the night of Johnny’s execution, but is rescued. Five years later, Chris is homeless and destitute, with no way of claiming credit for his own paintings. He witnesses his portrait of Kitty sell for $10,000. Tormented by thoughts of Kitty and Johnny loving each other eternally, Chris wanders New York, constantly hearing their voices in his mind.