A walk down "Scarlet Street" with Edward G. Robinson, Joan Bennett, and Dan Duryea

Scarlet Street (1945) is a film noir directed by Fritz Lang, produced by Walter Wanger, cinematography by Milton Krasner, and starring Edward G. Robinson, Joan Bennett, and Dan Duryea.

With the critical and box office success of The Woman in the Window (1944), director Lang once again directed Robinson, Bennett, and Duryea in another film noir thinking lighting would strike twice and it did.

Joan Bennett in Scarlet Street

The plot revolves around Christopher “Chris” Cross (Robinson), a shy and reserved cashier for a retail store. In his spare time, he paints to help him forget his dull life and loveless marriage with Adele (Rosalind Ivan). Walking through Greenwich Village he witnesses Kitty March (Bennett) being roughed up by Johnny Prince (Duryea) and proceeds to knock Johnny out with his umbrella. Chris is enamored with Kitty and the two go out for drinks. While together, Chris is somewhat vague about his profession and his financial situation. Based on the way Chris talks about art, Kitty suspects he’s a rich and famous artist. When Kitty tells Johnny about her encounter, Johnny cooks up a plan to swindle Chris of his “fortune.”

Edward G. Robinson paints in his bathroom in Scarlet Street.

If The Woman in the Window was all a dream, Scarlet Street is a nightmare. Much darker than its predecessor but with similar ironic twists and turns to keep you guessing till the end.

Scarlet Street was a nominee for Best Feature Film at the 1946 Venice Film Festival.

Fritz Lang (1890 – 1976) was an Austrian-German-American director. Lang is the director of the silent film classic Metropolis (1927). After serving in World War I, Lang worked for a time as an actor in the theater and then worked as a writer at Decla Film in Berlin. Lang’s first talking picture was M (1931) a story about a child murderer. Due to his growing renown, Joseph Goebbels offered him the position of head of the German film studio UFA in 1933. Lang emigrated to Paris and then to the United States in 1936. Lang worked for all the major studios, making twenty-three feature films in the United States. Some of Lang’s films include Scarlet Street (1945), The Big Heat (1953), and While the City Sleeps (1956).

Milton R. Krasner (1904 – 1988) was an American cinematographer. He is best known for his work at 20th Century-Fox where he filmed such classics as All About Eve (1950) and The Seven Year Itch (1955). Other notable films he photographed include Scarlet Street (1945), The Dark Mirror (1946), The Egg and I (1947), The Farmer’s Daughter (1947), Bus Stop (1956), An Affair to Remember (1957), Bells Are Ringing (1960), Sweet Bird of Youth (1962), How the West Was Won (1962), Love with the Proper Stranger (1963), and The Singing Nun (1966). Krasner won an Academy Award for his work on Three Coins in the Fountain (1954).

Robinson and Bennett

Edward G. Robinson (1893 – 1973) was an American actor of the stage and screen. Robinson is a true star from Hollywood’s Golden Age where he starred in the gangster classic Little Caesar (1931), Kid Galahad (1937), Confessions of a Nazi Spy (1939), The Sea Wolf (1941), Double Indemnity (1944), and Key Largo (1948). Robinson was awarded an Honorary Academy Award in 1973 but was never nominated for a competitive Oscar.

Joan Bennett (1910–1990) began her film career during the early sound era. A natural blonde, Bennett dyed her hair as a plot device in the film Trade Winds (1938). As a brunette, Bennett projected a sultry persona that had her compared to the brunette beauty, Hedy Lamarr. During this period she starred in two costume epics. She played Princess Maria Theresa in The Man in the Iron Mask (1939) and Grand Duchess Zona of Lichtenburg in The Son of Monte Cristo (1940). Bennett was one of two finalists for the role of Scarlett O’Hara in Gone with the Wind (1939), along with Paulette Goddard. She had a very successful collaboration with the director Fritz Lang. With Lang, she starred in the classics Man Hunt (1940), The Woman in the Window (1944), and Scarlet Street (1945). Bennett acted on stage and on television where she became a pop culture icon playing Elizabeth Collins Stoddard on the gothic soap opera Dark Shadows (1966-1971).

Dan Duryea (1907 – 1968) was an American film, stage, and television actor. He is best known for his character roles as villains, but he had a long career that included a variety of lead and second lead roles. Duryea graduated from Cornell University in 1928. In his senior year, he was the president of the college drama society. Duryea went to Hollywood in 1940 to Leo Hubbard in The Little Foxes, a role he created on Broadway. He established himself in films noir costarring in classics like Scarlet Street (1945), Criss Cross (1948), and Too Late for Tears (1949).

Below is the link to the movie on YouTube. Please use this link; there are several prints uploaded to the channel, but this one is the best one available.



Join us on Zoom for a discussion of this film on July 7, 2020, 2020, at 6:30 p.m. Central Time. Check below for meeting links.

Stephen Reginald is inviting you to a scheduled Zoom meeting.

Topic: Discussion of "Scarlet Street"
Time: Jul 7, 2020 06:30 PM Central Time (US and Canada)

Join Zoom Meeting

https://us04web.zoom.us/j/74072831028?pwd=REdjTU00bERyc1BMVCs2a2FnMExjUT09

Meeting ID: 740 7283 1028
Password: 9NLZi9

Questions for discussion:
1. Does Joan Bennett’s Kitty March have anything in common with Alice Reed from The Woman in the Window?
2. How similar is Edward G. Robinson’s Christopher Cross with his characterization of Richard Wanely?
3. What about Dan Duryea? Was his characterization similar to the one in The Woman in the Window?
4. What classic film noir elements, based on your understanding of the genre, did you notice?
5. Was the ending a surprise to you? Was it a satisfying ending?
6. Of the two films: The Woman in the Window and Scarlet Street, which one do you think is the better film?

“The Reckless Moment”—an overlooked film noir gem

Max Ophuls, a renowned German director who only made four films in the United States, directed The Reckless Moment (1949). It starred Joan Bennett and James Mason. It was only Mason’s third American film.

The plot involves Lucia Harper (Bennett), who is trying to keep Ted Darby (Shepperd Strudwick), a low-life criminal, from seeing her teenage daughter, Bea (Geraldine Brooks). He tells Lucia that he’s willing to stop seeing Bea for a price. Lucia is confident that when she tells her daughter Darby’s true feelings, the relationship will come to an end. This is film noir, so no situation gets resolved that easily. Without giving anything away, let’s just say things go horribly wrong, exposing Lucia’s daughter and family to some pretty despicable characters.

Joan Bennett in a pivotal scene from The Reckless Moment

The Backstory
Director Ophuls (1931-1957) was born in Germany, where his film career began. After it was clear the Nazis would take power in Germany, Ophuls, a jew, moved to France in 1933, where he became a French citizen in 1938. After the fall of France, he traveled through Switzerland and Italy, eventually ending up in the United States. In Hollywood, Ophuls directed Douglas Fairbanks Jr. in The Exile (1947), Joan Fontaine and Louis Jordan in Letter from an Unknown Woman (1948), and Caught starring James Mason, Barbara Bel Geddes, and Robert Ryan. The Reckless Moment would be his last Hollywood film before he returned to France, where he directed major successes La Ronde (1950) and The Earrings of Madame de…(1953), starring Charles Boyer and Danielle Darrieux.

Joan Bennett (1910–1990) began her film career during the early sound era. A natural blonde, Bennett dyed her hair as a plot device in the film Trade Winds (1938). As a brunette, Bennett projected a sultry persona that had her compared to brunette beauty Hedy Lamarr. During this period, she starred in two costume epics. She played Princess Maria Theresa in The Man in the Iron Mask (1939) and Grand Duchess Zona of Lichtenburg in The Son of Monte Cristo (1940).

Joan Bennett in a still from one of her screen tests for Gone with the Wind. This is the famous paddock scene.

Almost Scarlett O’Hara
Bennett was one of two finalists for the role of Scarlett O’Hara in Gone with the Wind (1939), along with Paulette Goddard, who appeared to be the front-runner. There was concern that Goddard’s marriage to Charley Chaplin wasn’t legal, which made Bennett’s prospects to play Scarlett almost certain until Vivian Leigh showed up to watch the filming of the burning of Atlanta scenes on the Selznick backlot. Despite that disappointment, Bennett had a distinguished film career. She worked with many of the top directors of the period, including George Cukor, Mitchell Leisen, Tay Garnett, Henry Hathaway, and Vincente Minnelli. She had a very successful collaboration with the director Fritz Lang. With Lang, she starred in the classics Man Hunt (1940), The Woman in the Window (1944), and Scarlet Street (1945). She worked with the French director Jean Renoir in The Woman on the Beach and with director Zoltan Korda in The Macomber Affair (both 1947), co-starring Gregory Peck. In 1950, she became the perfect wife and mother in Father of the Bride (1950) and its sequel, Father’s Little Dividend (1951), both directed by Minnelli. A scandal after the release of Dividend pretty much ended Bennett’s film career. She continued to act on stage and on television, where she became a pop culture icon playing Elizabeth Collins Stoddard on the gothic soap opera Dark Shadows (1966-1971).

James Mason (1909-1984) was an English actor who was a popular film star in Great Britain before he came to Hollywood. Mason was a top box office star in the UK with hits like The Seventh Veil, The Wicked Lady (both 1945), and Odd Man Out (1947).

Barbara Stanwyck and James Mason in East Side, West Side (1949)

Hollywood Calling
Mason went to Hollywood to make Caught (1949), directed by Ophuls. He made three other films in 1949: Madame Bovary, East Side, West Side, and The Reckless Moment. In 1951, he entered into an agreement with 20th Century Fox, where they signed a seven-year contract. At Fox, he starred as General Rommel in The Desert Fox: The Story of Rommel (1951) directed by Henry Hathaway. It was a commercial and financial success. He reprised the role in The Desert Rats (1953), co-starring a young Richard Burton, with direction by Robert Wise. In 1954, he played the evil Sir Brack in Prince Valiant and Captain Nemo in Disney’s 20.000 Leagues Under the Sea. That same year, he starred in the role he is probably most identified with, Norman Maine in A Star Is Born, co-starring Judy Garland. For his performance in that film, he was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actor. He continued to act through the fifties and sixties in a variety of films, including North by Northwest, Journey to the Center of the Earth (both 1959), The Marriage-Go-Round (1961), Lolita (1962), The Fall of the Roman Empire (1964), Georgy Girl (1966), and Mayerling (1968). During the 1970s and 1980s, Mason continued to act in film and on television. In 1982, Mason was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor in The Verdict, starring Paul Newman.

Joan Bennett and Elizabeth Taylor Trivia
Bennett and Elizabeth Taylor share the same birthday: February 27.
Bennett played Amy March in Little Women 1933.
Taylor played Amy in Little Women 1949.
Both Bennett and Taylor were grandmothers at 39.
Both Bennett and Taylor gave birth to one of their children on their birthdays.
Bennett and Taylor played mother and daughter, respectively, in Father of the Bride and Father’s Little Dividend.

You can read more about Joan Bennett by clicking here.

Joan Bennett: Almost Scarlett O'Hara, But Always a Movie Star

Joan Bennett (1910-1990) had a long career in Hollywood. Starting out as a movie ingenue in the silent era, Bennett made the transition to sound without missing a beat. A scandal in the early 1950s put an abrupt end to her movie career, but she continued to work on the stage and on television. Bennett became something of a pop icon when she portrayed Elizabeth Collins Stoddard on the daytime TV cult classic Dark Shadows.

A studio portrait of Joan Bennett, a natural blond

Theatrical Roots
Born to a family with theatrical roots going back to 18th-century England, Joan was the youngest of three sisters born to Richard Bennett, a popular stage and silent film actor and Adrienne Morrison, an actress, and literary agent. Her eldest sister, Constance, was once the highest-paid movie actress in Hollywood. Barbara, the second Bennett sister, was an actress and dancer.

Joan (left) with older sister Constance Bennett

From Ingenue to Major Movie Star
In the early 1930s, under contract to Fox Film Corporation, she costarred with other bright newcomers like Spencer Tracy (twice). In 1932 she married movie producer Gene Markey—her first marriage to John M. Fox lasted from 1926-1928. Bennett’s marriage to Markey only lasted five years. Before her marriage to Markey ended, Joan left Fox and costarred in Little Women (1933) at RKO. As Katharine Hepburn’s self-centered younger sister Amy, Bennett was noticed by producer Walter Wanger. In 1935, Wanger had her cast as Sally McGregor, a character with mental health issues in Private Worlds. The film starred Claudette Colbert, Charles Boyer, and Joel McCrea. The picture was a hit and Bennett earned good notices; she was on her way.

Little Women was an important film for Bennett.

Winds of Change
In 1938, Bennett, a natural blond, became a brunette for her role as Kay Kerrigan in Trade Winds, co-starring Fredric March. As a brunette, Bennett took on a whole new persona and was now being compared to the dark-haired beauty Hedy Lamarr. Bennett and Lamarr had more in common than their hair color. Lamarr married Gene Markey in 1939, two years after Bennett and Markey divorced. In 1940, Bennett and Wanger married.

This film defined Bennett's movie persona for the rest of her career.

Almost Scarlett
Bennett was one of the dozens of actresses David O. Selznick tested for the role of Scarlett O’Hara in Gone With the Wind. Until Vivien Leigh showed up, the coveted role was between Paulette Goddard and Bennett, with Goddard having the edge. Bennett’s screen tests still exist and suggest she might have been an interesting choice for the role. In spite of not being cast as Scarlett, Bennett’s career was on an upward arch. In 1939, the same year Gone With the Wind was released, Bennett made a beautiful Princess Maria Theresa opposite Louis Hayward in The Man in the Iron Mask. In 1940, she starred in four films including House Across the Bay opposite George Raft and The Son of Monte Cristo, again cast opposite Hayward.

Bennett in one of her screen tests as Scarlett O'Hara; David O. Selznick called her tests "magnificent."

 
Lang's Favorite Noir Heroine
Probably Bennett’s most productive period was her work with director Fritz Lang. Under his direction, Bennett gave some of the best performances of her career. She played a prostitute in Lang’s Man Hunt (1940) opposite Walter Pigeon, Alice Reed in The Woman in the Window (1944), and the slutty Kitty March in Scarlet Street (1945), both co-starring Edward G. Robinson. The late 1940s brought continued success. She co-starred with Gregory Peck in The Macomber Affair (1947) an adaptation of Ernest Hemmingway’s The Short Happy Life of Francis Macomber. That same year Bennett worked with Jean Renoir in The Woman on the Beach. She was under Lang’s direction again for the psychological melodrama Secret Beyond the Door (1948). In 1949, she worked with Max Ophuls as blackmail victim Lucia Harper in The Reckless Moment.

Bennett and Gregory Peck in a publicity still for The Macomber Affair

From Femme Fatale to Perfect Wife and Mother
In 1950, Bennett starred in Father of the Bride with Spencer Tracy and Elizabeth Taylor. The movie was such a hit that it spawned a sequel, Father’s Little Dividend the next year. Bennett’s new image as the perfect wife and mother looked like it would continue through the rest of the 1950s, but a scandal all but destroyed her movie career.

Bennett, like Myrna Loy, became the perfect wife and mother on film.

Notes on a Scandal
On December 13, 1951, while Bennett was talking with her long-time agent Jennings Lang, Wanger shot Lang, thinking the two were having an affair. Both Lang and Bennett denied any personal involvement. The scandal put the brakes on Bennett’s film career. Supposedly, a third Father of the Bride movie had been planned but was scrapped.

Bennett played matriarch Elizabeth Collins Stoddard on TV's Dark Shadows.

Pop Icon
Bennett managed to keep her name before the public by appearing on the legitimate stage and TV. It would be through TV that her career would take an unusual turn, making her a household name once again. In 1966, Bennett starred in the gothic daytime drama Dark Shadows, a cult hit that featured vampires, witches, warlocks, and werewolves. Bennett played family matriarch Elizabeth Collins Stoddard for the show's entire five-year run.

Bennett and Jack Albertson in an episode of Love American Style

Later Career and Death
After the end of Dark Shadows, Bennett guest-starred on popular TV shows like Love American Style, as well as starring in occasional TV movies. Bennett had another chance at screen stardom in 1985 when she was offered the role of Bess McCarthy in Ron Howard’s Cocoon. The role eventually went to Gwen Verdon but had Bennett taken the role, it would have reunited her with frequent Hollywood "Golden Age" costar Don Ameche. The story goes that David Wilde, Bennett’s fourth husband, didn’t think the role was dignified enough and talked her out of taking it. In 1990, Bennett suffered a heart attack and died. She is buried next to her parents in Lyme, Connecticut.

A beautiful and glamorous movie star, Joan Bennett left a body of work that classic film fans will be studying for generations to come.