Scarlet Street
1945
****½
Director: Fritz Lang
Cast: Edward G. Robinson, Joan Bennett, Dan Duryea, Margaret Lindsay, Jess Barker, Rosalind Ivan, Arthur Loft
A married but desperately lonely amateur painter falls for a beautiful femme fatale, who ruthlessly exploits his gullibility. Fritz's Lang's excellent film noir is a notch darker than Billy Wilder's Double Indemnity (1944), and its ending is particularly grim. Edward G. Robinson's is great and his character is a wonderful creation. In this genre of tough guys, he plays a kindhearted, pussy-whipped man who wears a flowery apron at home. Adapted from Georges de La Fouchardière's 1931 novel La Chienne.
