Scarlet Street (1945): Film Noir UK

A box-office hit in its day Scarlet Street (1945) is perhaps legendary director Fritz Lang's finest American film. 

When middle-aged milquetoast Chris Cross (Edward G. Robinson) rescues street-walking bad girl Kitty (Joan Bennett) from the rain slicked gutters of an eerily artificial back lot of Greenwich Village, he plunges headlong into a whirlpool of lust, larceny and revenge. As Chris' obsession with the irresistibly vulgar Kitty grows, the meek cashier is seduced, corrupted, humiliated and transformed into an avenging monster before implacable fate and perverse justice triumph in the most satisfyingly downbeat denouement in the history of American film. 

Both Scarlet Street producer Walter Wanger's wife and director Lang's mistress, Joan Bennett created a femme fatale icon as the unapologetically erotic and ruthless Kitty. Robinson breathes subtle, fragile humanity into Chris Cross while film noir super-heavy Dan Duryea, as Kitty's pimp boyfriend Johnny, skilfully moulds "a vicious and serpentine creature out of a cheap, chiselling tin horn." (The New York Times). 

Packed with hairpin plot twists from screenwriter Dudley Nichols and "bristling with fine directorial touches and expert acting" (Time), Scarlet Street is a dark gem of film noir and golden age Hollywood filmmaking at its finest!

This brand new 4K restoration restores Lang’s extravagantly fatalistic vision to its former glory. With thanks to Kino International and The Library of Congress. Presented in collaboration with BFI Audience Network and Film Noir UK.