Prime Time: Scarlet Street (1945)

Reuniting the director and stars of The Woman In The Window, this film shows a man who wanders down a dark path, led there by love/infatuation. He's manipulated and used, which eventually makes him angry and irrational, but it's hard to feel much sympathy for him, considering how he makes one bad decision after another.

Edward G. Robinson is Christopher Cross, an unhappily married man who finds his life brightened up slightly after a chance encounter with a woman named "Kitty" (Joan Bennett). He doesn't realise that Kitty is in a relationship with an opportunistic crook named Johnny (Dan Duryea), and so wastes his time and money getting an apartment for Kitty, where he gets to paint her and spend time in her company. Embezzling from his work, Christopher is desperate to figure out a way to make his relationship with Kitty more official. He doesn't realise that Kitty is just stringing him along. And neither of them realise that his paintings are actually worth a bit of money to the right collector.

It's nice, comforting, in a way to watch this Fritz Lang movie and see him so at ease with the cast he used to well in The Woman In The Window. The screenplay by Dudley Nichols (based on La Chienne, which had previously been filmed by Jean Renoir) is decent enough, it may not fire off the zingers but it gets all the characters were they should be and moves the plot forward in a way that never feels ridiculous or implausible.

Robinson is very good in his central role, a rather sad figure who fools himself into thinking he has found a shot at true happiness. His behaviour is that of a man in typical midlife-crisis mode, even though he may be a bit older, but he also looks self-aware and uncomfortable, not used to the apparent affections of such a lovely lady. Bennett is excellent, just the right mix of cute and moody, while viewers know it is all deliberate in order to keep a man wound round her little finger. Duryea is comfortable in the role of main rogue Johnny, Margaret Lindsay is good as the friend of Kitty who never warms to Johnny, and Rosalind Ivers is Mrs Cross, a rather stern and unhelpful woman who helps her husband be resolved in his actions.

I am in the minority here, in that I preferred the previous collaboration between director and stars, but this is a film that has a lot to recommend to fans of classic cinema. It is a well-crafted morality tale with solid performances from the cast, decent presentation throughout, and a dark and fitting ending to it all. And it feels like it has been remade/reworked numerous times, although I cannot put my finger on a prime example to cite right now. All suggestions and memory prompts are welcome.

7/10

There's a region-locked disc here.
Americans can buy the same disc here.

Netflix And Chill: The Woman In The Window (1944)

I REALLY enjoyed The Woman In The Window, despite the fact that the very end of the movie reveals it to be a much lighter affair than the rest makes out (an ending perhaps imposed upon the film-makers, or perhaps it's a grace note they enjoyed after a particularly downbeat finale). I'm starting this review by discussing the end because I think it could be a bone of contention for many, a decision that spoils their enjoyment of what they might otherwise view favourably.

But let's get back to the beginning. Edward G. Robinson is a psychology professor named Richard Wanley. We see him parting from his wife and children as they head off on a holiday, and he then meets his friends in a cosy gentlemen's club. Drinks and conversation flow. When Wanley heads home late in the evening, he stops to admire the painting of a woman in a nearby shop window. Which is when he meets Alice Reed (Joan Bennett). She looks like the woman in the painting. It's not long until she also looks like a lot of trouble, when she invites Wanley back to her place for drinks, only for them to be interrupted by an angry lover. A death occurs, and Wanley then needs to do his utmost to dispose of the body and cover up any evidence. Will anybody even miss this man? Will they be able to figure out what happened? Wanley can stay in the loop as he hears about current police efforts from his friend, a D. A. named Frank Lalor (Raymond Massey).

Written by the talented Nunally Johnson, adapting a novel named "Once Off Guard" by J. H. Wallis, The Woman In The Window is a film that weaves tonally between moments of amusement and darker events, with everything growing incrementally more and more tense on the way to the finale. It's never flippant, but it's very easy to stay on the side of a central character who made one mistake and then just keeps making things worse for himself.

Fritz Lang is in the director's chair, with this being during a period of time during which he seemed to be churning these films out. It's a super-light concoction when compared to his absolute classics, but that makes it no less worthy of a place in your viewing schedule. Okay, maybe a little bit. I'd say it's still well worth checking off your list though, as are many of the "lesser" titles in his filmography.

Robinson is excellent in the lead role, someone who takes a wrong turn up a one-way street and keeps trying to carefully turn himself around while the walls just keep closing in. Bennet is also very good, posited as the femme fatale of the plot, but almost as much a victim of circumstance as Robinson, although it's worth noting that she is ultimately responsible every time things go from bad to worse. Massey is an exemplary and upstanding citizen, blissfully blinkered to just how guilty his friend looks as the evidence starts to pile up, and Edmund Breon is the other main friend, equally blind to the guilt of a friend, despite occasionally commenting on some remarkable coincidences.

The runtime is 107 minutes, yet this feels like a shorter film. The pacing is perfect, viewers remain completely invested in the fate of the lead character for every minute of the post-death runtime, and it's good to have the one-two punch of the ending that lets you experience two extreme reactions to the material. Although, as mentioned, some may strongly disagree on that.

8/10

There's a lovely disc available here.
Americans can get a disc here.

Mubi Monday: Suspiria (1977)

It may seem paradoxical to say so but I've always thought that perfect films don't have to BE perfect. They just have to work perfectly for you. If you want to recommend Kangaroo Jack as your favourite film, and you genuinely see it as a perfect film for you, then it's a perfect film, despite the imperfections. I know that Jaws isn't a perfect movie (although, come on, it's nowhere near as imperfect as a Kangaroo Jack) but it is to me. It's my favourite film of all time, no matter how many scenes show how fake the big shark can look, or how the underwater footage rarely matches the supposed size of the "real" creature. It just doesn't matter. I am drawn into that film from the opening moments and I am absolutely wrapped up in the entire experience until the very end of the end credits.

That opening paragraph is a long-winded way to avoid upsetting people when I start saying that a lot of individual elements of Suspiria are far from perfect. The acting isn't great, even from the beloved leading lady (Jessica Harper), the script is a load of codswallop at times, and there's very little logic to be had for those who need such things. Not that any of that matters. Suspiria still manages to be a perfect film because it's a phenomenal marriage of sound and vision that contains at least two of the best set-pieces in the genre (one being the very opening sequence).

Here's the plot, for the little it matters. Harper plays Suzy Bannion, an American woman who turns up to attend a prestigious dance academy in Germany. She soon starts to realise that the place is a bit odd, and other girls start to disappear (due to them being killed by mysterious, unseen, forces).

Written by director Dario Argento and Daria Nicolodi, the script may not be all that memorable when it comes to the dialogue but it works well when hinting at the Three Sisters mythos that Argento would also use for some other movies. And the words come second to the visuals, which are no less than stunning.

Eye-searing reds complement deep blacks, whether it's the decor or the bright blood spilling out of victims. You get other colours too, but it's the reds that imprint themselves on the mind most vividly. This is such a gorgeous movie that, yes, almost every frame could be removed and hung up as a painting. It's one of the most beautiful movies you will ever see and easily remains the most gorgeous horror movie ever painted on film.

Then you have the audio work, layering on the atmosphere and chills. That classic score by Goblin is every bit as good as you've heard it is and the sound design throughout is flawless (not counting the dubbed dialogue), from footsteps being listened to by lead characters to breathing emanating from invisible observers, making it seem like the building itself is the main presence, and the moments that feature shattering glass and pierced flesh.

If you have still not seen this then change that as soon as possible. If you recently saw the remake and thought it better than this then I encourage a revisit. You may still prefer the new take on the material but it's worth reminding yourself of just how absolutely gorgeous and chilling the original is.

10/10

You may want to shop around, but here is one disc version of the film.
Americans can pick up this edition.

There's Always Tomorrow (1955)

Although the treatment of the material shows the restraint and sensitive handling dictated by the era in which it was made, this Douglas Sirk movie is yet another timeless classic that focuses on love and infatuation, and shows how these things can be damaged or nurtured, depending on the circumstances.

Fred MacMurray plays Clifford Groves, a toymaker who is blessed with a lovely wife (Joan Bennett) and children who seem to be turning into fine young adults. Clifford is content, and his family are in that happy space which leads to them taking a lot of their situation for granted. Things start to change when Clifford reconnects with a childhood friend, Norma Miller Vale (Barbara Stanwyck), and it looks like our leading man could be heading down a slippery slope towards temptation, and the ruination of his marriage.

I don't care who you are, or how consistently blissful you have been in the main relationship of your life, There's Always Tomorrow resonates just as much today as it must have when first released back in the mid-1950s.

Sirk directs with his usual capable touch, working from a screenplay by Bernard C. Schoenfeld (better known for TV fare that tends to focus on thrills and/or action), which was developed from a story by Ursula Parrot (previously made into a movie in 1934). Considering how effective the film is at showing how easily cracks can start to spread through a contented family household, I'd be interested to read the source material. There's no doubt that everyone involved does their part to sell the film but it's so full of little moments of truth that I have to assume the novel reads even better.

MacMurray is wonderful in a role that allows him to play a relatively average guy. He's not made out to be devastatingly handsome, nor is he shown to be any kind of ladies man. He's just quite a sweet, hard-working, man who takes umbrage at people casting aspersions on his friendship with a woman before starting to consider the other roads his life could take. Stanwyck is also very good, also not being sold as a beautiful seductress. Her appeal is based on her obvious affection for her friend, and a lifestyle that's a step or two removed from the everyday "humdrum" family life. William Reynolds and Gigi  Perreau play the older children who start to suspect the behaviour of their father, and Joan Bennett does a marvellous job in what could easily have been a thankless role. She's a loving, caring wife who just isn't always to schedule things in a way that gives her more time with her husband.

Unlike so many other films that have wandered through similar territory, there are no villains here, no easy moments for viewers to point to and really declare "aha, that is the cause". No, what you get here is a steady build up of sadness, perceived neglect, and a questioning of love: how much effort does it take, is chemistry any real alternative to a full life made together, and does finally considering loss make it easier to appreciate what you have? Things many of us go through at least once during a serious relationship.

8/10

This is NOT in this lovely set. But buy that set anyway.
Americans may wish to try out this disc, but there's a better UK version available here.