Rating: 
Summary: Fouled on a Technicality
Review: "Scarlete Street" is not a bad little "film noir." Robinson goes against character as the meek, mild, but larcenous anti-hero, and Dan Duryea is the classic slick wise guy who's all bad. But they're both undone by one of the worst quality DVDs on the market. This company should be prevented from ruining any more good old movies with such inferior disks. They are releasing many of the other public-domain movies, so beware, despite the low price. You get what you pay for!!!
Rating: 
Summary: Worst DVD Transfer Of All Time
Review: Boy, this movie deserved a better fate. The film looks like mud. One can only hope a more dedicated DVD studio releases a better, cleaner transfer of this noir classic. Are you listening, Roan/VCI/Image/Kino?
Rating:
Summary: Poor Picture Punctures Pleasure
Review: Edward G. Robinson, Dan Duryea, and Joan Bennett are excellent in this prototypical film noir. Unfortunately, the picture quality on this DVD is so poor, it almost completely negates any pleasure one might derive from watching this very fine movie. For those who really want a copy of "Scarlet Street," I would recommend recording it onto VHS tape, a hard drive, or a recordable DVD the next time that it's shown on TCM or AMC.
Rating: 
Summary: IRONIC FILM NOIR
Review: Fritz Lang directed this American version of Renoir's LA CHIENNE; in the American setting it's a sordid, lowlife melodrama about illicit love, and it never takes root - it's one of Lang's best American movies. This film was originally banned in New York State - that is, denied a license - as "immoral, indecent, corrupt, and tending to incite crime" - a judgement which seemed off the wall even in 1946! Eddie Robinson is a frustrated, grey - haired cashier married to a nag (Rosalind Ivan); his only pleasure is in painting on Sundays. He falls for a tart (Joan Bennett) and sets her up in a Greenwich Village apartment, on stolen money. Bennett happens to be in love with a low-life lout (Dan Duryea), who beats her...........The script, by Dudley Nichols, is rather heavy-handed, and Lang's emphatic style pounds home the ironies and the murder-plot devices. Robinson's paintings were actually done by John Decker. There is a unique twist in this lurid little thriller; it was the first film to show the culprit unpunished for his crime (although he shows remorse).
Rating: 
Summary: It takes a Village.
Review: Greenwich Village, that is, which we learn was home to "hop-heads" and "long-hairs" in 1945 (!) Fritz Lang's masterpiece tells the story of a middle-aged bank clerk (Edward G. Robinson, dependably brilliant) who escapes the dreariness of his job and his marriage to a harpy by spending his Sundays indulging his only hobby: painting. His life gets considerably more exciting when he runs across Joan Bennett, a con-artist and tramp who -- with the help of her pimp, the always-amusing Dan Duryea -- proceeds to slowly drain his financial wherewithal. Of course, the greatest irony is that Robinson has conned the con-artists: they think he's a wealthy artist because, in his attempt to impress Bennett, he neglected to mention that he's a just a lowly bank cashier. The movie shows us a dizzying amount of untruths, scams, cons, misperceptions . . . nothing is what it seems. Truth is relative, baby. While Lang has a lot of fun with all the illusions, he also dedicates himself to the principle that no good -- or bad -- deed goes unpunished, and that great noir principle, the inescapability from Fate, starts weighing more and more heavily on our characters as they perambulate through their sundry fictions and cons. -- For the sake of historical interest, it should be noted that *Scarlet Street* is an American remake of Jean Renoir's excellent *La Chienne*. (This story was based on a French novel; hence the concern with painting. Needless to say, the story migrated easily to Greenwich Village during the budding of the beatnik movement.) Renoir, in his film, spends a considerable amount of time building up the characterizations -- at the expense of the plot, to some degree. Lang, however, correctly understood that these characters are not as inherently interesting as the situation itself, with its myriad variations on the theme of Reality and (or versus) Illusion. As a result, Lang's movie is rather more suspenseful than Renoir's. Also of note: *Scarlet Street* is a follow-up of sorts to Lang's previous movie, *The Woman in the Window*, which featured the same cast (Robinson, Bennett, and Duryea)! It's a masterpiece, too. [A special word of congratulations must go to "Alpha Video": Congratulations on crafting the ugliest-looking and poorest-sounding DVD I have ever seen or heard. It's a great thing, when masterpieces in the Public Domain can be snatched up by any unscrupulous producer. Simply burn an old magnetic-tape version onto a digital disc, press a few thousand copies, and voila! -- Instant profit. Bravo!]
Rating:
Summary: Miserable technical work
Review: I was quite disappointed at the quality of this VHS print. It looked as though it were a copy of a copy! It is a pity that such a masterpiece should have such a third rate presentation. I have seen a much, much better showing on a TV channel. I will keep my eye on the AMC and make a copy for myself from the television presentation.
Rating: 
Summary: Better Then Nothing
Review: If you love this film as I do then don't be discouraged by the reveiws critical of the quality of the print and the transfer. It is no worse then the version shown on cable and not that bad in my opinion. Until Image or Kino picks it up and does a restoration this is better then no DVD at all.
Rating:
Summary: "They'll be masterpieces."
Review: In "Scarlet Street" mild-mannered bank cashier Chris Cross (Edward G Robinson) dreams of being a great painter one day. His nagging wife ridicules his hobby and constantly humiliates him. Then one day Chris meets a young woman named Kitty (Joan Bennett). He thinks she's being mugged, but she's really a 'working girl' squabbling with her slimy boyfriend, Johnny (Dan Duryea). Chris and Kitty strike up a conversation, and soon Kitty and Johnny are ready to use Chris for whatever money they can get out of him. Chris seems to be just too nice for his own good. He's a reliable, largely underappreciated employee who plugs away daily at his desk. But painting is one thing he's passionate about, and it saves him from the sheer boredom of mediocrity. He's a rather unhappy character--first his impossible wife is kicking him around, and it doesn't take long for Kitty to sink her materialistic little hooks into Chris too. As events take place within the film, the strength and weaknesses of Chris Cross are explored. Will he exploit opportunities or is he destined to always be a slave to his character flaws? Many marvelous little touches raise this film above the average and make it memorable. I'd never heard of this film until recently when I came across the title in a book about film noir. As a fan of director, Fritz Lang's films, I sought out this film. The plot is extremely clever--full of unpredictable twists and turns. Kitty deceives Chris, but he is guilty of his own sort of deception. The DVD quality is not great, but I am not downgrading the film for that. The DVD is produced by Alpha video at a very reasonable price. The film is not re-mastered at all, and there are no extra features. At some points during the film, a thin vertical line was visible, and the sound quality varied (seems to get louder), plus there were some crackles. The black and white picture is grainy at times. All of these defects, however, did not interfere with my ability to watch and enjoy the film. It's about the same quality as a television version of the film. If you enjoyed "Woman in the Window" (a much more famous Fritz Lang/Edgar G Robinson/Joan Bennett film) you should enjoy this one too--displacedhuman
Rating:
Summary: "They'll be masterpieces."
Review: In "Scarlet Street" mild-mannered bank cashier Chris Cross (Edward G Robinson) dreams of being a great painter one day. His nagging wife ridicules his hobby and constantly humiliates him. Then one day Chris meets a young woman named Kitty (Joan Bennett). He thinks she's being mugged, but she's really a 'working girl' squabbling with her slimy boyfriend, Johnny (Dan Duryea). Chris and Kitty strike up a conversation, and soon Kitty and Johnny are ready to use Chris for whatever money they can get out of him. Chris seems to be just too nice for his own good. He's a reliable, largely underappreciated employee who plugs away daily at his desk. But painting is one thing he's passionate about, and it saves him from the sheer boredom of mediocrity. He's a rather unhappy character--first his impossible wife is kicking him around, and it doesn't take long for Kitty to sink her materialistic little hooks into Chris too. As events take place within the film, the strength and weaknesses of Chris Cross are explored. Will he exploit opportunities or is he destined to always be a slave to his character flaws? Many marvelous little touches raise this film above the average and make it memorable. I'd never heard of this film until recently when I came across the title in a book about film noir. As a fan of director, Fritz Lang's films, I sought out this film. The plot is extremely clever--full of unpredictable twists and turns. Kitty deceives Chris, but he is guilty of his own sort of deception. The DVD quality is not great, but I am not downgrading the film for that. The DVD is produced by Alpha video at a very reasonable price. The film is not re-mastered at all, and there are no extra features. At some points during the film, a thin vertical line was visible, and the sound quality varied (seems to get louder), plus there were some crackles. The black and white picture is grainy at times. All of these defects, however, did not interfere with my ability to watch and enjoy the film. It's about the same quality as a television version of the film. If you enjoyed "Woman in the Window" (a much more famous Fritz Lang/Edgar G Robinson/Joan Bennett film) you should enjoy this one too--displacedhuman
Rating:
Summary: Scarlet Street
Review: One of the best Noir films ever, this masterwerke of Fritz Lang is marred by the poor quality of this transfer. Only for extreme movie buffs who cannot live without this film. There doesn't seem to be a quality print to be found anywhere in any format. A real shame. To top it off the scene selection menu was off and lists "chapter one" as a scene in the middle of the film!
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