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A box-office hit in its day (despite being banned in three states), Scarlet Street is perhaps legendary director Fritz Lang's (Metropolis) finest American film. Kino's immaculate 1080P transfer, from a 35mm Library of Congress vault negative, restores Lang's extravagantly fatalistic vision to its original B&W glory. When middle-aged milquetoast Chris Cross (Edward G. Robinson -- Double Indemnity, Little Caesar) rescues street-walking bad girl Kitty (Joan Bennett -- The Reckless Moment) from the rain slicked gutters of an eerily artificial backlot 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, skillfully molds ''a vicious and serpentine creature out of a cheap, chiseling tin horn.'' (The New York Times). Packed with hairpin plot twists from screenwriter Dudley Nichols (Stagecoach) 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. *** In this remake of Jean Renoir's controversial 1931 film, La Chienne, Christopher Cross (Edward G. Robinson), a quiet, staid cashier and dedicated Sunday painter, feels consumed by passion for the first time in his life when he meets pretty, manipulative Kitty. The two become involved, but Kitty is really in love with petty crook Johnny. She keeps Christopher around simply for his money. In order to impress his precious mistress, Cross embezzles funds from his employer. He doesn't realize, however, that Kitty and Johnny are also getting rich on his paintings, which are becoming a huge success under Kitty's name. When Christopher's theft comes to light, he loses his job and his dignity. And when he seeks out Kitty for solace, he discovers her in Johnny's embrace. The film explodes in its violent climax, and with it Lang creates perhaps his most chilling Film Noir work. The tightly structured story and the evocative paintings that lie symbolically at the center of the plot create a visual and psychological atmosphere of suspense, filled with double meanings and games of representation and appearance, all pointing toward a brutal final act, motivated by Cross' inner demons and repressed emotions. |
Posters
Theatrical Release: December 28th, 1945 - USA
Reviews More Reviews DVD Reviews
Review: Kino - Region FREE - 4K UHD
Box Cover |
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CLICK to order from: Bonus Captures: |
Distribution | Kino - Region FREE - 4K UHD | |
Runtime | 1:41:46.475 | |
Video |
1.33:1 2160P 4K Ultra HD Disc Size: 77,790,227,603 bytesFeature: 76,365,597,696 bytes Video Bitrate: 75.17 MbpsCodec: HEVC Video |
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NOTE: The Vertical axis represents the bits transferred per second. The Horizontal is the time in minutes. |
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Bitrate 4K Ultra HD: |
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Audio |
DTS-HD Master
Audio English 1558 kbps 2.0 / 48 kHz / 1558 kbps / 24-bit (DTS Core: 2.0 /
48 kHz / 1509 kbps / 24-bit) Dolby Digital Audio English 192 kbps 2.0 / 48 kHz / 192 kbps |
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Subtitles | English (SDH), None | |
Features |
Release Information: Studio: Kino
1.3 3:1 2160P 4K Ultra HDDisc Size: 77,790,227,603 bytes Feature: 76,365,597,696 bytes Video Bitrate: 75.17 MbpsCodec: HEVC Video
Edition Details: 4K Ultra HD disc
• NEW Audio Commentary by Film Historian Imogen Sara
Smith Kino - Region 'A' - Blu-ray
• NEW Audio Commentary by Film Historian Imogen Sara Smith
Black 4K Ultra HD Case in slipcase Chapters 8 |
Comments: |
NOTE:
The below
Blu-ray
and
4K UHD
captures were taken directly from the respective
discs.
It is likely that the monitor
you are seeing this review is not an
HDR-compatible
display (High Dynamic Range) or Dolby Vision, where each pixel can be assigned with a wider
and notably granular range of color and light. Our
capture software if simulating the HDR (in a uniform manner) for standard
monitors. This should make it easier for us to review more
4K UHD titles in the
future and give you a decent idea of its attributes on your system. So our
captures may not support the exact same colors (coolness of
skin tones, brighter or darker hues etc.) as the
4K system at your home. But the
framing, detail, grain texture support etc. are, generally, not effected by
this simulation representation.
NOTE:
We have reviewed the following 4K
UHD packages
recently:
eXistenZ
(software uniformly simulated HDR),
The Horrible Dr. Hichcock
(software uniformly simulated HDR),
Conan the Barbarian
(software uniformly simulated HDR),
Django
(no HDR),
Lone Star
(software uniformly simulated HDR),
Suspect Zero
(software uniformly simulated HDR),
Count Dracula
(software uniformly simulated HDR),
Full Circle - The Haunting of Julia
(software uniformly simulated HDR),
The Warriors
(software uniformly simulated HDR),
Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio
(software uniformly simulated HDR),
Blackhat
(software uniformly simulated HDR),
Mark of the Devil
(software uniformly simulated HDR),
Barbarella
(software uniformly simulated HDR),
The Last Picture Show
(software uniformly simulated HDR),
The Man Who Knew Too Much
(software uniformly simulated HDR),
Rope
(software uniformly simulated HDR),
Frenzy
(software uniformly simulated HDR),
American Graffiti
(software uniformly simulated HDR),
East End Hustle (software uniformly simulated HDR),
Three Days of the Condor
(software uniformly simulated HDR), Witness
(software uniformly simulated HDR),
Fascination
(software uniformly simulated HDR),
Lips of Blood
(software uniformly simulated HDR),
The Others
(no HDR),
It Came From Outer Space
(software uniformly simulated HDR).
On their
4K UHD, Kino use a DTS-HD Master
dual-mono track (24-bit) in the original English language. No
demonstrative effects are utilized in "Scarlet Street" shot
almost exclusively on a set. The
score is by
Hans J. Salter (The Female Animal,
Naked
Alibi,
Pittsburgh, Man
Without a Star,
The
Killer that Stalked New York, The
Strange Door,
Cover
Up, Man
Without a Star,
Step Down to Terror,
The Land Unknown,
The War Lord,
The Mole People,
The Strange Case of Doctor Rx.)
sounds authentically flat
with a notable higher end supported. Both
discs offers optional English (SDH) subtitles - and the
4K UHD is region FREE,
playable worldwide. The
Blu-ray
is Region 'A'-locked.
The
4K UHD and
Blu-ray have
two commentaries. The one on the 2012 Kino
Blu-ray
(and other releases) by
David Kalat (author of
The Strange Case of Dr. Mabuse: A Study of the Twelve Films and Five Novels.)
He does a great job of discussing this Noir gem. We also get a new
commentary by Film Historian Imogen Sara Smith who describes Scarlet
Street as "indispensable". She discusses
The Woman in the Window made the previous year with the same
director (Fritz Lang), cinematographer (Milton R. Krasner) and the same
three stars - Robinson, Bennett and Duryea. Imogen cites Patrick
McGilligan's book Fritz
Lang: The Nature of the Beast. and the differences between
Scarlet Street and
Jean Renoir's 1931
La Chienne with no admirable characters - plus how she finds that
men in Noir are always willing to be deluded by the fairer sex. She observes
how the female leads portray a shrewish, nagging, wife or a gold-digging
temptress. She discusses Lang's use of diegetic music in the film (repeated
'Melancholy Baby' as Kitty's theme), Dudley Nichols' screenplay,
Kitty's telltale laziness, Bennett's affair with her agent Jennings Lang and
so much more. It's a good a commentary as you can imagine coming from
Imogen. There are no other extras on the
4K UHD
and the second disc
Blu-ray
also has a few trailers
not present on the
4K UHD
disc. The package has an O-card slipcase and reversible
artwork (see below.)
Kino's
4K UHD
release of Fritz Lang's "Scarlet Street" is
Noir catnip. One of the purest examples of the 'dark cinema' cycle
with a repeated cast and themes from
The Woman in the Window, and
required tap-dancing around the censors. 12 paintings were created for
Scarlet Street by John Decker - a painter, set designer and caricaturist
in Hollywood during the 1930s and 1940s. Joan Bennett
is delightfully evil as the femme fatale 'Kitty'. We get the excellent older
commentary and new, revealing, one by Imogen plus the image is the best the
film has ever looked in your home theater. Our highest recommendation! |
Menus / Extras
Kino - Region 'A' Blu-ray
Kino - Region FREE - 4K UHD
CLICK EACH BLU-RAY and 4K UHD CAPTURE TO SEE IN FULL RESOLUTION
Subtitle Sample -
Kino - Region FREE - 4K UHD
1) Eureka Video (UK) - Region 0 - PAL TOP 2) Kino - Region FREE - 4K UHD BOTTOM
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1) Paramount (FR) - Region 0 - PAL TOP 2) Kino - Region FREE - 4K UHD BOTTOM
|
1) Kino (2005) - Region 1 - NTSC TOP 2) Kino - Region FREE - 4K UHD BOTTOM
|
1) Kino (2012) - Region FREE - Blu-ray TOP 2) Kino - Region FREE - 4K UHD BOTTOM
|
1) Odeon Entertainment - Region 0 - PAL TOP 2) Kino - Region FREE - 4K UHD BOTTOM
|
1) Kino (2012) - Region FREE - Blu-ray TOP 2) Kino - Region FREE - 4K UHD BOTTOM
|
More full resolution (3840 X 2160) 4K Ultra HD Captures for Patreon Supporters HERE
Box Cover |
|
CLICK to order from: Bonus Captures: |
Distribution | Kino - Region FREE - 4K UHD |
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