Fritz Lang's Scarlet Street Restored by KINO 11.22.05
 

From Barrie Maxwell

A restoration of Fritz Lang's Scarlet Street (1945) is coming from Kino on November 22nd. It is expected to include audio commentary by David Kalat of All Day Entertainment. Also being released at the same time is Lang's House By the River (1950, with Louis Hayward).

Scarlet Street is not one of Lang's better films, but it's good that Kino is continuing to explore his catalogue.

Wow, finally a good release. So many crap $1 releases of this, I can't wait to get my hands on a good copy.

I'd get this just for the commentary alone.

David Kalat has done commentaries for all of Lang's Mabuse dvds and not only is he a treasure trove of great information, he's also very entertaining and never repeats himself. He is easily one of the best commentarians (is that a word?) in the business.

Excellent news. I really like this movie and the only version I have of it is very poor quality.

Groovy.

All I can say is....:thumbsup::thumbsup:

commentator

From All Day Entertainment:

Thank you Kino!

I disagree. I think its one of his best, and easily one of the best film noirs ever made.

Kudos to Kino!

"Jeepers you're swell, Johnny..."

This shouldn't be overlooked either -- I do believe this title has never been released on home video in any format. I have an ancient, fuzzy, pretty much unwatchable bootleg of it. I'm looking forward to replacing it. :thumbsup:

Rebuttal from Dave Kehr at the Chicago Reader:
Kehr's colleague Jonathan Rosenbaum (who has never been shy about his Lang-love) includes the film in the listing of his 1,000 Favorite Films (published in his book Essential Cinema: On the Necessity of Film Canons).

I wish they would look into releasing Lang's Ministry of Fear with Ray Milland, I really enjoyed it when I saw it on TCM.

Agreed. Universal should definitely start issuing more on their noir line, there's also The Glass Key and a few other great noirs owned by universal not on DVD that I can't think of right now...

Sure, opinions differ. I generally agree with Pauline Kael over the more detached, analytical critics. Her review of Scarlet Street:

"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 not of Lang's best American movies. (It was originally banned in New York State--that is, denied a license--as "immoral, indecent, corrupt, and tending to incite crime," a judgment that seemed off the wall even then.) Edward G. Robinson is a frustrated, gray-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. But the tart is in love with a lout (Dan Duryea), who beats her. The script, by Dudley Nichols, is heavy-handed, and Lang's emphatic style pounds home the ironies and the murder-plot devices."

I believe they also own the rights to the Alan Ladd/Veronica Lake vehicle The Blue Dahlia, one of the more underrated noirs imo.

This is good news. All of the other versions of Scarlet Street currently available are from poor quality prints. I've never seen this movie, but I've heard good things about it. I'll definitely pick this one up.

As for Universal, they've got 3 titles that would make the ultimate 2nd wave for the Universal Noir Collection - Double Indemnity, The Blue Dahlia, and The Glass Key. Great titles that would sell very well, but Universal being Universal they are dragging their feet.

Screenplay by Chandler, right? They could release it to tie-in with The Black Dahlia, but that might just confuse people...

the review is up...and way early it seems

Ian Jane Review of Scarlet Street from Kino

http://images.dvdtalk.com/covers/B000BGH2NG.jpg

I really like that cover. Can't wait to get this, probably the most important noir on DVD that I've yet to see.