American Hustle

“American Hustle,” which opened today in theaters, spends a lot of time with voiceovers explaining the background of the 2 main characters, Irving Rosenfeld (Christian Bale) and Sidney Prosser (Amy Adams). This helps to ground the film as it tells a very complicated story about the ABSCAM operation run by the Long Island, New York, FBI office in the late 1970’s. The operation, as portrayed (fictionally) in the movie, consists of a bribery sting against the Mayor of Camden, New Jersey, several Congressmen and one Senator. The film focuses mainly on the relationships and possible love triangle between Sidney and either Irving or FBI agent Richie DiMaso (Bradley Cooper).

Amy Adams as Sidney Prosser and Christian Bale as Irving Rosenfeld in "American Hustle."

Amy Adams as Sidney Prosser and Christian Bale as Irving Rosenfeld in “American Hustle.”

The main supporting cast for the film features Irving’s neglected wife Rosalyn (Jennifer Lawrence), and the well-meaning Mayor Carmine Polito (Jeremy Renner) of Camden. Despite requiring cooperation and teamwork from Irving, Sidney, Richie and the FBI office, this comedy of errors maintains its tension by continually throwing complications at the audience, and making the romance a strong counterweight to the sting plot. As a result, the main showdown in the film involves a cameo appearance by Robert De Niro, who plays vicious mobster Victor Tellegio in an uncredited appearance.

This is because imbalance in hormones like testosterone, prolactin or thyroid problems can cause erectile function such as excessive porn watching. buy viagra buy InjectionsAnother pharmacological way of ED treatment is penile injections purchase cheap levitra of Alprostadil. choose here buy viagra online Congestive prostatitis is characterized by accumulation of fluids in the joints resulting in lack of mobility and pain. So by taking an extra pill you risk having to deal getting viagra in australia with an overdose. Amy Adams does a wonderful and deep turn as Sidney, who morphs into an English noblewoman named Lady Edith (with an English accent) to reel in and impress suckers falling for her and Irving’s cons. Christian Bale’s Irving has a heart condition, which becomes both funny and overwhelmingly sad as the tension mounts in the film. When the FBI busts Irving and Sidney’s loan scam operation, the couple are forced to help entrap politicians into taking bribes. They first ensnare Mayor Carmine, but when Irving finds he genuinely likes the guy, he contemplates playing both sides of the scam.

Irving should be happy enough to play the con game for the rest of his life, and he doesn’t care much for Rosalyn. But he loves Rosalyn’s young son and won’t leave her. Sidney, feeling that Irving will never commit to her, gravitates towards Richie. But she’s a con artist through and through, just like Irving, and it’s hard to believe she’d actually fall for an FBI agent. In addition, Richie is not a very sympathetic character; he’s pushy, arrogant and sometimes violent. Once, he even knocks Irving’s carefully placed toupee off his head.

Some of the action seems ad libbed, particularly Rosalyn’s scenes alone in her apartment (especially when she sings Wing’s “Live and Let Die.”), and scenes involving Richie and his FBI boss Stoddard Thorsen (Louis C. K.) at the FBI office. Director Russell said he improvised much of the film, but Richie and Stoddard banter in a way that seems forced and later they engage in some not very plausible slapstick humor. However, the movie skillfully uses the Rosalyn character at just the right moments to throw the plot off, and defines her early as a “train wreck” that won’t let Irving go.

Director David O. Russell, who wrote the film with Eric Singer, uses a lot of closeups and a wide screen. In fact, in 2-shots, the character slightly in the background is often out of focus. So, even though American Hustle is a period piece taking place in the 1970’s, there didn’t seem to be much need for period detail other than clothing and a few office furnishings. Anything else would be out of focus or offscreen. I found the music by Danny Elfman to be very effective, and the movie successfully uses hit songs from the era, such as The Bee Gees version of Al Green’s “How Can You Mend a Broken Heart,” to heighten the emotional impact.

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Summer With Monika

Summer holds a fascination with Swedes for three reasons: they have a short season up north, it stays lighter longer, and there is land to stretch and express freedom and uninhibitedness. For the young couple in Ingmar Bergman’s 1953 film “Sommaren Med Monika (Summer With Monika),” the summer also represents an abrupt and emotional leap into the world of adulthood. Monika (Harriet Andersson) and Harry (Lars Ekborg) meet, fall in love, and storm off into the void hoping to leave their problems behind. They live an idyllic life on their boat in the wilds, but as summer fades into autumn, the difficulties of feeding themselves and staying warm threaten to tear apart these charming soul mates.

Harriet Andersson as Monika in "Summer With Monika."

Harriet Andersson as Monika in “Summer With Monika.”

At the beginning of the movie, Bergman establishes the docks and waterways of Stockholm. The beautiful and impetuous teenager Monika Eriksson works at a grocery store. She enters a cafe for a cup of coffee and meets Harry Lund, another teenager who works at a glass and pottery warehouse. They instantly bond, and Monika aggressively pursues him. They make a date to go to the movies, where they see a romantic American melodrama that fuels Monika’s dreams of a better life. Back home, Monika’s siblings treat her rudely, and she’s often pinched by her male co-workers at the grocery store. Harry’s life is far more lonely; he lives with his ill father and he’s sluggish and unfocused at work. His boss yells at him constantly, and he chafes against an urge to strike back by breaking the store’s glassware.
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After her father threatens to strike her, Monika storms off and convinces Harry to take off on a boat trip. They sail off and spend the summer in an idealized romance that includes nude adventures, love making and meaningful companionship. Harry and especially Monika, who fully embraces her new freedom, shrug off their cares rather easily and live in the warmth of the sun and wide open spaces. Director Bergmann remains with the couple throughout their idyll, as though time and the grit of the real life of Stockholm cease to exist. But Monika gets pregnant, and the couple realize they cannot continue to live on wild mushrooms.

Because of Harriet Andersson’s remarkable performance as Monika, the film blesses us with a unique portrait of confident youth forging headlong into mistakes. She’s a charismatic actress with a flair for movement and flirtation; we really believe a character like her would be willing to accept new challenges without regret. Besides the central story of the couple’s summer in the wilderness, Bergmann also makes points about the differences between the city and the country. A returning businessman on the train says Stockholm is like a beautiful lady, as if to imply that knowing the city well can be more lovely and fulfilling then the uncertainty of the countryside.

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The Girl From Paris

Director Christian Carion grew up on a chicory farm in France, so I believe many of the characteristics of the farm in “The Girl From Paris (2001)” are authentic. The French language movie is set mostly on a goat farm high in the mountains in Vercors, south of Grenoble. When 30-year-old Paris computer teacher Sandrine Dumez (Mathilde Seigner) decides to study agriculture, she buys a remote and picturesque farm run by old man named Adrien (Michel Serrault). The deal allows Adrien to continue living in the farm house for a year and a half. However, he’s not very friendly or helpful to Sandrine, who learns that running a farm by herself involves a tremendous amount of uncomfortable work in difficult conditions.

Mathilde Seigner stars as Sandrine in "A Girl From Paris."

Mathilde Seigner stars as Sandrine in “A Girl From Paris.”

Whatever motivates Sandrine to take on such a challenge remains unanswered in the film, which instead concentrates on the relationship between her and Adrien. The old farmer Adrien knows everything about running a farm, but only offers Sandrine contempt and scorn. When we first meet him repairing farm equipment in his barn, he instantly scoffs at Sandrine and must be coaxed by a local agriculture official to sell the farm to her. When she converts one of the farm buildings into a hotel and begins selling tours of the scenic farm, Adrien becomes even more surly and uncooperative.
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Adrien’s problem with Sandrine could come down to his old-school ideas about tradition and land use, but it seems like the easy-going Sandrine would be willing at any time to listen to his advice. That never happens because Adrien quietly seethes in his house for most of the movie. We only learn more about Adrien when his friend, a retired local farmer played by Jean-Paul Roussillon, shows up at the farm from time to time to hear how things are going. Luckily, Adrien eventually warms up to the sweet-natured Sandrine, but not before he causes her considerable discomfort. He only acts nice to her after health problems force him to reassess his life.

Most of Sandrine’s work on the farm involves herding goats. The real problems begin when winter arrives. Snow and biting cold makes everything more difficult, including helping a pregnant goat deliver her kids. Late in the film, Adrien hopes his farm dispelled a city girl’s myth about farm life, telling her about the hardships and drudgery. But by then, she has more than proven herself capable of both the work and the loneliness of life on a farm.

The French title for the movie, “Une hirondelle a fait le printemps,” means “a swallow made a spring.” None of the characters say or allude to this line, so it must refer to Sandrine’s arrival in the remote and wintery world of this story. A more conventional proverb goes like this: (The appearance of) One swallow does not make a spring. That’s another way of saying one shouldn’t get too excited by a single success.

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That Hamilton Woman

Anyone who doubts the acting ability and beauty of Vivien Leigh should watch “That Hamilton Woman,” a 1941 movie directed by Alexander Korda. Leigh plays Lady Emma Hamilton, a historical figure from the late 18th and early 19th centuries. Lady Hamilton, considered one of the most beautiful women in the world, married the British ambassador to the kingdom of Naples and later had a scandalous love affair with British navel hero Horatio Nelson (played by Lawrence Olivier). The movie takes place during the Napoleonic wars, and has been cited as a propaganda film. The performances of Leigh and Olivier elevate the film to much greater achievements, while Korda’s direction and superb production design by Vincent Korda bring authenticity and style.

That Hamilton Woman

Vivien Leigh as Lady Emma Hamilton in “That Hamilton Woman.”

The movie begins in Calais, France, where a destitute Emma steals a bottle of wine before getting caught and hauled off to jail. She relates her story to a female cell mate, who listens incredulously. It all began for Emma at age 18, when she arrives in Naples to await her British lover. The breathtakingly gorgeous Leigh bursts onto the screen in total control of her character, giving us the true nature of the charming and beautiful Emma. She soon learns that her lover has ditched her, and decides to accept a marriage proposal from Lord Hamilton and live in his villa. When Olivier, as the handsome young Captain Nelson, arrives asking for troops to fight Napoleon, we can instantly see the amazing chemistry between the two historical figures.

These are the commonest reasons to opt for cialis discounts sex therapy and attain their desired sex life. There is one human study showing a reduced intake of about 1000 calories bulk viagra uk thought about this per day. A number of the organic testosterone inoculations that work are oysters, cottage cheese, and sildenafil rx fruits similar to banana and figs. Enacted just when moved, this quick viagra for free acting pill will help you recapture your trust in the room. Nelson goes off for 5 years to fight a war offscreen, while Emma dabbles in the social scene of Naples. When his ship returns to the Naples harbor, Emma boards it and receives a shock. The battle-weary Nelson has lost his arm and the sight in one eye. The couple’s bond becomes stronger, but Nelson soon departs to fight and defeat Napoleon’s navy in the Battle of the Nile. He returns to Naples with even more wounds, where Emma nurses him back to health. Nelson woos her under the nose of Lord Hamilton (Alan Mowbray), who seems more concerned with his art collection than the loss of Emma.

Since Korda tells the story from Emma’s point of view, the movie contains only 1 battle scene of the Battle of Trafalgar, where Nelson and his navy defeated a combined fleet of French and Spanish ships. Nelson died in that battle, giving Olivier a beautifully acted and moving scene on his flagship. Before this scene, the movie breaks out of the clever love story by showing Nelson giving speeches about fighting despotism. These prove far less successful and added much later in the story than the compelling romance between Nelson and Emma. Winston Churchill championed this film to get America involved in the war, but the effort became superfluous later in 1941 when the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor.

 

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Sometimes a Great Notion

I’m not sure what the great notion is in Paul Newman’s 1970 film “Sometimes a Great Notion,” but the movie offers a gritty portrait of a stubborn and determined family business battling labor strife. Newman plays Hank Stamper, the devoted son of small-town lumberman Henry Stamper (Henry Fonda). The lumber crew also includes half-brother Joe Ben Stamper (Richard Jaeckel) and a couple of Stamper cousins. Because of the strike, only the immediate Stamper family and relatives offer any help to the grueling and dangerous process of logging in Oregon.

Paul Newman plays a determined lumberman in "Sometimes a Great Notion."

Paul Newman plays a determined lumberman in “Sometimes a Great Notion.”

One day, Hank’s college educated other half-brother arrives, a long-haired outsider named Leland Stamper (Michael Sarrazin). He holds many secrets from the past and wants to get re-acquainted with his family in the wake of his mother’s suicide. The gruff and irascible Henry, sporting a heavy plaster cast (because of a fall) that keeps his arm elevated, demands that Leland help with the lumbering. Henry wants to fulfill a contract with the lumber marketeers and he needs all the workers he can get.

These supplements present http://www.donssite.com/steertech/kenworth-exhaust-repair-steering-repair-refurbish.htm pfizer sildenafil viagra them with a nonprescription means of defeating this ominous sexual menace. Hence, add 10 to 12 hours of a cheap generic levitra discover for source now flight. It is a high quality medicine that comes in the market with many flavors in order to provide pleasant flavors that are very opposite to tasteless online cialis sale medicines. It ensures mental and physical health. online sales viagra Henry’s refusal to join the strike pits his family against the union and everyone in town. The movie balances the strike tension with Stamper family squabbles and effective scenes of the Stampers harvesting trees. Newman puts the camera directly into the chaotic action of cutting down trees, chain dragging them up steep hills and loading them precariously onto lumber trucks. The workers must coordinate all their activities or risk serious injuries. I came away from this film wondering why anyone would want to work as a lumberjack. The filming involved quite a bit of stunt work, with Newman actually climbing an extremely tall pine tree to trim off heavy branches with a chainsaw.

At home, Hank’s long-suffering wife Viv (Lee Remick) spends the first part of the film not speaking much while the film sets up the dynamic between Henry and the Stamper boys. We only get to know her when Lee takes in interest in her, and he even complains that the women hardly talk at all. When Viv finally comes forward in the film, she emotes a sense of resignation when anger and frustration would seem more appropriate. Strike breaking against the union and the town’s wishes seems pointless and proves to be dangerous, but the Stamper men maintain their blind loyalty to patriarch Henry.

Fonda plays Henry as a crude and nasty man with few redeeming qualities except that he’s completely unflappable. It would have been better if Henry did at least one nice thing in the film, but I didn’t expect redemption for him. I also expected Leland, with all his non-confrontational ideas, would have an effect on Hank. That doesn’t happen either, but the movie is commendable for its portrait of men who make a decision and never change their stance no matter what the consequences.

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Raw Deal

“Raw Deal,” a 1949 movie directed by Anthony Mann, starts off at a prison and then becomes fast-paced chase film with interesting scenery, good visual effects and suspicious characters. It stars Dennis O’Keefe as Joe Sullivan, a man in prison taking the rap for a sadistic gangster named Rick Coyle (Raymond Burr). He receives a visit in prison from pretty legal assistant Ann Martin, who thinks she can secure a parole for him in 3 years. Joe wants out of prison so he can “breathe the fresh air,” but he’s not waiting 3 years to do it.

From left, Dennis O'Keefe, Marsha Hunt and Claire Trevor star in "Raw Deal."

From left, Dennis O’Keefe, Marsha Hunt and Claire Trevor star in “Raw Deal.”

Although Ann feels romantic towards Joe, his real girlfriend, Pat Cameron (Claire Trevor), sits in the prison waiting room to see him. She narrates over this and other scenes, setting up her suspicion and distrust of Ann. When Pat finally does see Joe, she tells him the prison break is on. In the next scene, Pat waits and picks up Joe after he’s climbed the prison wall and jumped into her car. The couple head to Ann Martin’s apartment, where they kidnap her and take her car. Although the police continue to chase them, the film concentrates on the love triangle between Joe, Pat and Ann. Ann wants Joe to turn himself in, while Pat’s love for Joe compels her to play out their escape to the end.
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Perhaps because the police chase occurs in such a wide geographical area, the police don’t do a very good job of tracking Joe down. A lot of time and tense situations occur while the “lamsters” sort out their relationships. The script gives several opportunities for Ann to turn in her abductors in, but various circumstances keep her from doing it. Ann remains both disgusted by Joe’s behavior and drawn to him, which continually irks Pat. Each of the three make one pivotal decision in the film, and these seem realistic and within their character traits.

The movie stands as compelling film noir with strong and individualistic primary and secondary characters. For instance, John Ireland plays a Coyle henchman named Fantail, who seems much smarter than the usual second-tier thug. The climax involves a showdown with the sadistic Rick Coyle, who owes Joe $50,000. Coyle likes fire, and shows it by flicking his lighter under a henchman’s ear early in the film. The plot makes it clear early on that Coyle only wanted Joe to escape so that he would get shot by the police. The tense ending includes scenes shot in a foggy San Francisco street called “Corkscrew Alley.” Mann shoots these scenes and the climactic ending beautifully, with eerie sounding music using a theremin.

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Joe Strummer

In the documentary, “Joe Strummer: The Future is Unwritten,” released in 2007, we learn that Joe Strummer of The Clash rock group liked having conversations around a camp fire. That explains why almost all of the interviews in this movie, made 4 years after his death, are filmed through crackling, dancing open fires. The interviewees include members of The Clash and various managers, contemporaries and friends of the singer/guitarist.

Joe Strummer, performing in The Clash.

Joe Strummer, performing in The Clash.

Strummer, born as John Graham Mellor in Istanbul, Turkey, became an adult in the turbulent and political punk scene of late 1970’s London. He started a band while living as a squatter in a London house, but soon got the attention of an ambitious promoter named Bernie Rhodes, who put him in touch with guitarist Mick Jones and other members of The Clash. The group jelled and became huge in Great Britain before becoming a major attraction in America and elsewhere. Throughout the group’s 10-year existence, the enigmatic Strummer continued to be the soulful heart of the band.

The film reveals Strummer as an artist who continually searched for meaning throughout his career. Although we get the usual stories of squabbling and unease associated with touring rock acts, the film continually emphasizes Strummer as a seeker who never became completely content with his own success. Much of the soundtrack features Strummer spinning records on the radio of other artists whom he gratefully acknowledges for their worthwhile contributions to his music.
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The film alludes to Strummer’s drug and alcohol use, but doesn’t elaborate many stories. Clash drummer Topper Headon, who fell into heavy drug use which eventually caused his dismissal from the band, felt like an outsider despite his long association with Strummer. However, he considered Strummer a straight shooter who always gave him an honest answer.

Other interviews, particularly with directors Jim Jarmusch and Martin Scorsese, give us a new appreciation of Strummer as an artist rather than a rock star. Strummer wrote the lyrics for The Clash and also provided a unique rhythm guitar style to their songs. The documentary achieved sufficient musical clearances to give us a full measure of Strummer’s style and influences during his career. I remember seeing The Clash at the Ontario Theater in Washington, DC in the late 1970’s. They were very, very loud and very wild, and they seemed like what The Who must have been like in 1964. It’s odd that Bo Diddley opened for them, but after seeing this documentary, the influence of any musical idol on Strummer’s music is not that farfetched.

 

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Penny Serenade

“Penny Serenade,” made by Columbia Pictures and released in 1941, tells the story of Julie (Irene Dunne) and Roger Adams (Cary Grant), a couple unable to bear children but decide to adopt one.  The child changes their relationship in profound ways as they learn the value of loving and caring for the little girl, whose welfare becomes the overriding emphasis in their relationship.  They devote all their energy to caring and thinking about their little Trina, which leaves them empty and helpless when a tragedy occurs.

Irene Dunne works in a record store in "Penny Serenade."

Irene Dunne, as Julie, works in a record store in “Penny Serenade.”

The film, directed by George Stevens, uses an interesting and effective device to introduce flashback scenes detailing the couple’s relationship. Julie packs her things in preparation for leaving Roger, but decides to play a phonograph record. A closeup of a spinning record on the turntable then fades into a scene of Julie working in a record shop.  Roger walks by and sees her through the window, and we can clearly see he has instantly fallen in love with her. He enters the shop and ends up buying a couple dozen records just to go on a date with her.

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The couple go to an orphanage, where they learn the difficulties of adopting a child.  The head of the orphanage, Miss Oliver, well played by Beulah Bondi, seems harsh at first but develops quickly into a sympathetic character. The adopted baby arrives, giving Dunne and especially Grant opportunities to do light physical comedy. With the help of a friend named Applejack Carney (Edgar Buchanan), they attend to the baby’s every need and learn how to give the baby a bath. Since the film starts off and maintains such an overwhelmingly sad tone, these comedy attempts fall flat. It also doesn’t feel right to watch actors doing physical, stumbling-around comedy with an infant.

The Cary Grant character, Roger Adams, has several scenes where he appears mean and sullen. I prefer the chipper Cary Grant rather than the sullen one he exhibits here and in other films such as “Notorious (1946).” The soap opera story lacked emotional impact, probably because the film relies too much on chance events. But I found the direction by Stevens to be quite interesting and I liked the technique of using the spinning records and songs to introduce the flashbacks. George Stevens uses closeups very well, which works with the subtle acting style of Irene Dunne.

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Shoot the Piano Player

The greatness of Francois Truffaut’s “Shoot the Piano Player (Tirez sur le pianiste)” comes the fondness it shows for several genres of cinema, while simultaneously offering the characterization, pacing and imagination to propel the story forward. Such a blend of contrast and meaning emphasizes character over plot, and gives us a movie realistic in tone but not in meaningful encounters. Another set of circumstances could just as easily reveal the main characters and enlighten us with the movie’s main themes: the meaning of success and the fading power of romantic love.

Marie Dubois as Léna and Charles Aznavour as Charlie in "Shoot the Piano Player."

Marie Dubois as Léna and Charles Aznavour as Charlie in “Shoot the Piano Player.”

In Shoot the Piano player, released in 1960, Charles Aznavour plays a gifted pianist, Charlie Kohler, playing honky-tonk piano at a Paris bar.  The first scene features piano music and an extreme closeup of the hammers of an upright piano banging out a tune. They clearly respond to the unseen hand playing the keys while the camera stays close to them, as if to say the story will hit hard and provide many notes to follow. Next, a man runs wild through the Paris streets, en garde against unseen followers until he runs into a street lamp.  A man holding flowers roughly picks him and and the two have a nice conversation about marriage and romance.

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Shoot the piano player offers us three wonderful female characters, including Léna, Clarisse (an affable prostitute played by Michèle Mercier), and Charlie’s first wife Thérése (Nicole Berger), who provides a sweet and innocent notion of romantic love that ultimately proves unsustainable in the reality of fame and fortune. It’s a wonder that Truffaut fleshes these women out so thoroughly in the movie’s length of 82 minutes.

Truffaut’s love of film contributes to the self-reflexive aura of the movie, but the ideas are truly original. In one scene, for instance, the movie cuts to an old lady keeling over in her bedroom in response to one of the gangsters swearing on his mother’s grave. The voice-overs, which accompany Charlie’s scenes with his romantic partners, distance the viewer from the emotion of the visuals. They continually reminded me about the cinematic experience, which in this case proved to be a very fine one. Perhaps one of the reasons Truffaut calls it Shoot the Piano Player is because “shoot” refers to pointing and turning on the camera, and saying “Action!”

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Scarlet Street

Fritz Lang’s 1945 movie, “Scarlet Street,” features a very naive old man and a couple of con artists so dumb it amazes me that it doesn’t play more like a comedy. But the innocent story of an older man infatuated by a younger women leads to one of the darkest endings in film noir history, and the film can be counted as a must-see picture for its tight-framed visual style and clear focused black and white cinematography.

Joan Bennett and Edward G. Robinson in "Scarlet Street."

Joan Bennett and Edward G. Robinson in “Scarlet Street.”

Edward G. Robinson stars as Christopher Cross, an extremely mild-mannered and honest bookkeeper. The movie begins at a party in a New York City restaurant, where the boss gives Chris a pocket watch for 25 years of valuable service. Eventually, Chris steps away from the party and goes out into a driving rain storm, where he sees a man slapping a pretty girl. He strikes the man with his umbrella, knocking him down. The man runs off before the police arrive, but Cross walks the girl home.

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Kitty keeps asking for more money, and Chris eventually puts her up in a large studio apartment in Greenwich Village, New York City. Chris, however, lives with his wife in a loveless marriage. When his wife threatens to throw out his paintings, Chris moves them to Kitty’s apartment. In a comic turn of events, the paintings are discovered by a famous critic, and Kitty is thought to be the artist. The paintings end up in a prestigious gallery where they sell for good prices. Chris handles this like he does everything else, with misguided indifference.

It doesn’t seem like much of a moral dilemma for Chris to get rid of his annoying and shrewish wife, but once Chris begins his deceitful plunge into Kitty’s world, things go bad quickly. He thinks about killing her until a better idea suddenly occurs to him. Kitty never seems like a good person to fall in love with; she’s always eating fruits and spitting the pits on the floor or throwing her cigarette down in her apartment. In addition, Johnny’s always around, which would unnerve any sane man.  Chris needs to unhook himself from everything, and he manages to do it in the worst way possible.

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