Scarlet Street

Scarlet Street

Year: 1945

Runtime: 103 mins

Language: English

Director: Fritz Lang

CrimeDrama

She seduces men only to end in murder. Cashier‑artist Christopher Cross falls for Kitty March, who pretends interest while actually longing for Johnny, a small‑time crook. When they discover art dealers want Chris’s paintings, they trick him into letting Kitty claim the work as her own. Chris consents out of love, but devotion has limits.

Dark
Bleak ending
Emotionally heavy
High intensity
Steady pacing
Moderate complexity

Warning: spoilers below!

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Timeline & Setting – Scarlet Street (1945)

Explore the full timeline and setting of Scarlet Street (1945). Follow every major event in chronological order and see how the environment shapes the story, characters, and dramatic tension.

Time period

1934

Set in New York City during the early 1930s, the period reflects the era’s urban culture and economic precarity. The city’s art and commercial scenes become a playground for ambition and deceit, while social tensions and the remnants of Prohibition era dynamics shape the story. The narrative unfolds through a single year’s arc, punctuated by a public art scandal and a fatal confrontation.

Location

New York City, Greenwich Village, Kitty's apartment, Hogarth's office, art gallery

The story unfolds across Manhattan, with key action in Greenwich Village as well as the offices of J.J. Hogarth, Kitty's apartment, and various galleries. It charts the intersecting worlds of a humble employee, a glamorous social circle, and a booming, cutthroat art market. The settings shift from a respectable company party to backroom deals, street corners, and the glare of publicity that fuels the plot.

🗽 New York setting 🎨 Art world 🏙️ Urban life 🕰️ 1930s

Last Updated: October 04, 2025 at 15:47

Main Characters – Scarlet Street (1945)

Meet the key characters of Scarlet Street (1945), with detailed profiles, motivations, and roles in the plot. Understand their emotional journeys and what they reveal about the film’s deeper themes.

Christopher Cross (Edward G. Robinson)

A meek, lovelorn cashier who longs to be artistically recognized and loved. His naivety makes him easy prey for Kitty and Johnny, driving him to steal money to fund a shady venture. His moral compromise escalates into tragedy, culminating in murder and his own ruin as he lingers between art and embezzlement.

🧭 Naive ⚖️ Morally conflicted 💸 Desperate

Katherine 'Kitty' March (Joan Bennett)

Kitty is a charming, ambitious woman who uses Chris’s longing and public appearances to propel her own career. She orchestrates the arrangement that brands Chris’s art as hers, crossing lines between affection and manipulation. Her performance as a celebrated artist hides a self-serving, calculating nature.

🎨 Charismatic 💃 Ambitious 🌀 Manipulative

Johnny Prince (Dan Duryea)

Kitty’s boyfriend and a con artist who engineers schemes to exploit Chris and Kitty’s relationship. He is reckless and unscrupulous, pushing the betrayal front and center as the plot twists toward a fatal confrontation. His cunning ultimately places him on a path toward punishment and death by the film’s end.

🎭 Conniving 🧱 Reckless 🔪 Manipulative

Adele Cross (Rosalind Ivan)

Chris’s shrewish wife, obsessed with status and power, who clings to her memory of a dead husband. She distrusts Chris’s activities and uses the possibility of adultery and painting forgery to keep him under pressure. Her presence fuels Chris’s anxiety and paranoia as the plot unfolds.

👩‍💼 Controlling 💔 Jealous 🧭 Imperious

Patch-eye Higgins (Charles Kemper)

A brash extortionist with dangerous connections who reappears to threaten Chris. His appearance signals corruption and the taint of criminal underworld influence, complicating the characters’ fates. His manipulation emphasizes the external pressures guiding Chris toward desperate acts.

🗝️ Extortion 💣 Dangerous 🫣 Threatening

J.J. Hogarth (Russell Hicks)

Company owner who fêts Chris at a party and later fires him, emblematic of corporate vanity and profit-driven decisions. Hogarth’s shifting attitude toward Chris embodies the precarious balance between praise and punishment in the business world. His role anchors the tension between financial security and moral consequence.

🏢 Boss 💼 Corporate 💬 Patron

Last Updated: October 04, 2025 at 15:47

Major Themes – Scarlet Street (1945)

Explore the central themes of Scarlet Street (1945), from psychological, social, and emotional dimensions to philosophical messages. Understand what the film is really saying beneath the surface.

🎭 Fame

The plot centers on how art and celebrity are manufactured and who gets credit. Kitty leverages Chris’s private talent to win public recognition while presenting herself as the face of his work. Chris’s longing for love and validation makes him vulnerable to manipulation, highlighting the double-edged nature of artistic success. The story raises questions about authorship, ownership, and the price of fame.

🕯️ Despair

As deception spirals, the film traces Chris’s moral corrosion and eventual downfall. His dream of recognition devolves into homelessness and a fractured identity, haunted by the people he harmed and the success he never claimed. The narrative uses stark moments of loss and memory to underscore the emptiness at the heart of a glamouring art world. The ending emphasizes the personal cost of pursuing appearances over truth.

⚖️ Justice

A courtroom and a public verdict frame the consequences of the characters’ schemes. The trial casts Johnny as the villain, while Chris navigates responsibility for his own actions. The film contrasts legal outcomes with moral accountability, showing how society processes guilt and redemption. In the end, justice is imperfect and unresolved, leaving a mark on the survivor.

Last Updated: October 04, 2025 at 15:47

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Explore Movie Threads

Discover curated groups of movies connected by mood, themes, and story style. Browse collections built around emotion, atmosphere, and narrative focus to easily find films that match what you feel like watching right now.

Fatalistic crime noirs of manipulation like Scarlet Street

Cynical stories of ordinary men ensnared by desire and destroyed by deception.If you liked the cynical deception and moral downfall in Scarlet Street, explore more movies like it. This list features bleak film noirs where desperate characters are manipulated into crime, leading to tragic, haunting endings that explore themes of fate and punishment.

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Narrative Summary

These narratives typically follow a linear but psychologically complex path. A fundamentally decent but weak-willed individual meets a manipulative force (often a femme fatale or a cunning criminal) who offers escape or passion. This initial temptation spirals into a series of compromises, crimes, and betrayals, tightening like a vise until the protagonist is left with nothing, often facing a grim fate worse than death.

Why These Movies?

Movies in this thread are united by a deeply cynical worldview, a steady, methodical pacing that builds inexorable dread, and a focus on the psychological destruction of a central character. They share a dark tone, high emotional intensity, and an ending that offers no redemption, leaving a lasting, melancholic impression.

Tragic stories of artistic obsession like Scarlet Street

Stories where the pursuit of art or love leads to self-destruction and despair.For viewers who appreciated the themes of artistic fraud and tragic love in Scarlet Street, this list recommends similar movies. Explore dramatic tales where characters are consumed by their passions for art or a person, leading to a slow, heartbreaking descent into loss and despair.

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Narrative Summary

The narrative pattern involves a protagonist, often an artist or a dreamer, who invests their entire identity in their work or in a idealized love. This investment is exploited or rejected, leading to a crisis. The story methodically charts their downward spiral, as their creative outlet is corrupted or their love proves false, resulting in isolation, madness, or a tragic end that underscores the futility of their devotion.

Why These Movies?

These films are grouped by their shared focus on the destructive power of obsession, a steady pacing that emphasizes character decline, and a heavy emotional weight derived from personal and creative betrayal. They create a cohesive experience of melancholic reflection on the costs of passion.

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Scarlet Street Summary

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Scarlet Street Summary

Scarlet Street Timeline

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Scarlet Street Timeline

Scarlet Street Spoiler-Free Summary

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Scarlet Street Spoiler-Free Summary

More About Scarlet Street

Visit What's After the Movie to explore more about Scarlet Street: box office results, cast and crew info, production details, post-credit scenes, and external links — all in one place for movie fans and researchers.

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