Runtime: 102 minutes
Directed by: Fritz Lang
Starring: Edward G. Robinson, Joan Bennett, Dan Duryea, Margaret Lindsay, Jess Barker
From: Universal
This was the back half of the two film noirs starring Edward G. Robinson/Joan Bennett/Dan Duryea and directed by Fritz Lang that I saw in a row because TCM played them back to back last night. I don't know if I can pick which one of the two is better... both this and The Woman in the Window (not to be confused with the movie Joe Wright has coming out... sometime later in 2020 unless things get REAL bad) have some demerits along with plenty of strengths.
For certain, this is the more downbeat and pitch black noir. Robinson plays a painter who is henpecked by his shrew of a wife. Not a shocking decision then that he'd get all excited for Bennett when they meet one night. He lies to her and does some illegal things to try and impress her. Unfortunately for him he is being scammed by both her and Duryea. He is unable to sail away from his problems. This includes his career as a painter. He does the best that he can do and he eventually finds success but even that leaves a bittersweet taste in his mouth.
As with Window, the cast and crew all delivered in an interesting story that covers some of the genre tropes and has a lead character who manages to be likable even as he engages in some “less than ethical” acts and he has a brutal downfall. The ending of this is a 180 to what occurred in Window; personally, I was able to get through what is a harsh noir in part due to the name of the lead character. Once I realized he was CHRISTOPHER CROSS, I laughed heartily as a reference to a Yacht Rock superstar could have never been predicted by me beforehand. To show you that 2020 is really the worst year, even Cross was affected with COVID-19. I hope he's doing fine now as it triggered a disease which caused him to have his legs be paralyzed... yikes.
In the future I should check out the original version of the story, which is from both a play and a novel. It was made by Renoir in 1931 as La Chienne; Scarlett changed quite a bit from this rendition... not only is the title translated as THE BITCH but it revolves around pimps and prostitution.
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