Slightly Scarlet (1956 film): Difference between revisions
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'''''Slightly Scarlet''''' is a 1956 American [[crime film]] |
'''''Slightly Scarlet''''' is a 1956 American [[crime film]] starring [[John Payne (actor)|John Payne]], [[Rhonda Fleming]] and [[Arlene Dahl]]. The film was directed by [[Allan Dwan]], and its [[cinematography|cinematographer]] was [[John Alton]]. The script was based on [[James M. Cain]]'s novel ''[[Love's Lovely Counterfeit]]''. |
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The picture tells the story of Ben Grace ([[John Payne (actor)|John Payne]]), a crooked cop working for a powerful metropolitan [[crime boss]]—Solly Caspar ([[Ted de Corsia]]), who uses entrapment, extortion, and blackmail to push Caspar aside and elect a “reform” mayor he exploits. Two sisters [[Rhonda Fleming]], a self-interested “good girl” at the center of a love triangle, and [[Arlene Dahl]], a “bad girl” ex-con and walking plot complication, add interest to a vibrant technicolor production. |
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==Plot== |
==Plot== |
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The ruthless and uncouth Solly Caspar, Bay City |
The ruthless and uncouth Solly Caspar, the crime boss of Bay City (a fictional town near [[San Francisco]]), wishes to defeat a campaign by multimillionaire mayoral reform candidate Frank Jansen. Caspar tasks crooked ex-cop Ben Grace with uncovering dirt on Jansen. Ben follows Jansen's secretary and girlfriend June Lyons to a women's prison to photograph her collecting her sex-starved [[kleptomaniac]] sister Dorothy, a multiple ex-con. |
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Ben follows the candidate's brilliant scarlet-tressed and wildly curvaceous secretary/girlfriend, June Lyons ([[Rhonda Fleming]]), to a women’s prison to photograph her picking up her equally redheaded, sporty, and sex-starved [[kleptomaniac]] sister Dorothy ([[Arlene Dahl]]), a multiple ex-con. Ben immediately becomes attracted to June, and withholds his incriminating evidence from Caspar. |
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Flipping sides, Ben instead gives June a tape he made proving Caspar killed a crusading newspaperman supporting the honest Jansen. Caspar, who had slapped Ben around and humiliated him in front of the rest of his gang for appearing to fail to gather any dirt on Jansen, is forced to flee to nearby Mexico. Ben then seduces June, steals her from Jansen, and, unbeknownst to her or the new mayor, takes over Caspar’s rackets. |
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Rather than the smooth sailing he had planned, Ben faces blowback from Caspar’s gang and stiffened resistance from city hall and the police. |
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Meanwhile, June’s nymphomaniac sister, who had been attracted to Ben from the start, continues her play for him. She accompanies him to a beach house he has claimed along with the rest of the spoils from Caspar’s empire, where Ben is headed to rifle its safe for $160,000 to leave town with. She determinedly tries to seduce a disinterested Ben, and becomes huffy when rejected, scaring him by firing a [[spear gun]] at his head. After searching the house, he is forced to leave without finding the money. |
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To get even for Ben’s rejections, she later plays up their trip to June into an ''escapade''. June confronts Ben, who responds that it is she he really wants. Given the suspicions surrounding the seeming tryst, June wonders if it's really both of them he's after. |
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Ben is attracted to June and withholds the incriminating evidence from Caspar. He instead gives June an audiotape recording that proves that Caspar killed a crusading newspaper owner who had supported Jansen. Caspar is forced to flee to Mexico. Ben seduces June, steals her from Jansen and, without June's or Caspar's knowledge, takes command of Caspar’s rackets. However, Ben faces resistance from Caspar’s gang, city hall and the police. |
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Dorothy, who had been attracted to Ben from the start, continues her play for him. She accompanies him to Caspar's former beach house, where there is a safe containing $160,000. Despite Dorothy's advances, Ben remains uninterested. She accidentally fires a [[spear gun]] at his head, narrowly missing. After searching the house, Ben is forced to leave without finding the money. To exact revenge for Ben’s rejection, Dorothy tells June that the beach-house trip was a romantic escapade. June confronts Ben, who responds by assuring her that he only wants her. |
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Jansen, who still loves June, discovers the duplicity and insists that her sister must go back to jail. |
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| ⚫ | Caspar returns from Mexico seeking revenge on Ben. |
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| ⚫ | Caspar returns from Mexico seeking revenge on Ben. At the beach house, Caspar finds a drunken and provocative Dorothy alone, and she attempts to seduce him. When Caspar boastfully scatters the money from the vault on the floor and offers some to Dorothy, she tries to steal even more. Caspar invites her to return to Mexico with him. June arrives, seeking to rescue Dorothy, but Caspar points his gun at her and throws her down on the terrace, where she lands on the spear gun and shoots him with it before firing his own revolver at him twice. |
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Ben arrives, and, with the heat on him from Caspar’s gang, plus the police sure to be on his heels, entreats June to go away with him and the money but she refuses. Caspar, wounded but not yet dead, shoots Ben and wounds him. Caspar’s gang arrives. Ben, June, and an increasingly deranged Dorothy end up trapped in a bedroom. Ben calls the police and tells them to rush a full squad to the beach house to round up Caspar and his hoods. |
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Caspar tells Ben that if |
Ben arrives and pleads with June to flee with him and the money, but she refuses. Caspar, still alive after being shot by June, shoots Ben and wounds him. When Caspar’s gang arrives, Ben, June and Dorothy are trapped in a bedroom, but Ben phones the police and calls for a full squad to be dispatched to the house. Caspar's gang tells Ben that if he will leave the bedroom, the women will be spared. Ben emerges and taunts Caspar, who shoots him several times. |
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The movie ends ambiguously, leaving it unclear whether Ben will survive, will June continue to care about him if he does, or will she return to the still loving but honest and dull Jansen. |
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==Cast== |
==Cast== |
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* [[Myron Healey]] as Wilson - Caspar Thug (uncredited) |
* [[Myron Healey]] as Wilson - Caspar Thug (uncredited) |
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==Production== |
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Rhonda Fleming and Arlene Dahl, both redheads who had previously competed often for film roles, reportedly feuded on the set. The animosity began when Fleming refused to wear lingerie manufactured and sold by Dahl's company. The women insisted upon separate makeup and wardrobe assistants and flipped a coin to determine who would receive top billing for the film. One account suggested that a scene in which Fleming's character slaps Dahl's character in the face required five takes because Fleming seemed to have enjoyed causing pain to Dahl.<ref>{{Cite news |date=1955-08-08 |title=Redheads Fleming, Dahl Make Like a Feud |pages=20 |work=[[Democrat and Chronicle]]}}</ref> |
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The film was made when prolific director Allan Dwan was seventy years old. Dwan directed 386 films in his long career and his first work was the silent short ''Strategy,'' produced in [[1911 in film|1911]]. |
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Fleming and John Payne had recently appeared together in ''[[Tennessee's Partner]]'' (1955), another film produced by Benedict Bogeaus.<ref>{{Cite news |date=1955-07-17 |title=Redheads Share Top Film Roles |pages=22 |work=[[The Chattanooga Times]]}}</ref> |
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===Cinematography=== |
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According to critic Blake Lucas the film was made with a modest budget, and yet the film is richly colored and well decorated and is one of the best of the Dwan-Alton pictures. Lucas wrote, "[[John Alton|Alton]]'s imagination in lighting is as distinctive in color as it is in [[black and white]]." Alton uses extensive shadows and large black areas, and he accentuates an array of pinks, greens, and especially the color orange. The end result is a startling effect in many of the scenes, all in [[Technicolor]].<ref>[[Alain Silver|Silver, Alain]] and Elizabeth Ward. ''Film Noir: An Encyclopedic Reference to the American Style,'' film noir analysis by Blake Lucas, page 260. The Overlook Press, 3rd edition, 1992.</ref> |
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==Reception== |
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==Critical reception== |
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In a contemporary review for ''[[The New York Times]]'', critic [[Bosley Crowther]] wrote: "Two red-headed women and one fat-headed man are the principal characters ... In the end all their faces are red. So, we say, should be the faces of the people responsible for this film, which is said to have been taken from a novel (unrecognizable) of James M. Cain. For it is an exhausting lot of twaddle about crime and city politics, an honest mayor, his secretary-mistress, her kleptomaniacal sister and the fellow who wants to get control of the gang.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Crowther |first=Bosley |date=1956-03-17 |title=Screen: Crime in a City |page=13 |work=[[The New York Times]]}}</ref> |
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Critic and filmmaker [[Jean-Luc Godard]] |
Critic and filmmaker [[Jean-Luc Godard]] included ''Slightly Scarlet'' in his list of the best films of 1956 in ''[[Cahiers du Cinéma]]''.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://alumnus.caltech.edu/~ejohnson/critics/godard.html|title=Jean-Luc Godard's Top Ten Lists 1956-1965|first=Eric C.|last=Johnson|website=alumnus.caltech.edu}}</ref> |
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==See also== |
==See also== |
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{{commons category}} |
{{commons category}} |
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* {{IMDb title|0049769}} |
* {{IMDb title|0049769}} |
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* {{ |
* {{AllMovie title|45178}} |
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* {{ |
* {{TCMDb title|90501}} |
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* {{YouTube|5eZMkeblXEs|''Slightly Scarlet'' film trailer}} |
* {{YouTube|5eZMkeblXEs|''Slightly Scarlet'' film trailer}} |
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[[Category:1950s English-language films]] |
[[Category:1950s English-language films]] |
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[[Category:1950s American films]] |
[[Category:1950s American films]] |
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[[Category:American crime films]] |
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[[Category:English-language crime films]] |
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Latest revision as of 22:19, 19 September 2024
| Slightly Scarlet | |
|---|---|
 Theatrical release poster | |
| Directed by | Allan Dwan |
| Screenplay by | Robert Blees |
| Based on | Love's Lovely Counterfeit by James M. Cain |
| Produced by | Benedict Bogeaus |
| Starring | John Payne Rhonda Fleming Arlene Dahl |
| Cinematography | John Alton |
| Edited by | James Leicester |
| Music by | Louis Forbes |
| Color process | Technicolor |
Production company | Benedict Bogeaus Productions |
| Distributed by | RKO Radio Pictures |
Release date |
|
Running time | 99 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
Slightly Scarlet is a 1956 American crime film starring John Payne, Rhonda Fleming and Arlene Dahl. The film was directed by Allan Dwan, and its cinematographer was John Alton. The script was based on James M. Cain's novel Love's Lovely Counterfeit.
Plot
[edit]The ruthless and uncouth Solly Caspar, the crime boss of Bay City (a fictional town near San Francisco), wishes to defeat a campaign by multimillionaire mayoral reform candidate Frank Jansen. Caspar tasks crooked ex-cop Ben Grace with uncovering dirt on Jansen. Ben follows Jansen's secretary and girlfriend June Lyons to a women's prison to photograph her collecting her sex-starved kleptomaniac sister Dorothy, a multiple ex-con.
Ben is attracted to June and withholds the incriminating evidence from Caspar. He instead gives June an audiotape recording that proves that Caspar killed a crusading newspaper owner who had supported Jansen. Caspar is forced to flee to Mexico. Ben seduces June, steals her from Jansen and, without June's or Caspar's knowledge, takes command of Caspar’s rackets. However, Ben faces resistance from Caspar’s gang, city hall and the police.
Dorothy, who had been attracted to Ben from the start, continues her play for him. She accompanies him to Caspar's former beach house, where there is a safe containing $160,000. Despite Dorothy's advances, Ben remains uninterested. She accidentally fires a spear gun at his head, narrowly missing. After searching the house, Ben is forced to leave without finding the money. To exact revenge for Ben’s rejection, Dorothy tells June that the beach-house trip was a romantic escapade. June confronts Ben, who responds by assuring her that he only wants her.
Dorothy is arrested for stealing a pearl necklace, and June pleads with Ben to intervene on Dorothy's behalf. He persuades his former boss, a former lieutenant who owes him a favor, to release Dorothy and purge her record. Jansen, who still loves June, insists that Dorothy must return to jail.
Caspar returns from Mexico seeking revenge on Ben. At the beach house, Caspar finds a drunken and provocative Dorothy alone, and she attempts to seduce him. When Caspar boastfully scatters the money from the vault on the floor and offers some to Dorothy, she tries to steal even more. Caspar invites her to return to Mexico with him. June arrives, seeking to rescue Dorothy, but Caspar points his gun at her and throws her down on the terrace, where she lands on the spear gun and shoots him with it before firing his own revolver at him twice.
Ben arrives and pleads with June to flee with him and the money, but she refuses. Caspar, still alive after being shot by June, shoots Ben and wounds him. When Caspar’s gang arrives, Ben, June and Dorothy are trapped in a bedroom, but Ben phones the police and calls for a full squad to be dispatched to the house. Caspar's gang tells Ben that if he will leave the bedroom, the women will be spared. Ben emerges and taunts Caspar, who shoots him several times.
The police arrive and arrest Caspar and his gang. Badly wounded, Ben is placed on a stretcher. June speaks to him tenderly before he is placed in an ambulance. Dorothy emerges from the bedroom, seemingly penitent.
Cast
[edit]- John Payne as Ben Grace
- Rhonda Fleming as June Lyons
- Arlene Dahl as Dorothy Lyons
- Kent Taylor as Frank Jansen
- Ted de Corsia as Solly Caspar
- Lance Fuller as Gauss
- Buddy Baer as Lenhardt
- Ellen Corby as June Lyons' Maid (uncredited)
- Frank Gerstle as Detective Lt. Dave Dietz (uncredited)
- Myron Healey as Wilson - Caspar Thug (uncredited)
Production
[edit]Rhonda Fleming and Arlene Dahl, both redheads who had previously competed often for film roles, reportedly feuded on the set. The animosity began when Fleming refused to wear lingerie manufactured and sold by Dahl's company. The women insisted upon separate makeup and wardrobe assistants and flipped a coin to determine who would receive top billing for the film. One account suggested that a scene in which Fleming's character slaps Dahl's character in the face required five takes because Fleming seemed to have enjoyed causing pain to Dahl.[2]
Fleming and John Payne had recently appeared together in Tennessee's Partner (1955), another film produced by Benedict Bogeaus.[3]
Reception
[edit]In a contemporary review for The New York Times, critic Bosley Crowther wrote: "Two red-headed women and one fat-headed man are the principal characters ... In the end all their faces are red. So, we say, should be the faces of the people responsible for this film, which is said to have been taken from a novel (unrecognizable) of James M. Cain. For it is an exhausting lot of twaddle about crime and city politics, an honest mayor, his secretary-mistress, her kleptomaniacal sister and the fellow who wants to get control of the gang.[4]
Critic and filmmaker Jean-Luc Godard included Slightly Scarlet in his list of the best films of 1956 in Cahiers du Cinéma.[5]
See also
[edit]References
[edit]- ^ "Simply Scarlett". American Film Institute. Retrieved December 1, 2020.
- ^ "Redheads Fleming, Dahl Make Like a Feud". Democrat and Chronicle. 1955-08-08. p. 20.
- ^ "Redheads Share Top Film Roles". The Chattanooga Times. 1955-07-17. p. 22.
- ^ Crowther, Bosley (1956-03-17). "Screen: Crime in a City". The New York Times. p. 13.
- ^ Johnson, Eric C. "Jean-Luc Godard's Top Ten Lists 1956-1965". alumnus.caltech.edu.
External links
[edit]
- Slightly Scarlet at IMDb
- ‹The template AllMovie title is being considered for deletion.› Slightly Scarlet at AllMovie
- Slightly Scarlet at the TCM Movie Database
- Slightly Scarlet film trailer on YouTube