Slightly Scarlet (1956 film): Difference between revisions

Slightly Scarlet
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	February 8, 1956;
Running time	99 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English

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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

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

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

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

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]

References

^ "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

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

[1] "Simply Scarlett". American Film Institute. Retrieved December 1, 2020.

[2] "Redheads Fleming, Dahl Make Like a Feud". Democrat and Chronicle. 1955-08-08. p. 20.

[3] "Redheads Share Top Film Roles". The Chattanooga Times. 1955-07-17. p. 22.

[4] Crowther, Bosley (1956-03-17). "Screen: Crime in a City". The New York Times. p. 13.

[5] Johnson, Eric C. "Jean-Luc Godard's Top Ten Lists 1956-1965". alumnus.caltech.edu.

[1]

[2]

[3]

[4]

[5]

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 }}
-'''''Slightly Scarlet''''' is a 1956 American [[crime film]], with some  [[film noir]]ish elements,  based on [[James M. Cain]]'s novel ''Love's Lovely Counterfeit''. It was directed by [[Allan Dwan]], and its [[widescreen]] [[cinematography]] was by [[John Alton]].
+'''''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]]''.
-The picture tells the story of Ben Grace ([[John Payne (actor)|John Payne]]), a crooked cop working for a powerful metropolitan [[crime boss]]&mdash;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” employed as a romantic interest, and [[Arlene Dahl]], a “bad girl” ex-con providing lots of plot complications, add interest to a vibrant technicolor production.
 ==Plot==
-The ruthless Solly Caspar is fighting to retain control of Bay City's criminal activities when Frank Jansen ([[Kent Taylor]]), an honest man and [[mayor]]al hopeful, begins a strong anti-crime campaign.  Caspar tasks his right-hand man Ben Grace to dig up some dirt on the candidate and ruin his chances of election.
+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 follows the candidate's redheaded secretary, June Lyons ([[Rhonda Fleming]]), to a [[jail]] where she's picking up her equally scarlet-tressed and sexy [[kleptomaniac]] sister Dorothy ([[Arlene Dahl]]).   June is Jansen's girlfriend as well, but their relationship is still only social, and there's nothing to work with&mdash;but in the process of following her, Ben has become attracted to June.
-Ben gives June incriminating evidence about Caspar, who slapped him around for not providing any dirt on June's boss.  A tape Ben made proves Caspar killed a crusading newspaperman supporting Jansen, and Caspar is forced to leave the city. Ben takes over the rackets, unbeknownst to June.
+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.
-Meanwhile, her sexually charged sister is attracted to Ben. She makes a play for him at a beach house previously belonging to Caspar and nearly kills Ben by accident with a spear gun.  She goes for a swim in a leopard-pattern bathing suit, and afterwards we see them on the sofa, her fully dressed and looking very satisfied, while Ben looks guilty.  Learning that he's never taken June there, Dorothy says "Score one for little sister", and later tells June they had sex.   June later confronts Ben about this, and he never responds directly to the accusation, but says it's June he really wants.  She wonders if it's really both of them he's after.
+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.
-While Ben and Dorothy are still at the beach house, one of Caspar's men who was jailed because of Ben's information comes after him with a gun, but Ben wounds him—then tells him he's the one who bailed him out.
+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.
-When the police arrest Dorothy for stealing a necklace, Ben intervenes on her behalf, making June finally realize that he's not as honest as he seemed. Jansen, who loves June, insists that her sister must go back to jail.
+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.
-Caspar returns for revenge and finds Dorothy alone in the beach house. She throws herself at Caspar and his money, not even minding when June shows up and Caspar decides to murder her. June shoots him with the spear gun, then twice with his own gun.
+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.
-Ben arrives and wants June to go away with him and the money. She refuses. Caspar, not yet dead, wounds Ben, then gathers his men, and comes back to finish the job.  Ben gives himself up on condition June and Dorothy won't be hurt, and mocks Caspar, who shoots him several times—not realizing Ben has called his friend Dietz, the chief of police, and he is just arriving on the scene with a full squad. The police enter the house and arrest Caspar and his men, breaking the gang once and for all.  A badly wounded Ben is taken to the hospital, his fate uncertain, and June goes with him, leaving Dorothy with Jansen.
 ==Cast==
@@ Line 55: / Line 51: @@
 * [[Myron Healey]] as Wilson - Caspar Thug (uncredited)
-==Background==
+==Production==
+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>
-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]].
+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>
-===''Noir'' cinematography===
-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>
+==Reception==
-==Critical reception==
-[[Bosley Crowther]], film critic for ''[[The New York Times]]'', was caustic about the casting and the adaptation of Cain's novel, and wrote: "Rhonda Fleming and a laughably kittenish Arlene Dahl, are a couple of on-the-make sisters, and the fellow, played by John Payne, is an on-the-make big-time gangster. 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>[https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9E0CEED61538E637A25754C1A9659C946792D6CF&sec=&spon=&pagewanted=print Crowther, Bosley]." ''The New York Times,'' film review, March 17, 1956. Last accessed: December 4, 2007.</ref>
+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>
-Critic and filmmaker [[Jean-Luc Godard]] was kinder to the film, placing it fifth in his list of the best films of 1956 in ''[[Cahiers du Cinema]]''.<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>
+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>
 ==See also==
@@ Line 75: / Line 70: @@
 {{commons category}}
 * {{IMDb title|0049769}}
-* {{Amg movie|45178}}
+* {{AllMovie title|45178}}
-* {{tcmdb title|90501}}
+* {{TCMDb title|90501}}
 * {{YouTube|5eZMkeblXEs|''Slightly Scarlet'' film trailer}}
@@ Line 83: / Line 78: @@
 [[Category:1956 films]]
 [[Category:1956 crime films]]
-[[Category:American films]]
 [[Category:Color film noir]]
-[[Category:English-language films]]
 [[Category:Films based on American novels]]
 [[Category:Films based on works by James M. Cain]]
 [[Category:Films directed by Allan Dwan]]
 [[Category:American mystery films]]
+[[Category:1950s English-language films]]
+[[Category:1950s American films]]
+[[Category:American crime films]]
+[[Category:English-language crime films]]

v t e Films directed by Allan Dwan
1910s	Woman's Honor (1913) Calamity Anne's Vanity (1913) Quicksands (1913) The Greater Love (1913) Her Big Story (1913) The Restless Spirit (1913) Back to Life (1913) Red Margaret, Moonshiner (1913) Bloodhounds of the North (1913) The Lie (1914) The Honor of the Mounted (1914) Remember Mary Magdalen (1914) Discord and Harmony (1914) The Menace to Carlotta (1914) The Embezzler (1914) The Lamb, the Woman, the Wolf (1914) The End of the Feud (1914) The Tragedy of Whispering Creek (1914) The Unlawful Trade (1914) The Forbidden Room (1914) The Hopes of Blind Alley (1914) Richelieu (1914) The Unwelcome Mrs. Hatch (1914) Wildflower (1914) The County Chairman (1914) The Straight Road (1914) The Conspiracy (1914) The Dancing Girl (1915) A Small Town Girl (1915) David Harum (1915) The Love Route (1915) The Commanding Officer (1915) May Blossom (1915) The Pretty Sister of Jose (1915) A Girl of Yesterday (1915) Jordan Is a Hard Road (1915) The Habit of Happiness (1916) The Good Bad-Man (1916) An Innocent Magdalene (1916) Manhattan Madness (1916) Fifty-Fifty (1916) Accusing Evidence (1916) Fighting Odds (1917) A Modern Musketeer (1917) Panthea (1917) Headin' South (1918) Mr. Fix-It (1918) Bound in Morocco (1918) He Comes Up Smiling (1918) Cheating Cheaters (1919) Soldiers of Fortune (1919)
1920s	The Luck of the Irish (1920) The Scoffer (1920) The Forbidden Thing (1920) A Splendid Hazard (1920) A Perfect Crime (1921) The Sin of Martha Queed (1921) A Broken Doll (1921) The Hidden Woman (1922) Douglas Fairbanks in Robin Hood (1922) Lawful Larceny (1923) Zaza (1923) Big Brother (1923) A Society Scandal (1924) Manhandled (1924) Her Love Story (1924) Wages of Virtue (1924) Argentine Love (1924) The Coast of Folly (1925) Night Life of New York (1925) Stage Struck (1925) Sea Horses (1926) Padlocked (1926) Tin Gods (1926) Summer Bachelors (1926) The Music Master (1927) The Joy Girl (1927) East Side, West Side (1927) French Dressing (1927) The Big Noise (1928) The Iron Mask (1929) Tide of Empire (1929) The Far Call (1929) Frozen Justice (1929) South Sea Rose (1929)
1930s	What a Widow! (1930) Man to Man (1930) Chances (1931) Wicked (1931) While Paris Sleeps (1932) Her First Affaire (1932) Counsel's Opinion (1933) I Spy (1934) Black Sheep (1935) Navy Wife (1935) Song and Dance Man (1936) Human Cargo (1936) High Tension (1936) 15 Maiden Lane (1936) Woman-Wise (1937) That I May Live (1937) One Mile from Heaven (1937) Heidi (1937) Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm (1938) Suez (1938) Josette (1938) The Three Musketeers (1939) The Gorilla (1939)
1940s	Frontier Marshal (1939) Sailor's Lady (1940) Young People (1940) Trail of the Vigilantes (1940) Look Who's Laughing (1941) Rise and Shine (1941) Friendly Enemies (1942) Here We Go Again (1942) Around the World (1943) Abroad with Two Yanks (1944) Up in Mabel's Room (1944) Brewster's Millions (1945) Getting Gertie's Garter (1945) Rendezvous with Annie (1946) Calendar Girl (1947) Northwest Outpost (1947) Driftwood (1947) The Inside Story (1948) Angel in Exile (1948) Sands of Iwo Jima (1949)
1950s	Surrender (1950) Belle Le Grand (1951) The Wild Blue Yonder (1951) I Dream of Jeanie (1952) Montana Belle (1952) Woman They Almost Lynched (1953) Sweethearts on Parade (1953) Flight Nurse (1953) Silver Lode (1954) Passion (1954) Cattle Queen of Montana (1954) Escape to Burma (1955) Pearl of the South Pacific (1955) Tennessee's Partner (1955) Slightly Scarlet (1956) Hold Back the Night (1956) The River's Edge (1957) The Restless Breed (1957) Enchanted Island (1958)
1960s	Most Dangerous Man Alive (1961)