Review of Slightly Scarlet
Added 9/8/2009
Well done late noir era study of urban corruption where the femal leads outshine the men. Rhonda
Fleming is, as usual, beautiful, intelligent, and charming. Ted DeCorsia is always fun to watch.
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Late era film noir in color
Added 8/27/2008
A reform candidate's efforts to clean up a mob-controlled town are compromised by his secretary's willingness to cut corners to assure his election as mayor. Meanwhile, the secretary's picture-perfect suburban is life threatened when her kleptomaniac sister is released from prison.
As expected in a film noir, the central characters are of somewhat ambivalent morality. How can a secretary (Rhonda Fleming) afford beautiful clothes, a new convertible, and a large suburban home -- complete with maid, on her salary alone? There are hints she may be her wealthy employer's mistress as well as secretary. A new crime boss (John Payne) is a likable, low key fellow who wants to specialize in nonviolent crimes, such as gambling. Somewhere in the middle is the secretary's kleptomaniac sister (Arlene Dahl) who is clearly mentally ill and steals because she enjoys it. Does she deserve another prison term? Even the straight-arrow mayor is willing to use influence to keep his secretary's sister out of prison. It seems we are all "slightly scarlet".
Though filmed in wide-screen and color -- unusual for a film noir, acclaimed cinematographer John Alton makes effective use of deep shadows to narrow the viewer's perspective when appropriate. The main character's wide, colorful, flatly-lit suburban life becomes increasingly shadowy as her involvement with gangsters deepens.
The commentary track must be one of the worst ever. After telling us the film script is an improvement on the original book, the speaker proceeds to talk about the book, the author, and other books by the author - seldom mentioning the film at all. That's unfortunate because when he does mention the film he usually has something interesting to say about it.
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Battle of the Raging Redheads!
Added 5/4/2008
The novels of James M. Cain were a true challenge to filmmakers of the 1940s and 1950s. With censorship still very much an issue, screenwriters and directors could only hint, or make oblique reference to the very steamy plots and situations he devised. At least two true Cain-inspired classics came out of this era (DOUBLE INDEMNITY and the original THE POSTMAN ALWAYS RINGS TWICE); interestingly, when censorship was no longer an issue, the remake of POSTMAN with its many sex scenes, didn't really work. SLIGHTLY SCARLET is hardly in a class with those two 40s film noir masterpieces, but in its own way, it's a little gem of a melodrama . Misses Dahl and Fleming, two of the screen's most beautiful reheads who are thankfully still with us, battle it out for screen time and glory, and although Ms. Dahl certainly has the flashier part, and gives an appropriately sizzling performance, Ms. Fleming more than holds her own as the "good" sister (the fact that she seems to be sleeping with two men at the same time is never mentioned, but the inference is pretty clear). In any event, both women are extremely effective, as is John Payne, here in his tough-guy period (like Dick Powell, he went from grinning, singing juvenile in the 1930s/early 1940s to become one of the screen's more interesting morally ambiguous men in a series of film noir-type films of the late 1940s/early 1950s). Plenty of violence, and solid direction from veteran Allan Dwan make this a very watchable film.
The VCI Entertainment DVD is pretty good; color is a little washed-out (you can see the more vivid color in the trailer), but it is in widescreen (RKO's answer to Cinemascope, thanks to mogul Howard Hughes, was dubbed "Superscope"), and there are some cool extras, including a still gallery, James Cain bio etc. All in all, worth your time.
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Very Good Melodrama
Added 10/18/2007
"Slightly Scarlet" is an excellent melodrama/film noir. The performances are good and so is the script. I haven't seen Arlene Dahl in many films and was surprised at how good she was in this film.
The colour is excellent but I was quite upset by all the scratches on the print. I don't know if it was just my copy or if that is simply the quality of the old film. About 20% of the film has scratches on the visuals which, to me, is extremely annoying.
Philip Cairns
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Two Torrid Redheads
Added 2/24/2007
"Slightly Scarlet" was released in 1956. This was a period when the film industry had been rocked on its heels by what Hollywood insiders referred to sarcastically as that "little black box" that we call television.
Since this was the period before color television or wide screens the idea was to exploit the advantage that the film medium had by supplying viewers with what television lacked. They sought to motivate television viewers out of their living room easy chairs and back into theaters by providing luscious color and wide screen entertainment.
The trailer for "Slightly Scarlet" revealed the marketing strategy of producer Benedict Bogeaus. To use the quote that football coach Paul Brown of the Cleveland Browns used to describe the impact of his superstar fullback Jim Brown in the days before both of them reached the Hall of Fame in their respective categories, "If you've got a cannon you shoot it."
What was revealed in the trailer was the emphasis on the two female stars. They were referred to as "the two most beautiful redheads" in films. There could be little doubt that the torrid redheads starring in "Slightly Scarlet" deserved the accolade. The only injustice was that the other two redhead beauties of the period, Susan Hayward and Maureen O'Hara, were left out of the equation, but because they were not in the film the omission was therefore understandable.
Rhonda Fleming, who had been discovered in her teens by Henry Willson, who would as an agent guide the careers of Rock Hudson, Tab Hunter and Guy Madison, and who was then casting director for David O. Selznick, made an eye catching debut playing a psychopath with nymphomaniacal tendencies who also likes to physically hurt men in the great Alfred Hitchcock hit, "Spellbound."
So impressive was Fleming's beauty that on one occasion a director and his cinematographer tried diligently on one occasion to photograph her at every conceivable angle to see if they could make her look bad in at least one shot. They were impressed to discover that they could not. Fleming's natural beauty prevailed in every instance.
Fleming in "Slightly Scarlet" plays an executive secretary to a man seeking to reform a city riddled with gangland corruption. Fleming's life becomes complicated when her sister gets out of jail and moves in with her.
The devastating Arlene Dahl, one of the few women who could hold her own against Fleming, the actress who was called "The queen of Technicolor" for good reason, is cast as Fleming's sister. She is both a nymphomaniac and a kleptomaniac, so Fleming is naturally kept busy looking after her.
John Payne, after having a falling out with mob boss Ted de Corsia, seeks help from Fleming and quickly falls in love with her. Dahl complicates things by making a move of her own.
Dahl does such a job of investing her part with gusto, performing in a manner reminiscent of Carol Baker in "Baby Doll," that Leonard Maltin in his review of "Slightly Scarlet" credits the Minnesota born beauty with "stealing the film."
Director Allan Dwan, a veteran of films who began in the silents after a stint as an assistant football coach at his alma mater, Notre Dame, knew about the "twin cannons" he had to shoot in this film, the devastating beauty of two torrid redheads. Considering it was the fifties with the Breen Office very much a factor, the film is daring in the manner that Fleming and Dahl are portrayed as well as attired.
Dwan wisely opts for colorful cinema over realism in a film moving in that direction. For instance, when Fleming springs Dahl from jail the sister who has just been released is attired in the manner of a rich man's wife ready to go shopping on Rodeo Drive.
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Slightly Scarlet: more than slighty good
Added 8/27/2003
This is a fine John Payne movie. It is not a high budget spectacular, but just a finely written little movie. Given the time it was made, it was more than "slightly scarlet." It will seem tame by today's standards, but it is still worth a watch. It is nicely plotted and acted but somewhat soap opera-ish. Go on and try it!
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