The Scarlet Hour
The Scarlet Hour is a 1956 American crime drama film directed and produced by Michael Curtiz, previously director of such noted films as Casablanca, Yankee Doodle Dandy and White Christmas.
| The Scarlet Hour | |
|---|---|
 Theatrical release poster | |
| Directed by | Michael Curtiz |
| Produced by | Michael Curtiz |
| Screenplay by | John Meredyth Lucas Alford Van Ronkel Frank Tashlin |
| Based on | "The Kiss Off" by Frank Tashlin |
| Starring | Carol Ohmart Tom Tryon Jody Lawrance Elaine Stritch |
| Music by | Leith Stevens |
| Cinematography | Lionel Lindon |
| Edited by | Everett Douglas |
| Distributed by | Paramount Pictures |
Release date |
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Running time | 95 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
The film stars Carol Ohmart, Tom Tryon, Jody Lawrance and Elaine Stritch. The screenplay was based on the story "The Kiss Off" by Frank Tashlin. The song "Never Let Me Go", written by Jay Livingston and Ray Evans, is performed by Nat King Cole. UCLA has an original 16 mm copy of the film in its Film and Television Archive.
A 35mm studio archive print was screened at the Noir City festival in Seattle in February 2019.[1]
Plot
E. V. Marshall, known to all as "Marsh," works for wealthy real-estate businessman Ralph Nevins and is having a romantic affair with Ralph's unhappy wife, Paulie. He asks her to get a divorce, but Paulie grew up impoverished and refuses to do without her husband's money.
One night they overhear thieves planning a jewelry robbery of the home of a doctor named Lynbury. They do not go to the police, concerned that Ralph might learn they were together. When she returns home later, however, Paulie is physically assaulted by her angry husband.
Suspicious of her behavior, Ralph tells his secretary Kathy Stevens that he's planning to take his wife on a vacation and permit Marsh to run the company in his absence. Ralph then follows Paulie when she sees Marsh. Now willing to do anything to get away from her husband, Paulie pleads with Marsh to rob the jewels from the thieves as they leave Dr. Lynbury's house.
At the scene of the crime, where Marsh successfully steals the gems from the thieves who have robbed Dr. Lynbury's home, Ralph catches Marsh and Paulie in the act and Paulie shoots him. Gunfire from the thieves makes Marsh believe they were the ones who shot Ralph.
As the police investigate, Kathy discovers that Ralph has secretly made a recording, explaining his suspicions about his wife. Kathy is in love with Marsh, who decides to go to the police and confess. It turns out, meanwhile, that Dr. Lynbury has masterminded the burglary of his own home, looking to collect insurance money after having replaced his wife's jewels with worthless fakes. Police eventually place Lynbury under arrest and Paulie as well, with Marsh's cooperation.
Cast
- Carol Ohmart as Paulie
- Tom Tryon as Marsh
- James Gregory as Ralph
- Jody Lawrance as Kathy
- Elaine Stritch as Phyllis Rycker
- David Lewis as Lynbury
- E. G. Marshall as Lt. Jennings
- Edward Binns as Allen
- Richard Deacon
Reception
The film received mixed reviews from critics. The Times wrote, "It is a very drab hour and a half, in the company of actors who have not yet established their reputations and are unlikely to achieve them as a result of this movie. The story combines a rather unsavory triangle with a jewel robbery and the director Mr. Curtiz has achieved a certain amount of suspense but little else."[2]
David Bongard of the Herald Express wrote that "Carol Ohmart is the sultry boss's wife. She has an amazing physical resemblance, in some angles, to Barbara Stanwyck. Obviously she's Curtiz's Galatea in the acting field. If the material weren't so childish and over-dramatic, she might have made a bull's-eye with this. She soon might be capable of the stuff of a Stanwyck or a Bette Davis."[3]
Critic Leonard Maltin gave the film a lukewarm review, referring to it as a "sluggish study of marital discord leading to murder."
In an interview with New York Magazine, Elaine Stritch referred to it as being her worst film, primarily due to her limited role; she said, "The part was so terrible it looked like I was visiting the set: I had nothing to say. I just kept running into places saying, 'Hi!' The worst.". In People magazine, she was quoted as saying "The first film I did [The Scarlet Hour] was shown in a Greenwich Village art house as a laughable exercise in how not to make a movie."[4]
References
- Seattle International Film Festival program
- "Mr. Alfred Hitchcock as the life and soul of the wake: The Trouble with Harry". The Times. May 7, 1956. Retrieved December 3, 2016.
- Barrios, Greg (January 1, 1989). "In Search of the Last Starlet : One fan's quest for the mysterious Carol Ohmart". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved December 3, 2016.
- Stark, John (January 11, 1988). "Alone in the September of Her Years, Elaine Stritch Beats Booze to Score a Comeback in a Woody Allen Drama". People Magazine. Retrieved October 26, 2017.