Alicia I love this movie so much

Lawbolisted Powerful

Invaderbank The film creates a perfect balance between action and depth of basic needs, in the midst of an infertile atmosphere.

AshUnow This is a small, humorous movie in some ways, but it has a huge heart. What a nice experience.

st-shot Warner Brothers 30s 40s director Michael Curtiz was well past his prime when he made this lower tier work rich in both mood and atmospherics for Paramount. Grazing in Billy Wilder Double Indemnity territory it lacks the first string line-up of Stanwyck, MacMurray and Robinson but the second team acquits itself well enough to make this a pretty suspenseful piece."Marsh" Marshall (Tom Tryon) and his boss's wife Pauline are having some illicit recreation at a local lover's lane when they overhear three men planning a major heist. Pauline, the spine in the relationship concocts an idea to rob them after they pull the job. The pliable Marsh (mellow?) blinded by Pauline's sexiness and passion reluctantly goes along.Well paced Scarlet Hour runs on deception and betrayal with plenty of double cross along the way weaving in the thieves subplot to the major theme of the adulterous leads seamlessly as fatale Pauline must manipulate three men to her grand plan. Tryon and Ohmarht are fine if inconsistent at times while a supporting cast of hang dog looking pros (James Gregory, EG Marshall, Edward Binns, Elaine Strich, Rene Aubuchon, James Lewis) add sober gravitas.Special mention goes to the camera work of Lionel Liddon who keeps us in the dark (a majority of the film takes place in the evening) with some bold chiaroscuro compositions that up the noir tenor and elevate Scarlet Hour to an impressive overachiever.

MartinHafer Emil Zola isn't a guy you normally associate with screenplays, but this 19th century writer penned a story that's often been reworked by other writers into best selling books and movies. James M. Cain's novel "The Postman Always Rings Twice" was essentially the Zola story reworked into a contemporary setting. And, "The Scarlet Hour" is essentially the same notion. All these stories are about an adulterous wife who is bored by her husband and ultimately ends up killing the husband. This is only half the story...the other half is how the killer falls apart psychologically and ultimately pays the price for their infamy.When the film begins, Pauline (Carol Ohmart) is having an affair with Marsh (Tom Tryon). Little does the husband (James Gregory) know that his most trusted employee is his wife's lover! Ultimately, the wicked wife convinces the lover to participate in a robbery in which they'll steal from the husband...and the husband is killed in the process. After, Marsh is pretty cool...but Pauline is a mess at times and definitely the weak link in the plan. This is interesting, because before SHE was the cool one...the femme fatale...yet now she's going to blow it unless she cools it and fast.So is this variation on the old story any good? Yes, though I think the story does suffer a bit in the way the wife acts throughout the film. I mentioned above how cold and dangerous she is. After all, the plan is hers. But then she gets a bad case of nerves...which, considering the first portion of the film really is not consistent nor does it make a lot of sense. This does not ruin the film...it's just a strike against it. As far as the rest of it goes, it's enough of a reworking that it still is interesting and worth your time. Well made...just not super-original.

mark.waltz She's a tramp married to a violent older man, He's an employee of that very jealous husband who knows she's a tramp but can't prove it. They are desperate to escape her miserable existence, but she's reluctant to leave the financial support she gets behind. So while they are hiding out in lover's lane, they overhear the plot to rob a house while the owners are out of town. So she suggests that they rob the robbers and go on the run, and he becomes the total sap and agrees. But things don't always go as planned, and gunshots go off, turning their plot upside down and leaving somebody presumably dead.Carol Ohmart is the seductive young wife with James Gregory ("The Manchurian Candidate") as her husband who is determined to help employee Tom Tryon move ahead in his real estate business, unaware that he's helped himself to Gregory's hearth and home already. The heat between the two lovers is undeniable, and Ohmart isn't without some heart. Of course, Tryon is totally suckered into her schemes, and witnessing the violence that Gregory inflicts on his wife, it's difficult not to blame Ohmart for plotting against him. Jody Lawrence displays vulnerability as Gregory's secretary, giving her all in a scene where Tryon walks into hear her taking dictation from a tape-recorder of the dead man. Later, Tryon finds out that his boss was onto him, and now he must really figure out how he's going to get out of this mess.The wonderful Elaine Stritch is an instant scene-stealer as Ohmart's old burlesque girlfriend, singing a bit of "When I take my sugar to tea". Fresh from success on Broadway, this was Stritch's film debut, and even though her part has no bearing on the plot, she does get to provide not only an alibi to Ohmart but good insight into her fun-loving character as well. "General Hospital's" very first Edward Quartermain (David Lewis) is present as the mastermind behind the home break-in, while E.G. Marshall is the law enforcement officer put in charge of the investigation. "This is one for T.V.", Marshall comments, realizing that the case he's on (which appears to be suicide since Gregory was killed by his own gun) is more convoluted than anything on "Perry Mason" or "Dragnet".A nice little sleeper of a film noir (late in the genre), this isn't anything we haven't seen before ("Double Indemnity", "Decoy", "Out of the Past" cover pretty much the same territory), but it is extremely well crafted. This shows how people who get involved in these types of situations crack under the pressure of not knowing what's going on in the minds of everybody else around them and how they pretty much do themselves in through just the emotion of guilt and paranoia. Director Michael Curtiz makes this speed along like a cross-country train where the only thing waiting at the end of the line is retribution and justice.

melvelvit-1 E.V. "Marsh" Marshall (Tom Tryon) is an up-and-coming sales manager for the Ralph Nevin (James Gregory) real estate empire but little does Ralph know that his top employee is having an affair with his slinky wife "Paulie" (Carol Ohmart). Parked in a lover's lane one night, Marsh and Paulie overhear plans for a quarter million dollar jewel heist and high tail it out of there but it does plant a seed. Paulie's husband beats her and she wants out but she came from the tenements and doesn't want to go back so she begs Marsh to help her break free by ripping off the jewel robbers... There's twists and turns galore in Michael Curtiz' suspense-filled '50s noir that for some reason remains unsung. This was no B-movie, either; it's a Paramount film in VistaVison produced and directed by an Academy Award winner with a sure hand for this sort of thing from a story by Frank Tashlin, of all people. The film "introduces" Tom Tryon, Carol Ohmart, and Jody Lawrance and although none of them went on to major stardom, Tom and Carol had respectable second tier careers. Ohmart was a very sexy lady with the kind of cruel beauty that lent itself well to femme fatale roles and handsome Tom conveys "conflicted" convincingly. Elaine Stritch (her feature film debut, as well) adds heart as Paulie's floozy friend from the old days before she married well and E.G. Marshall's on hand as the investigating police detective. Nat King Cole croons "Never Let Me Go" in the Crystal Room of the Beverly Hills Hotel. Recommended.