Scarlet Street

Quite incredible how Lang manages to turn Renoir's provocative poetry into a film noir guilt trip. Robinson and Bennett are amazing as shattered souls desperately trying to escape themselves in a world ruled by all kinds of transactions -- not just through money, but also art, sex, a bottle of scotch, fancy cigars. Love the minimal score sprouting only in decisive moments. Oh, the lies we tell the others and ourselves, the images these very lies produce and the ghosts that follow both. Not even death means a way out. Charles Kemper MVP.