Tonight's Movie: The Scarlet Hour (1956) - A Kino Lorber Blu-ray Review

THE SCARLET HOUR (1956) has had its long-awaited U.S. release for home viewing as part of the Kino Lorber Dark Side of Cinema XXII collection.

I was fortunate to see this previously overlooked film at the 2019 Arthur Lyons Film Noir Festival. Although this Paramount Pictures movie has had releases in Europe and Australia, to my knowledge this new Blu-ray is its first U.S. disc release. I've been unable to verify whether it ever was released on VHS.

THE SCARLET HOUR is a twisty 95-minute crime film directed by Michael Curtiz. It was filmed in slick-looking black and white VistaVision by Lionel Lindon, shown off to excellent effect on Kino Lorber's Blu-ray.

Carol Ohmart plays Pauline "Paulie" Nevins, who is unhappily married to the older Ralph (James Gregory), a real estate developer. Paulie is having an affair with Ralph's righthand man, "Marsh" Marshall (played by future novelist Tom Tryon).

One evening the couple are parked at a lovers' lane when a trio of men pull up. Paulie and Marsh stay out of sight as they listen to the men plan a lucrative burglary. Paulie then gets the idea that if she and Marsh swipe the jewelry from the burglars, they'll have enough to run away together.

Oh, what a tangled web...especially as Ralph has become suspicious of Paulie and follows her on the night of the fateful burglary.

I'll hold off saying anything further to avoid spoilers, but suffice it to say this is a well-played and engaging film with a couple fun plot developments which come out of left field.

This was my second time to watch the movie, and I enjoyed it just as much as the first time. That's due in part to the excellent cast, with Ohmart terrific as a woman who's simultaneously icy and red hot, depending on what she wants.

Tryon is just right as her slightly dim-witted dupe, and Gregory is his usual dependable self as her husband. Ralph wants to make things right with his wife, but unfortunately he also has a violent side; Gregory somehow manages to be both touching and creepy.

The marvelous supporting cast includes Jody Lawrance as Ralph's secretary, who quietly carries a torch for Marsh; E.G. Marshall and Edward Binns as the detectives on the case; future Emmy-winner David Lewis (GENERAL HOSPITAL) as the burglary victim; Richard Deacon as a jewelry store employee; and Elaine Stritch as Paulie's friend.

When I watched the film I remembered spotting famed "dress extra" Bess Flowers in a nightclub scene the first time around; I was then able to add her to the film's IMDb cast.

Best of all, the movie features Nat King Cole performing twice at the Beverly Hills Hotel. The Jay Livingston-Ray Evans song "Never Let Me Go," which I knew long before the movie, was written for this film.

The Blu-ray print is an HD master from a 4K scan. As is typical for Kino Lorber, the movie looks and sounds terrific.

Extras consist of a three-film trailer gallery and a commentary track by Michael Curtiz biographer Alan K. Rode.

I need to listen to the commentary to find out if the funeral scene was filmed, as I suspect, across the street from Paramount at the Hollywood Forever Cemetery. The movie was also shot in several other locations in the Greater Los Angeles area.

The other films in this Dark Side of Cinema collection are THE ENFORCER (1951), a terrific Humphrey Bogart film I'll be reviewing here soon, and the highly enjoyable PLUNDER ROAD (1957). I love all of the Dark Side of Cinema sets, but XXII is especially recommended.

Thanks to Kino Lorber for providing a review copy of this Blu-ray collection.

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