Scarlet Street : The Ending …

The Ending …

The only punishments Chris suffers are the self-inflicted ones of guilt and destitution, yet in The Strange Affair of Uncle Harry, made soon after in 1945, the Hays Office insisted that that a similar ending was unacceptable. WAs this permitted in Scarlet Street because Lang was following Renoir's example or was there some other reason?

Re: The Ending …

"The only punishments Chris suffers are the self-inflicted ones of guilt and destitution"
The only??? Have you actually watched the film? The ending (actually the entire story) is truly sad and depressing beyond words.

Here you have a guy who is a born loser, a hen-pecked doormat who has never had any friends or lovers. He likely never did. The loneliness he feels in his life is and must always have been all encompassing. He is desperate for any kind of human contact and compassion which makes him the perfect pawn in other people's games.
He has one talent which he throws away for the love of Kitty. Because of his love for her he descends deeper and deeper into a web of lies, deceit, obsession, embezzlement and finally murder and madness.
In the end he loses absolutely everything. His love, his job, his home, the success he may have had as a celebrated painter, his self-respect and his mind. It is quite obvious that "nobody ever gets away with murder" as the guy on the train says. Chris Cross is most certainly atoning for his sins if any man ever did.

From the very beginning there is no hope in this movie and in the end no redemption. The Hays Code was clearly satisfied with this ending.

Jessica Rabbit
"I'm not bad. I'm just drawn that way."

Re: The Ending …



The Hays Code was clearly satisfied with this ending.
Then why wasn't it satisfied in The Strange Affair of Uncle Harry, where the Hays Office insisted that just such an ending couldn't be allowed? Why could Lang have an ending that violated the Hays Code, where Siodmak couldn't?

Re: The Ending …

I'm not sure why the Hays Office was satisfied with the ending here and not the one in Uncle Harry, after all they did not take me into their confidence. :)

But from the way I see it, the endings are not really the same. Chris Cross is without question punished for his crimes. He loses everything and goes mad. There is never any question of hope for him.Unconventional punishment but punishment nevertheless.

Harry would have gone on living, with guilt no doubt but he would not have been left destitute and mad.

Jessica Rabbit
"I'm not bad. I'm just drawn that way."
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