Noir-Iffic

Finally, after untold public-domain releases, Fritz Lang's Scarlet Street is getting a proper DVD release (scroll down), with an audio commentary by David Kalat.

As a remake of Jean Renoir's The Bitch (why do English-speaking critics insist on writing its title in French?), Scarlet Street is not only one of the seminal films noirs, but it provides an interesting case study in what happens when one great filmmaker remakes another's work. As you might expect from the filmmakers and the eras in which the movies were made, Lang's take on the material is quite a bit more mean-spirited.