One of the definitive noir films, Scarlet Street stands at the confluence of German Expressionism and Classical Hollywood. Financed through a short-lived independent company that director Fritz Lang established with lead actress Joan Bennett and producer Walter Wanger, the film is a faithful adaption of a novel by Georges de La Fouchardière (also turned into a film by Jean Renoir in 1931). Through structurally precise staging, elegant camera movements, and American cinematographer Milton R. Krasner's rich chiaroscuro, Lang turns the gradual unraveling of an amateur painter into his most powerful statement on conscience and the creative imagination.