SLIGHTLY SCARLET (1956)

Lesser James M. Cain from budget-conscious producer Benedict Bogeaus & vet helmer Allan Dwan is a pretty mixed bag.  At its WideScreen TechniColored best giving some idea of what Douglas Sirk might have done with a Cain novel, but too often not at its best, just slightly ridiculous.  (Something Sirk crucially skirted in his finest socially aware melodramas.)  Secretary Rhonda Fleming and kleptomaniac sister Arlene Dahl play good redhead/bad redhead against John Payne, the ‘good’ badman they’re both interested in.  A mob guy with a conscience, he’s trying to play both sides of the fence running the gang while nasty conscienceless boss Ted de Corsia takes it ‘on the lam’ after roughing up a newspaper editor, killing the old guy.  Fleming, who works for the newly elected mayor, can’t see that Payne is using her to place mob-friendly pals in power positions; she’s too busy cleaning up Dahl’s latest mess and worrying over her deteriorating mental condition.  Eventually, de Corsia returns home to push Payne out of the picture and everything comes to a head.  It’s a neat construct, especially watching Payne, who’s sympathetic side curdles with easy access to power, but characterization & plotting are barely sketched in.  And what’s with secretary Fleming’s high-end lifestyle?  To say nothing of Dahl’s OTT crazy & crazier nympho act.  Sirk would have had a ball, but Dwan as so often, merely gets in & out as painlessly as possible.  A missed opportunity then.  But probably too outré to revisit today.  Still, who’d want to skip cinematographer John Alton doing his ‘Prince of Darkness’ film noir thing in TechniColor R.K.O. SuperScope.

ATTENTION MUST BE PAID: Seeing redheads Dahl & Fleming together on screen is nearly as satisfying as having British character actors Reginald Gardiner, Reginald Denny & Reginald Owen all in the same pic.  Finally, able to get ‘em straight.

CONTEST: The DVD edition from VCI Entertainment comes with three John M. Cain movie trailers (THE POSTMAN ALWAYS RINGS TWICE and DOUBLE INDEMNITY/’44 the other two).  A rare, if not unique example of one video company plugging a competitor’s product.  It’s a tactic found in the best known work of one of this film’s stars.  Name the star, the film where this helpful customer courtesy occurs and the specific new policy to win a MAKSQUIBS Write-Up of your choosing.