Scarlet Street (1945)

Walking home late at night, a middle aged  and unhappily married cashier (Edward G. Robinson) for a clothing retailer sees a young woman (Joan Bennett) being attacked by a drunken assailant (Dan Duryea). After rescuing her, he becomes enamored of her and she ends up being his mistress. What he doesn't know is that the assailant is her lover and together, they plot to milk him for money. Based on the novel LA CHIENNE by Georges De La Fouchardiere (previously filmed in 1931 by Jean Renoir) and directed by Fritz Lang (WOMAN IN THE WINDOW). An excellent film noir that is that rarity, a remake that equals its predecessor although I'll be upfront that I prefer the Lang to the Renoir. One of the reasons is that I found Joan Bennett's manipulative and hard as nails femme fatale infinitely more interesting than her brainless doormat counterpart in LA CHIENNE. It's a tighter film too although its ending is hampered by the still in effect Hays Code while the 1931 version had no such handicap. With Margaret Lindsay, Rosalind Ivan and Vladimir Sokoloff.