Joaquim da Silva Fontes, Significação e Estabilidade do Género no ...

instrumental version of “My Melancholy Baby” in Scarlet Street, for example, draws out
in the viewer the mental presence of the words of that song. Back in Kitty’s apartment we
this time listen to the song, and we hear the word “love” over and over, droning, to the
point that the needle sticks and the record skips. 83 The song is just as desolate and dark as
the characters that fill the screen, as it accentuates the fated hopelessness in Chris’s mind,
similar to an on-off buzz that triggers in his head all the time, tormenting and punishing
him as we shall see.
Figure 72. Scarlet Street
The melody becomes fetishistic towards the end of the film as he hears the voice of
Kitty calling Johnny. It hammers in his head so much that it soon leads him to
hallucinations and a suicide attempt. These particular moments remind the spectator of Dr.
Mabuse, in The Testament of Dr. Mabuse (1933), when he nears his end or Hans Beckert
in M when he is captured by the mob of criminals. Both films also directed by Fritz Lang
show echoes of the influence of Weimar cinema and Scarlet Street suggests the thematic
and stylistic stability of his work. Most importantly, German influences manifest
83 This song was originally introduced around 1912 under the title “Melancholy” and was extensively used,
namely in the Warner Brothers 1939 gangster movie The Roaring Twenties (see footnote on p. 77). The
music is by Ernie Burnett and the lyrics by George A. Norton.
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