It is difficult to say who is better, Rhonda Fleming or Arlene Dahl, since they are both outstanding in this very colourful noir full of surprises and violent turnings for the better and for the worse, but Arlene Dahl certainly steals the show. She is totally out in every way, flirting like mad and screwing everryone's heads off by her dauting whims, challenging all human sense of realism and common sense, but her performance is magnificent. Rhonda Fleming is always good and here as her rescuer as the elder sister who always took care of her and who understands her better than anyone else, while it is very uncommon to se John Payne in a dubious role as half honest and half deeply involved in a gangster racket, which he doesn't even try to get out of, since he wants to enjoy both sides of the law. He is always good, but here he makes a role of genuine puzzlement. It's a fantastic film for its splendid technicolour and gorgeous music all the way, the acting is as convincing as in any professional noir, although the plot is a little confusing for its many edges and sudden twists between good and right, corruption and honesty, good will and intentional evil, in brief, it's a hard blended cocktail which naturally must end up in a violent settlement. But it sure all is enjoyable.
Review of Slightly Scarlet
Slightly Scarlet
(1956)
Exotic mixture of black noir and scarlet romance with no winner
2 September 2023