feelsalike.comSign in
Scarlet Street poster

Movies that feel likeScarlet Street (1945)

Cashier and part-time starving artist Christopher Cross is absolutely smitten with the beautiful Kitty March. Kitty plays along, but she's really only interested in Johnny, a two-bit crook. When Kitty and Johnny find out that art dealers are interested in Chris's work, they con him into letting Kitty take credit for the paintings. Cross allows it because he is in love with Kitty, but his love will only let her get away with so much.

If you loved Scarlet Street, the closest films we have are The Woman in the Window (1944), Mildred Pierce (1945) and Force of Evil (1950). All three share Scarlet Street's contemplative and gritty feel, which is what we rank on before quality.

Seen the big three already? The under-the-radar pick below is Blast of Silence (1961).

πŸ… 100% Rotten Tomatoesβ˜… 7.7 IMDb β†—TMDB β†—dir. Fritz Langcontemplativegrittyatmospheric
8 of 12 streaming nowHBO Max Β· Amazon Prime Video Β· Criterion Channel

Can't choose? Answer three questions and get one movie for tonight.

See it on the Mood Map

When is Scarlet Street streaming? β†’

If Scarlet Street hit the spot, these will too

The Woman in the Window poster
The Woman in the Window
1944 Β· dir. Fritz Lang
πŸ… 83%β˜… 7.6crime Β· drama Β· thrillerPrime Video

Fritz Lang directing both, with the same fingerprints on each

The difference: Leans harder into thriller than Scarlet Street does

A seductive woman gets an innocent professor mixed up in murder.

Mildred Pierce poster
Mildred Pierce
1945 Β· dir. Michael Curtiz
πŸ… 88%β˜… 7.9crime Β· drama

The same two preoccupations: film noir, and murder

A hard-working mother inches towards disaster as she divorces her husband and starts a successful restaurant business to support her spoiled daughter.

Force of Evil poster
Force of Evil
1950 Β· dir. Abraham Polonsky
πŸ… 100%β˜… 7.2crime Β· drama

The same city underneath both: New York City

Lawyer Joe Morse wants to consolidate all the small-time numbers racket operators into one big powerful operation. But his elder brother Leo is one of these small-time operators who wants to stay that way, preferring not to deal with the gangsters who dominate the big-time.

The Set-Up poster
The Set-Up
1949 Β· dir. Robert Wise
πŸ… 85%β˜… 7.8drama Β· crime

Common ground: film noir

Expecting the usual loss, a boxing manager takes bribes from a betting gangster without telling his fighter.

Angels with Dirty Faces poster
Angels with Dirty Faces
1938 Β· dir. Michael Curtiz
πŸ… 100%β˜… 7.8crime Β· drama

Contemplative where it counts, gritty underneath

Childhood chums Rocky Sullivan and Jerry Connelly grow up on opposite sides of the fence: Rocky matures into a prominent gangster, while Jerry becomes a priest, tending to the needs of his old tenement neighborhood.

The Big Combo poster
The Big Combo
1955 Β· dir. Joseph H. Lewis
πŸ… 93%β˜… 7.3drama Β· crime

Drama built on atmosphere, twice over

Police Lt. Leonard Diamond vies to bring a clever, well connected, and sadistic gangster to justice all the while obsessing over the gangster's girlfriend.

M poster
M
1931 Β· dir. Fritz Lang
πŸ… 100%β˜… 8.3drama Β· thriller Β· crimeMax

Both are Fritz Lang's work, and they rhyme

In this classic German thriller, Hans Beckert, a serial killer who preys on children, becomes the focus of a massive Berlin police manhunt. Beckert's heinous crimes are so repellant and disruptive to city life that he is even targeted by others in the seedy underworld network. With both cops and criminals in pursuit, the murderer soon realizes that people are on his trail, sending him into a tense, panicked attempt to escape justice.

Fury poster
Fury
1936 Β· dir. Fritz Lang
πŸ… 95%β˜… 7.8crime Β· drama Β· thriller

Both keep coming back to the same thing: murder

Joe, who owns a gas station along with his brothers and is about to marry Katherine, travels to the small town where she lives to visit her, but is wrongly mistaken for a wanted kidnapper and arrested.

Blast of Silence poster
Blast of Silence
1961 Β· dir. Allen Baron
πŸ… 83%β˜… 7.4crime Β· drama Β· thriller

Crime with a pulse of stillness, in both cases

A hired killer from Cleveland has a job to do on a second-string mob boss in New York. But a special girl from his past and a fat gun dealer with pet rats get in his way.

The Asphalt Jungle poster
The Asphalt Jungle
1950 Β· dir. John Huston
πŸ… 98%β˜… 7.8crime Β· drama

Gritty drama, and it commits to that

Recently paroled from prison, legendary burglar "Doc" Riedenschneider, with funding from Alonzo Emmerich, a crooked lawyer, gathers a small group of veteran criminals together in the Midwest for a big jewel heist.

Odd Man Out poster
Odd Man Out
1947 Β· dir. Carol Reed
πŸ… 100%β˜… 7.6crime Β· drama Β· thrillerMax

Both lean on atmosphere more than on crime

Belfast police conduct a door-to-door manhunt for an IRA gunman wounded in a daring robbery.

Killer's Kiss poster
Killer's Kiss
1955 Β· dir. Stanley Kubrick
πŸ… 83%β˜… 6.5thriller Β· crime Β· dramaPrime Video

Contemplative drama in both cases

Davey Gordon, a New York City boxer at the end of his career, falls for dancer Gloria Price. However, their budding relationship is interrupted by Gloria's violent boss, Vincent Rapallo, who has eyes for Gloria. The two decide to skip town, but before they can, Vincent and his thugs abduct Gloria, and Davey is forced to search for her among the most squalid corners of the city, with his enemy hiding in the shadows.

In the mood for more contemplative?

all contemplative movies β†’

The best-reviewed films that share Scarlet Street’s defining feeling.