Review of The Scarlet Hour

Paramount makes an obvious attempt to groom Carol Ohmart as the next Barbara Stanwyck, but this effort, of course, falls flat on its face. No one could replace Barbara Stanwyck. Curtiz uses all his great skills as a director and there is also a fine script to work with the actors, but they fumble the ball. Tom Tryon is a good-looking man, but gives a very wooden performance in this one. He eventually became a much more accomplished actor later in his career. Elaine Stritch also failed this high-priced screen test. Neither Stritch or Ohmart ever made a dent in film afterwards. Of the two, Ohmart was interesting as an actress, but did not have leading lady gravitas. Still worth viewing to see a good script and good direction.