| The Scarf | |
| Director: | Ewald André Dupont |
| Producer: | Isadore Goldsmith |
| Screenplay: | Ewald André Dupont |
| Story: | Isadore Goldsmith E.A. Rolfe |
| Starring: | John Ireland Mercedes McCambridge James Barton Emlyn Williams |
| Music: | Herschel Burke Gilbert |
| Cinematography: | Franz Planer |
| Editing: | Joseph Gluck |
| Studio: | Gloria Productions Inc. |
| Distributor: | United Artists |
| Runtime: | 93 minutes |
| Country: | United States |
| Language: | English |
The Scarf is a 1951 American film noir written and directed by Ewald André Dupont starring John Ireland, Mercedes McCambridge, James Barton, and Emlyn Williams.[1] The screenplay concerns a man who escapes from an insane asylum and tries to convince a crusty hermit, a drifting saloon singer, and himself that he is not a murderer.
John Ireland stars as John Barrington, an escapee from an institution for the criminally insane. Actually, Barrington is not insane, but the victim of a plot orchestrated by a clever murderer. The only person who believes Barrington's story is Ezra Thompson (James Barton) a turkey farmer who hides him from the authorities. Then a singing waitress named Cash-and-Carry Connie (Mercedes McCambridge) unwittingly provides the clue that will prove Barrington's innocence. Emlyn Williams co-stars as a psychiatrist.
Film critic Bosley Crowther panned the film, "For a picture so heavily loaded with lengthy and tedious talk, talk, talk, The Scarf, the new tenant at the Park Avenue, has depressingly little to say. As a matter of fact, it expresses, in several thousand words of dialogue—and in a running-time that amounts to just four minutes short of an hour and a half—perhaps the least measure of intelligence or dramatic continuity that you are likely to find in any picture, current or recent, that takes itself seriously."[2]
Film critic Manny Farber writing in the May 26, 1951 issue of The Nation characterizes The Scarf as “a disjointed, monstrously affected psycho-mystery freak show.” [3] Farber adds: