Night And The City

1950 - 20th Century Fox
Directed By Jules Dassin



SYNOPSIS

Grifter Harry Fabian (Richard Widmark) finds a foolproof way to break into the wrestling promotions racket in London... by recruiting wrestler Gregorius The Great (Stanislaus Zbyszko,) father of main promoter Kristos (Herbert Lom.) Fabian books a fight between one of Kristos' wrestlers and Gregorius' protege. But before the fight Kristos' wrestler attacks Gregorius and kills him. Kristos puts a 1000 Quid price on Fabian's head and soon every lowlife in London is looking for him.

MY THOUGHTS

Though made in England, Night And The City is a perfect fit with American film noir. The look of noir, with its deep, moody, shadowy world, is certainly present, as is it's dark storyline with seemingly every shady character working to sell out and double-cross each other.

The two leads also made a splash in the genre.

Richard Widmark seems to be tailor-made for film noir. His best roles of his early career are ones playing dark, troubled, mentally-shaky, amoral, underworld types. Harry Fabian plays to his strengths and the sleazy swindler is mesmerizing to watch. Fabian is far from a sympathetic character, yet we root for the doomed man anyway. Widmark's performance ranks with his Oscar-nominated debut in the noir Kiss Of Death and he made several other noirs during his early years.

One of the first ladies of film noir, Gene Tierney, is totally wasted here. She only appears occasionally... and her role solely consists of being the tortured girlfriend. All she wants is for Fabian to settle down and get a straight job. Tierney worked in noir many times, most famously as Laura.

After seeing Herbert Lom so many times on the verge of tears and a nervous breakdown as Dreyfus, Inspector Clouseau's boss, in the Pink Panther films, its great to see him in a much darker and sinister role.

Director Jules Dassin weaves a very entertaining and well-paced tale. Any time the film appears to slow down, it is really setting up another twist to the plot. Every twist helps further the story and adds intrigue. This was Dassin's final work with a US studio. He was soon blacklisted and labeled a communist. This was an excellent swansong (though he would make more films in Europe.)

Night And The City (though somewhat overlooked) is a top-shelf noir and should not be missed.