Night and the City (1950)

I'm a huge fan of film noir. I'm also a huge fan of wrestling.

When I found out that there was a movie about wrestling in the London underworld, directed by one of the groundbreaking fathers of film noir, Jules Dassin, I almost fell over in my excitement.

I. What Is It?

This is the story of Harry Fabian (Richard Widmark), a lowly con with stars in his eyes. It's the story of his travel to the top of the London wrestling scene. And it's the story of his long, sordid fall back to the Thames.

II. Dassin's Style

The man pioneered the film noir genre, and it's no wonder. He utilizes the high contrast chiaroscuro style to wonderful effect, casting a criminal world of flickering whites and deep, inky blacks. The night club set, with all its thrown shadows, feels like a prison: we often see Harry draped in shadowy bars, or framed in window panes. This is the hellhole he desperately wants to escape from. Dassin lights it like a nightmare.

Dassin also peoples his frames with interesting faces: faces that catch the light in interesting and memorable ways. The pools and cracks of shadow on wrestler Gregorius' face are phenomenal, and the evil glint in gangster Kristo's eyes is chilling. And he balances his frame wonderfully, without ever appearing too formalist. Instead, he arranges the frame with bodies, and allows their forms to set up leading lines and establish depth of field. There are times where the camera stays rooted in one place, only to swivel, like it's a character turning their head for a better look at the action.

This movie was made in 1950, but it feels fresh, and vibrant in a way that belies its age.

III. Sharp Script

Jo Eisinger's script is razor-sharp. The film clocks at a speedy 96 minutes, crams in a wonderfully tragic criminal rise and fall, features incredibly realized characters, and offers some of the wittiest noir dialogue I've ever heard. At one point a rival gangster applauds Harry Fabian's work with this zinger: "You're very sharp, Mr. Fabian. You've done a very sharp thing. Maybe even sharp enough to cut your throat." That line is fucking dope, man, and there's easily twenty more like it, all over this movie ("I'm not giving you 200 quid, I'm giving you the sharp end of the knife").

Eisinger's characters are ugly, and very few of them are people with any sense of decency. The speed with which the underworld sells out Harry is blinding. But don't feel bad for Harry: while he is, ostensibly, the hero of the movie, he is also a complete shit. He uses and abuses everyone around him. As an audience member, you are there to watch rotten people do rotten things to each other. It is thrilling, and entertaining, even if it makes you feel a bit dirty afterwards.

Dassin's is the name on the marquee, and in the history books, but attention should be paid to Eisinger's stylish, compelling, and uncompromising script.

IV. Stunning Performances

Richard Widmark is absolutely genius in this movie. His Harry Fabian is all winning smiles, until the world crashes down on him, or he gets caught in his own scheming machinations. Fabian is a survivor, floating from one ill-advised grift to the next, and Widmark imbues him with the charisma and charm that makes the audience understand why anyone would ever believe him in the first place. In Widmark's capable hands, we experience every delicious victory and every catastrophic defeat.

Gene Tierney is delightful, and makes the most of her limited screen time. Googie Withers shines as the ever-plotting Helen, who's desperate to get out from under her husband's shadow. Francis L. Sullivan plays Phil, Helen's husband and ruthless night club owner with devilish gusto. Herbert Lom is ice fucking cold, as Kristo, the Grecian gangster currently operating London's wrestling scene: his eyes sparkle with promises of violence. And then there's ACTUAL WRESTLING LEGEND Stanislaus Zbyszko turning in a powerful performance as Gregorius. His climactic bout with The Strangler is tense, and actually had me on the edge of my seat. His death scene is utterly affecting.

This film is filled, top-to-bottom with great performances. The film shines, on every frame, because of the assembled talent.

V. Should You See It?

Absolutely. This is a gem, and a towering classic of the noir genre. If you can get your hands on the Criterion transfer, it is worth every penny: the film pops off the screen in gorgeously rendered detail. This is an ugly little movie about an ugly little world: if that's your cup of tea, come and drink.

Miscellany

- This was Dassin's last American-made film before he was officially blacklisted in Hollywood. He travelled to London for the shoot, but, by the time filming was completed, he was barred from the studio property and could not oversee the edit or the score.
- Dassin admitted that he didn't read the novel that the movie was based on until years after he made the film. He also disputes owing certain stylistic proclivities to John Huston's The Asphalt Jungle (1950). Huston's film was released only a day before Dassin's.
- The film was received very poorly upon its release. It wouldn't be until the 1960s, when film noir began to garner its critical acclaim, that critics would go back and view the film in a newer, more positive light.
- There are two versions of the movie: the American release and the British release. The British release is longer, with a few more character-based scenes left in, and features a completely different score by Benjamin Frankel. The American version is scored by Franz Waxman.