Film Noir at it's best.
Added 11/7/2009
The title of this film,'Night and the City', in itself prepares you to expect some archetypal specimen of the film noir genre, as it combines the two most important background elements for this type of movie - darkness and an urban environment. For me, the movie delivered superbly on this promise.
Films such as this could be considered fables in a way, as they usually contain an implied warning against being enticed by the lure of the underworld. 'Night and the City is no exception; indeed it is a prime example. It's lesson is so plainly presented in the action of the story that there is no need for any explanatory metaphysical dialog to clue us in.
The protagonist, Harry Fabian, elicits both sympathy and contempt. He is a supreme egotist and user, with a hyperactive energy which is directed solely toward the ends of conning the gullible or soft-hearted and to making a big name for himself. Yet there is something pathetic about Harry, also, for it is evident that deep down he is an immature little boy who has learned he can often get his way by telling fibs.
It is this barely-concealed childishness in Harry that brings out the stereotypical maternal instinct in his romantic interest, Mary, who loves him despite his ill-use of her. This aspect of Harry is probably responsible for whatever sympathy the viewer feels for him, as well. For Harry's stand against the world is purely selfish rather than valiant, and inspires no admiration.
It is not only selfish, but also foolish, because Harry is definitely playing a game where he is out of his league. The really successful denizens of this murky underworld where he is trying to be a contender don't formulate their schemes based on wishful thinking like Harry, but rely on their innate calculating ruthlessness to achieve their ends. Given these foundations to the story, Harry's ultimate fate seems foregone, and thus the tale is elevated to tragedy.
For Harry is obviously incorrigible. Only paying the ultimate price might give him some insight into his own nature. The moral lesson of 'Night and the City' is not that crime does not pay, but that small-fry who overreach themselves are going to get smashed.
It might be said that this film is shot in murky shades of gray rather than black and white. But for all that, there is an icy-hard feel to the visual aspect of it, perfectly in tune with the hard, egoistic personalities of the antagonists. Only Mary and some of the lesser inhabitants of this fringe world show the the real human compassion we are wont to idealize.
The setting in London was a very effective device which added a great deal of visual novelty to the film. The casting was as perfectly matched to the story as could be hoped for. Widmark was outstanding as Harry Fabian; Herbert Lom as well, as the icy-cold, gangsterish wrestling promoter; Francis L. Sullivan as the corpulent, somewhat macabre, jealous night-club owner; and Gene Tierney as the compassionate, long-suffering angel who couldn't save Harry from himself. Those were my favorite performances in the film, but all were noteworthy.
The movie operates like a finely-crafted, smoothly running machine from beginning to end, in that though its cycle is predictable, you are still impressed with the beauty and efficiency of it's operation.
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The bear hug
Added 3/2/2009
Criterion deserves enormous praise for forcing a critical reevaluation of the reputation of director Jules Dassin, whose films had been languishing in neglect and obscurity before Criterion brought them to a new audience. Night and the City may stand as the masterpiece of a director who rivals Welles for visual innovation (--this film surely had an impact on Touch of Evil--) and Dickens as a storyteller unafraid of mixing melodramatic excess and operatic emotionalism into an otherwise hardboiled milieu. Night and the City has to stand as the world's first (and perhaps last) fey film noir, from Gene Tierney's artsy but emasculated upstairs neighbour, to Richard Widmark's incredible, giggly, teary, helium-fueled performance, to the story's off-the-wall focus on the world of Greco-Roman wrestling (!). With even minor figures in the story seeming to have full inner lives, few films pay this much attention to fine details of character, and yet the whole thing plays out in a fever state. A work of genius.
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Intense but sad tale of the hands life deals
Added 10/14/2008
Decent noir with a variety of sharp, memorable performances, especially one by Richard Widmark as wheeler-dealer Harry Fabian. Most of the characters are pretty shady, Fabian included, but all of them elicit at least a little sympathy on one level or other, too. I particularly felt bad for Fabian, who wasn't particularly evil, just someone who needed that one big score... a score that would deliver luxury but, more importantly, the respect of his peers. But the score, and the perfect alignment of the angles to bring it about, always seemed to be just out of his grasp. Unfolding mostly in an unusual after-hours London setting, this is a noir entry that doesn't hit the same beats as hundreds of other noirs, and at a little over an hour and a half, doesn't overstay its welcome. The Criterion Disc features a sharp, pristine image and good sound. There's the usual array of generous extra features.
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Life on the Periphery of the Law
Added 9/2/2008
Jules Dassin's direction and Mutz Greenbaum's beautiful, expressionistic photography make Night and the City a masterpiece of the film noir genre. The story takes us through the tightly-controlled underworld of 1950 London's East End operated by an assortment of self-serving, low-lives eager to cash in on the slightest opportunity to hustle, sham or slam their way to the top.
The film begins and ends with restless, unscrupulous Harry Fabian; "An artist without an art" played by Richard Widmark, dodging pursuers, fleeing like a rat though a maze of dark streets. Quick-witted Harry desperately wants to realize his grandiose scheme of becoming a big-time wrestling promoter. Always on the run, carrying a sack of lies and deception possibly bestowed by the Olympian Hermes himself, he scurries through the movie along winding, treacherous streets and alleyways, while hastily creating the masterpiece of a lifetime. But when all else fails, he too is capable of making the supreme sacrifice to help his girlfriend Mary by executing the final con of his career.
Underworld figures in Night and the City are cold and calculating, yet they are also real people: hard, but vulnerable. Absent are the emotionless psychopaths of modern film, possessing an inexhaustible supply of ammunition loaded by tireless fiends with superhuman ability to snuff out life without remorse. We see the major characters in Night and the City, Harry Fabian, Kristo, Helen and Philip Nosseross, as frail human beings in an anything-goes wrestling match with the vicissitudes of life, "scheming their way through unpredictable circumstances." (DVD commentary) The struggle against fate always lays them open to defeat, because of a tragic flaw, inner weakness, or simply being too smart or crooked for their own good. Motivated by greed and ambition with a slosh of conceit, they believe life is unfair, and owes them a big score. Capable of genuine affection, they love "not wisely, but too well."
Gene Tierney's role as Mary Bristol, Fabian's all-forgiving girlfriend, is disappointingly small for such a great talent; she exists only on the periphery. Controversy surrounds her singing `debut' in one club scene. It was dubbed-in for the British version, but there is a veil of uncertainty surrounding the American version. A sample of her singing voice can be heard in the jail scene in "That Wonderful Urge" 1948. Let the viewer decide. Mary serves as the unwilling patron of Fabian's artifice; a significant source of ready cash, which he continuously purloins; and subject of the one good deed he attempts, presenting himself as an offering. Dassin's Fabian is a scapegoat for the sins of the world: greed, ambition, conceit. Cornered by Kristo's men, he expresses remorse to an old woman in a beautifully, composed shot strikingly reminiscent of Michelangelo's "Pieta".
The highlight of the movie is a King Kong vs. Godzilla style clash between two titan wrestlers fighting to prove the superiority of their style and values. This after-hours, out of control, grudge match, between Gregorius, master of the Greco-Roman style, and The Strangler, champion of the faked spectacle we see today, is arguably one on the best fight scenes ever filmed. The commentary for Night and the City is excellent providing a rich background of the script, actors careers, and the life and times of Jules Dassin.
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Noir masterpiece
Added 6/23/2008
"Night and the City" is classic film noir based on the Gerald Kersh novel with Richard Widmark as Harry Fabian, a two-bit hustler scheming to become a big-time fight promoter in London.
Widmark is superb in what may be his best performance. He brings to mind James Cagney at times, but he's actually more like Bugs Bunny, full of bravado and nervous energy.
And let's not forget Mike Mazurski as the Strangler, as brutish as he was playing Moose Malloy in Murder, My Sweet but with a hint of more intelligence, and portly Francis L. Sullivan, a "fat man" in the style of Sydney Green street, but more tragic. Herbert Lom, Googie Withers, and Stanislaw Zbyazko, once a real star of Roman-Greco wrestling, are also excellent. Gene Tierney, however, is superfluous as Widmark's girlfriend, and Hugh Marlowe, who plays the sort of bland role he was often assigned in 20th Century Fox films, has little to do but express his disapproval for Fabian's way of life.
The look of the film is one of its strengths with scenes cast in a luminous black contrasted with almost ghostly whites.
Dismissed as lurid nonsense about undesirable characters when released (Variety chimed in with one of the few positive reviews), "Night and the City" is a masterpiece that hasn't dated a bit. It has a modern sensibility that makes it more contemporary than the 1992 remake (with Robert DeNiro in Widmark's role).
Brian W. Fairbanks
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