After earning a formidable reputation with tough-minded crime dramas such as Brute Force and Naked City, US director Jules Dassin was forced to move to London in 1950 to avoid being caught up in the anti-Communist witch-hunt, and was later blacklisted after refusing to testify before the House Un-American Activities Committee.
His first non-US movie, Night and the City is no classic but it’s a tense, enjoyable if bleak melodrama which served as a starring vehicle for Richard Widmark. Adapted from a novel by Gerald Kersh, the plot follows Widmark’s Harry Fabian, a fast-talking, two-bit thief and scam artist who dreams of a life of "ease and plenty."
Spotting an opportunity to control the wrestling game in London, Harry persuades ageing Greco-Roman champ Gregorius the Great (Polish grappler Stanislaus Zbyszko) to start a new promotion in opposition to the dominant pro-wrestling operation run by crime boss Kristo (a menacing Herbert Lom), who’s Gregorius' estranged son.
Fabian’s loyal, long-suffering girlfriend Mary (Gene Tierney) suspects this is another ill-fated scheme, asking in despair, 'Why can’t you ever grow up?" Undeterred, he raises the money to launch the business from Phil Nosseross (Francis L. Sullivan), the ruthless owner of the Silver Fox nightclub, for whom Harry is a tout, and Phil’s scheming, gold-digging wife Helen (Googie Withers), not realizing he’s about to be double-crossed. When Kristo warns him, 'Born a hustler, you will die a hustler," those words have an ominous ring.
Widmark is terrific as his character’s boyish enthusiasm turns to sneers, screams and panic, his face drenched in sweat, as his dreams turns sour. Dassin and cinematographer Max Greene cleverly portray London as a murky urban nightmare. Tierney, however, isn’t given much to do except look anguished, despite her co-billing with Widmark. Zbyszko is about as convincing as some of the current WWE performers, several Brit actors are painfully stilted, and Franz Waxman's score is annoyingly over-heated. Extras include the bio Hollywood Remembers: Richard Widmark, and audio commentary by Dr. Wendy Haslem, Lecturer in Cinema Studies, and Dr. Alex Ling, Cinema Studies Program, School of Culture & Communication at Melbourne University.
