Dassin once said that, 'at heart I’m a crook." That identification with the sleazy, morally decadent comes strikingly into focus in this famous picture of a small timer un-done by his own irredeemable soul.
Where the classic cities in film noir seem to be New York or LA, the setting here is London. Practically this was because in 1949, director Jules Dassin was more or less run out of Hollywood, in a climate of anti-Red feeling. Producer at Fox, Daryl Zanuck dispatched the filmmaker to the UK to shoot the 1938 novel by Gerald Kersh. Dassin had to work quickly because Zanuck felt that the Big Bosses in Hollywood would never fire the director once work had reached critical mass. Zanuck’s intrigue worked and Dassin managed to complete a film that noir fans now cherish as one of the more original and eccentric in that style.
The plot revolves around the efforts of Richard Widmark’s Soho hustler, US ex-pat Fabian who appears to be the butt of jokes and scams, amongst the more worldly and tough Brit types. These local hard cases seem to run the Universe and as the movie opens it appears that Fabian has had enough of standing in line. He crosses the line into the Big time Hustle by challenging the far-reaching (and definitely illegal) wrestling promoter racket. When things turn sour Fabian runs looking for help from all those he’s cheated, lied and dirtied his hands for"¦
Night and the City is the classic 'bad town" movie. London is not glamorous, its old buildings look decayed and filthy and unlived in and un-loved and the cast of characters are ugly eccentrics with a fine line in tough-guy patter. Still, for all it’s pungent atmosphere, Night is simply pessimistic rather than cynical and sharp (the dominant tone of noir) as it re-covers the classic noir killing ground where personal ambition can never escape a turf potted with moral dead-falls such as betrayal, envy and self-interest.
