Night and the City

A film noir set in London. Harry tours the nightclubs pulling in customers and is always after a new scheme. This time he wants into the wrestling business. A man named Kristo controls it in the city, and Harry brings Kristo's father, an old Greek wrestler, onto his side. The plan is rotten from the start. Harry cannot raise the money, tells everyone a different lie, and all the people he has promised arrive at his door at once. The idea is in the character himself: Harry is not a bad man, only one who cannot stop. Each lie makes the next one necessary, and the narrative turns that into a story of flight. The night-time run in the final section is among the best-known endings in the genre. London is part of the narrative too: the docks, narrow streets, foggy bridges and the places that stay open all night. Richard Widmark plays Harry and Gene Tierney his girlfriend. Francis L. Sullivan plays the club owner. Jules Dassin directed. He made it in Europe during the period he was blacklisted in America; he could not return to Hollywood and his career continued in Europe. The British and American versions differ; the music and some scenes were changed. One of the strongest examples of its kind for anyone who likes noir and stories of the city at night. For a viewer looking for hope, the film provides none anywhere.