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| Richard
Widmark, Gene Tierney, Googie Wither, Francis L. Sullivan,
Herbert Lom |
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Anamorphic
widescreen |
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Dolby Digital
5.1 |
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DTS |
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Trailer(s) |
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Featurette(s) |
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Documentary |
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Audio commentary
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Deleted scenes
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Concept art
/ storyboards |
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Multi-angle
feature |
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Mr. Nosseross (Francis L. Sullivan):
You've got it all, Fabian. But you're a dead man.
Harry Fabian (Richard Widmark) is
a London hustler with ambitious plans that never work out. One
day, when he encounters the most famous Greco-Roman wrestler in
the world, Gregorius, at a London wrestling arena run by his son
Kristo, he dreams up a scheme that he thinks will finally be his
ticket to financial independence.
 For
what he knew would be his final Hollywood picture, 20th Century
Fox studio head Darryl F. Zanuck sent director Jules Dassin, already
in trouble from having been named as a communist before McCarthy's
committee, to London to shoot Night and the City on location
for Fox's British subsidiary film company. The production was in
fact so rushed, with the pressure on Dassin quickly mounting following
the director's blacklisted status, that he never even had time
to read the book on which the film was to be based, thereby incurring
the wrath of the novel's author.
Although the film was produced in London by a mostly British cast
and crew, Night and the City remains very much an American
film noir that deals primarily with American concerns and ideals.
Richard Widmark, in one of his most manically energetic performances,
seems to embody the mercurial, uncontrollable and ultimately self-destructive
essence of entrepeneurism, rushing from one ambitious project to
the next, but doomed not only by the seedy, corrupt environment
that engulfs him, but also by his own inability to take responsibility
for his actions. The result is an outstanding film graced by terrific
performances, most notably that of Francis L. Sullivan. |
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Available on DVD for Region
1 from the Criterion Collection.
The fullscreen
image is framed at its original aspect ratio of approx. 1.33:1. Most
of the film looks phenomenal: sharp, clean, without any visible
nicks or scratches, although there are also sequences scattered
throughout that are marked by high levels of grain and low
contrast.
The mono sound mix, in Dolby Digital 1.0, is very good, especially
in its presentation of Franz Waxman's explosive score.
 Glen
Erickson, better known to many readers as the writer of the
excellent DVD Savant review column, does his first audio
commentary for Night and the City, and although
his comments sound a little too studied at times, but his
knowledge of the film is simply stupendous, and his track
covers a huge range of subjects from a variety of angles.
Director Jules Dassin offers his often painful memories of
his last Hollywood film before his blacklist-imposed exile
in a new 18-minute interview. The elderly director is a
pleasure to listen to, his account of the production both
informative and emotional. A 24-minute featurette hosted
by Christopher Husted examines the differences between the
British and American versions of the film, including most
scenes and music cues that weren't included in the American
cut. Another great inclusion is a 25-minute interview with
Dassin from French TV, broadcast in 1970, which includes
plenty of great anecdotes designed to quell the gushing interviewer's
thirst for old Hollywood legend. The final extra, besides
the terrific booklet, is the film's trailer.
Dan
Hassler-Forest
Reviewed:
May 26, 2005
Click
here for IMDB info on Night
and the City .
Click here
to return to the front page.
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