Night and the City

Night and the City is a 1950 film based on the novel by Gerald Kersh, directed by Jules Dassin, starring Richard Widmark and Gene Tierney. Shot on location in London, the plot evolves around a ambitious hustler whose plans keep going wrong. It is considered a classic of the film noir genre. Director Dassin later confessed that he never read the novel the movie is based upon. The casting of Tierney in the film was in direct response to film studio executives wanting a love interest in the film. The film had two completely different film scores, one for the U.K. release and one for the U.S. release.

Critical reaction

The film received positive reviews when it was released in 1950, which continues today. Writing for Slant Magazine, Nick Schager writes in the DVD review of the film "Jules Dassin's 1950 masterpiece was his first movie after being exiled from America for alleged communist politics, and the unpleasant ordeal seems to have infused his work with a newfound resentment and pessimism, as the film?about foolhardy scam-artist Harry Fabian (Richard Widmark) and his ill-advised attempts to become a big shot?brims with anger, anxiousness, and a shocking dose of unadulterated hatred."

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In the Village Voice, Michael Atkinson asked if the film can be considered true noir, mostly because of the British cast, and notes "...the movie's a moody piece of Wellesian chiaroscuro (shot by Max Greene, né Mutz Greenbaum) and an occasionally discomfiting underworld plunge, particularly when the mob-controlled wrestling milieu explodes into a kidney-punching donnybrook."

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The film was remade in 1992 starring Robert DeNiro. See Night and the City (1992 film).

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