Night and the City is a film noir drama that tells of the
sharp and sudden rise and fall of hustler Harry Fabian. The film is set in
London and follows Fabian as he attempts to turn the lemon that is his life
into lemonade. Though it’s not explained, it appears that Fabian hasn’t always
been so obsessed with success, but, whatever the cause, he is now and man is he
obsessed. Day and night, all he can think about is how to ‘get on top’ and be
one of the rich and powerful that he idolizes. He keeps many irons in the fire
constantly and, thereby, often finds himself short on capital and overextended.
In short, this makes him a very small step from living like a bum at any given
moment of the day.
Suddenly he meets a wrestling legend and realizes the legend
is personally training a protégée that he doesn’t want to end up in the hands
of his son, who just so happens to have a strangle-hold on the wrestling scene
in London. So, seeing opportunity, Fabian says he’s a promoter as well and
would be happy to promote the protégée. All he needs now is the capital to
perfect the scam that he’s a legit promoter and he could potentially make tons
of cash off this fight. Icarus’ downfall came only when he flew too close to
the sun and like Icarus, this ambitious venture may well prove to be Fabian’s
downfall.
I liked this movie quite a bit. It’s noir, so the plot is a
bit predictable and Richard Widmark’s performance as Fabian is a bit of a
caricature, but outside of that I have very few complaints. The cinematography
and production design are fantastic. The cinematography in and of vehicles was
especially good and ahead of its time. This was clearly a labor of love for the
director, Jules Dassin, and this can be seen in his treatment of Gregarious the
Great, the wrestling legend. The ancillary characters are absolutely perfect in
this movie and none better than the aged legend, his son and the two wrestlers
featured. Why do their performances feel so natural? Well, part of it, I’m sure
is the superb direction, but it also helps that they are from that world in
real life. The aged legend is played by Stanislaus Zbyszko, a real life legendary strong man
from the wrestling and vaudeville circuits of way back. The two active
wrestlers are played by actual wrestlers, including one who won bronze at the
Olympics. In other words, it felt legit. If you like noir and like to watch the
obsessed become consumed by their obsessions, check this one out, fo sho.
No comments:
Post a Comment