crystallogic Well, this is for sure one of the coolest films I discovered in 2017. I was also discovering Gerald Kersh's writing at this time, and I read that there was a film based on his novel of the same name (which I still haven't read, incidentally), that some people considered a classic of noir. I expected good things, but the film in fact surpassed my expectations.Harry Fabian. Wow, you could talk quite a bit about a guy like this, and you probably know someone a bit like him. He's really bad news, yet somehow manages to be strangely, almost, likable despite himself. Maybe much of this is down to Richard Widmark's portrayal, which is manic and infectious, like that of an intense and earnest salesman, one who might surprise you sometimes by bursting into a silly song and hopping around with completely un-self-conscious glee. Apparently the book harry is nastier, but the thing is, when you get to the bottom of Widmark-Harry's schemes, he is really a rotten bastard and you know you should hate him for being such a user of people and an abuser of trust. Yet somehow, I think, you can't quite bring yourself to despise him as much as he obviously deserves, and I think that's interesting. Harry is always looking for the "next big thing", so he can get "in on the deal". He's full of big ideas. Most of them are total bullshit, but a guy like harry might just be able to string people along for long enough to get away with it, right under their noses, so to speak. You have to think, too, that the guy is probably kind of insane. There's that scene where Harry comes breathlessly into Mr. Nosseros's place, saying, "I'll control wrestling!", and Nosseros finds this so deleeriously crazy and amusing that he explodes with laughter right in Harry's face, and can't stop. Harry though -- he just keeps on talking, raising his voice to combat being laughed at, until he's shrieking! It's wild.So Harry is at the centre of all this, but there are actually a whole load of great, memorable characters in this thing. The fat, jovial and fiendish Mr. nosseros, for instance; his scheming, frustrated wife Helen; and, of course, the unforgettable Gregorius, played by real-life wrestling champion Stanislaus Zbyszko. Now, I like to imagine kersh was pleased with this movie (even though they apparently have changed quite a few things), and one of the reasons is Zbyszko's involvement. I like to think, as a fan of wrestling himself, he would have been chuffed that the old guy ended up in one of his stories. Well, Stanislaus Zbyszko supposedly never acted before, but he nailed this, utterly. His character is both tragic and extremely sympathetic; his death absolutely one of the most poignant things about this film, and the moment that marks Harry's going over the line and beyond redemption.Speaking of wrestling ... The Scene. If this kind of film isn't really your thing, I guess this one scene of Gregorius and "The Strangler" having it out is going to be the thing that'll stick in your mind. It's a hell of a scene, really, and goes on for several minutes. It's all done completely without music, and you can hear every grunt and smash, see every detail and almost *feel* the power of the struggle. It's incredibly visceral, I think, for an English/American film of 1950.Another interesting facet of this classic is that there are two versions. The American cut seems better in most respects, but i think the British one has superior music, and it also includes a great early domestic scene between Widmark and Gene Tierney that is rendered a perfunctory nothing in the American cut (actually it's a completely different scene). There's an informative documentary that comes on the DVD which explains a lot of detail about the two versions and how they differ. I'm a sucker for this kind of stuff, for some reason.The casting is of course great, and I haven't even mentioned some of the highlights of that aspect of the film. Only trouble is, a few of these people are dreadfully underused. I personally wouldn't have minded if the film were half an hour longer, but that's probably because I appreciate the world and characters of its creation so much. Besides, I can't really think the film would have been drastically improved by giving Gene more to do, for instance. Another thing I have to note is that there are probably a few too many Americans in the cast. Nothing's really wrong with that, of course, but the film is supposed to take place in (and indeed was shot in) England, and the juxtaposition of notable English performers with less-experienced American ones putting on an accent is a bit obvious. Don't worry though; Widmark just talks like Widmark and doesn't try to sound like a Brit.

bob the moo When this film started and I saw it was based in London I was a little disappointed because I had looked at the cast list and so on and had assumed it was an American noir – so I wasn't really in the mood to see Britain try to get in on the genre act. Of course anyone who has seen this film will tell you what a foolish statement that is, since this film is fairly brutal and deserves to be held up as a great example of the genre regardless of what city it is set in. The plot revolves around the simple world of wrestling and on the face of it is pretty small beer – Fabian, like most of the characters, has the sort of aspirations of all lower tier hustlers and while ambitious, his goals are not really those to lift him high from his current status. He believes he can make it though and even as he ducks and dives in the sewer, he convinces himself that if he just keeps doing it then things will work for him. Wrestling may be the backdrop but it is this very grimy stage that the film is really set.This links to what the film does best – desperation. The sense of characters going beyond frustration into desperation and despair is really well portrayed here. It is of course most evident in Fabien but few characters are at the top of the tree or even within reach of it and most things are a compromise or deal in one form or another. This plays out really well as a theme but also drives the narrative as things unravel and characters all try clutching at the straws for themselves even though it makes things unravel all the quicker. The story is engaging from the exciting start through to the strong ending (the likes of which I always appreciate in these films).The acting is strong and although there is a lead character it is an ensemble piece. Widmark really convinces – when he is terrified he is great but when he is upbeat and playing his game he still manages to do it with the scene of cheap desperation which is incredibly realistic and engaging. Lom is menacing but humanized and helped by a great turn from Zbyszko. Support from Tierney, Mazurki, Sullivan is all very good and I loved the needy but manipulative turn from Googie Withers as a woman who just about still has it but also knows she won't for long – again her desperation is in a different form from Widmark's but it is just as well done. The delivery of all this is really good. The sets are compact, dirty and dark but also very clear and well lit so we see what we need but are not on a soundstage. Use of locations also helps set the scene and Dassin' direction of the camera is as good as that of his cast.A very strong film indeed and one I really enjoyed for how convincingly gritty and downbeat it was. I could smell the gym throughout and it matched the sense of desperate grabbing and frustration which oozes from every frame. Really worth seeing – not just as a genre film but as an all round great package.

popcultureatemymonkey O.K. kiddies The Monkey has a terrific one for you today. It is a superb late Film Noir from England called Night And The City. Now, part of the reason The Monkey is such a bastard half the time, is because he watches way too much Noir. I mean here is a genre that screams ' it does not matter what you do, because you're screwed anyway' with a super happy fun-time sub-theme of, the harder you try to claw your way out, the further back you will find yourself.Night And The City is directed by the masterful Jules Dassin, who also directed the equally impressive noir The Naked City as well as two of the originators of the heist genre, Riffi and Topkapi. Dassin was blacklisted while he was shooting Night And The City, and let me tell you any person that is held suspect by THE MAN is my kind of people.Night And The City is about a two-bit bar hustler named Harry Fabian (Richard Widmark, my favorite Noir actor), who stumbles upon a plan to corner the market in wrestling. Unlike his numerous other schemes, this one just may work. Arrayed against him are the principal mobster in London Kristo (the appropriately shady Herbert Lom), Fabian's lover Helen Nosseros (Googie Withers), and his business partner (and Helen's husband) Philip Nosseross.One of the highlights of Night And The City is the cinematography. Unlike many Noirs where low-key light is simply a method representative of film noir, and the city is its setting, Night And The City imbues them with a living palpable menace. The darkness is not just a lack of light, but instead comes from the dark souls of those with whom Fabian has surrounded himself. The darkness shrouds the many dangers of Fabians own dark and exploitative nature. It also hides the assassins after Fabian, more than it hides him. It is in the darkness that Harry drags himself, and all those around him, to their inevitable demise.In other Noirs, there is often the false belief that protagonist can get ahead if he just leaves the city. Often they do, and their deeds follow them. In Night And The City, there is no such hope for Fabian. London is his prison, and its tenement's and towers only force him onward, onward, in his mad dash towards his hoped for impossible escape from the city. These hopes of escaping across the Thames by boat or by bridge are thwarted by the opportunistic waterfront thieves and swindlers he had once called his friends, the bridges guarded by thugs in the employ of Kristo.Night And The City also makes a fun drinking game. The rules are easy, every time someone uses a derivative of the phrase "You're a dead man" to Fabian you take a drink. Now The Monkey can't recommend this as you are likely to pass out long before the conclusion of the film. That is unless of course getting blind stinking drunk is your goal. Whatever your plan may be, I urge you to watch this movie as soon as you can. If nothing else, it will make all of your troubles seem trivial compared to those of Harry Fabian.

oOgiandujaOo_and_Eddy_Merckx Why is it that films noir have such spurious titles? The German title, "Die Ratte von Soho" / "The Rat of Soho" seems a more suitably lurid fit, certainly as a hook. To go with the spurious title there's a spurious introduction on the theme of Night and the City, which is at least easy on the eye, though fortunately brief. What the film is really about is the existential failure of one Harry Fabian, a cheap conman, but full of life. The movie is a very sordid one, an initial lecture is given to a bunch of *ahem* companions in the Silver Fox nightclub about how to fleece the customers, there is however to be no actual theft from them on the premises, although, suggestively, what happens to the customers on leaving the club is of no concern to the management. A friend of my brother has post-traumatic stress from being the victim of such a honey trap whilst drunk in London this year, so I really connected with the cutting edge of nastiness this film provides. Although this movie is set in a moonlit criminal demi-monde, there are about five separate love stories, arranged in a complicated geometry. These are what pull the heartstrings and kept me rapt throughout. The central love story is Mary's love for Harry, who does little more than use her. She sees a vitality in him that attracts her helplessly, as if he's a magnet, and overlooks all his faults for this. He's a hamstrung man, who's damaged heart spills out in a final scene of electrifying intensity. Richard Widmark, who I have rarely appreciated as an actor, here throws everything at his role but the kitchen sink and deserves all the praise he gets.Night and the City is an absolutely heartbreaking film that I realised had really shaken me up after I left the cinema. I had fish and chips to celebrate in Cockney style. Peripherally I think it's worth mentioning that there is more than one version of this movie, and it can look a bit strange because a lot of the build up to the, possibly overwrought, action of the denouement is cut in what I believe is the American version. Would pay to rent out the Criterion DVD of this movie as it apparently has explanatory extras on this subject. I would also like to express my admiration for the seductive qualities of Googie Withers' portrayal of Helen Nosseross, and for the horrid wrestling scene in the movie which actually aroused this hysteric feeling in me, that happens when a fight starts in real life, and which films very rarely manage to achieve.