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Night and the City, a review by GSyren

Night and the City (5-035673-006153)

United Kingdom 1950 | Released 2007-10-15 on DVD from BFI (British Film Institute), Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment

92 minutes | Aspect ratio 1.37:1 | Audio: English Dolby Digital Mono, Commentary Dolby Digital 2-Channel Stereo

Directed by Jules Dassin and starring Richard Widmark, Gene Tierney, Googie Withers, Hugh Marlowe, Francis L. Sullivan

Richard Widmark delivers an indelible performance as Harry Fabian, a small-time American nightclub tout and desperate dreamer who tries to worm his way into the wrestling rackets of post-war London. In his path lie the formidable obstacles posed by a vengeful club owner Phil Nosseross (Francis Sullivan) and the racketeer Kristo (Herbert Lom). The club owner's sultry wife (Googie Withers) schemes with him, and a long-suffering girlfriend (Gene Tierney) does her best to save Harry from himself. Like many a noir hero before him, Harry thinks he can outrun his fate. He's wrong. Jules Dassin, under suspicion in Hollywood for his political beliefs, made the film at great speed, shooting night scenes in a London still shattered and skeletal from wartime bombings. Adapted from the lowlife novel by Gerald Kersh, Night and the City is a baroque masterpiece of corruption, paranoia and doom.

My thoughts about Night and the City:

It's always fun to see films shot on location in London. Although there is not a lot of it that I recognize in this film. Which is not necessarily a bad thing. The film itself is very good. It's an interesting story, and I always liked Richard Widmark. Hugh Marlowe seems a bit wasted. Not sure why they would cast such a well known actor in such a nothing role. But other than that, the casting is really good. One would never guess that wrestler Stanislaus Zbyszko had no previous acting experience. Herbert Lom looks really menacing, a far cry from his later Chief Inspector Dreyfus character. But there are also a lot of great characters in smaller roles. I really liked the uncredited Maureen Delaney as Anna O'Leary late in the film, for example. Apart from some old Hammer films, I haven't seen a lot of British film noir. But this is an excellent example of the genre, directed by the great Jules Dassin. I always thought that Dassin was a Frenchman. His name sounds French, and his best known film - Rififi - is French. It wasn't until I started reading about this film that I realized that Dassin was in fact a US citizen, born in Connecticut. But this is really Widmark's film. He was a great actor, and he really shines here. I wish Dassin would have had the opportunity to use him in other films, too. They make a great combination. And they make a very good film. Highly recommended.

I rate this title

(From Reviews and ramblings by Gunnar on March 30th, 2015)

Urban Legend, a review by Rich

Title: Urban Legend

Movie Count:2  
TV Ep. Count:1  

Runtime:96
Certificate:18
Year:1998


Plot:Everybody's heard of them...yet they have no traceable source. They're Urban Legends, contemporary tall-tales that emerge from the underground and take on colourful lives of their own.

When a series of strange deaths occur on the campus of Pendleton College, student Natalie (Alicia Witt - Four Rooms, TV's Cybill) begins to suspect that there is a bizarre link - someone is making urban legends a sinister reality. Her classmates, loyal Brenda (Rebecca Gayheart - Scream 2), ambitious journalist major Paul (Jared Leto - The Thin Red Line) and class joker Damon (Joshua Jackson - Cruel Intentions, Scream 2) insist the deaths are just coincidences despite the extraordinary circumstances.
But when Natalie gets too close to discovering the killer's demented desire to re-create the ultimate urban legend, she realises that she could be his next victim...

My Review:
Tongue in cheek 'Scream'-like slasher film, good entertainment but again moviepick's random selection has not been able to scare me - yet
The beginning was fairly gruesome, but it got tamer as it went on in the predictable stalk and murder routine amongst some university students, with the twist that the killings are based on infamous urban legends. The cast is fairly lame, the script generally uninspiring, and the direction lost. Don't expect to lose too many brain cells working out who the killer is.
However for a few chuckles and a bit of silliness, it is fair game.





(From Rich's October Horror Fest on October 1st, 2009)

Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles: The Complete First Season marathon, a review by Tom

04. Heavy Metal (2008-02-04)
Writer: Josh Friedman (Created By), John Enbom (Writer), James Cameron (Original Characters By), Gale Anne Hurd (Original Characters By)
Director: Sergio Mimica Gezzan
Cast: Lena Headey (Sarah Connor), Thomas Dekker (John Connor), Summer Glau (Cameron), Richard T. Jones (Agent James Ellison), Catherine Dent (Agent Greta Simpson), Brian Bloom (Carter), Andy Umberger (Davidson), Lee Thompson Young (Agent Stewart), Garret Dillahunt (Cromartie), Douglas Bennett (Guard), Michael Dempsey (Detective), Greg Eagles (Crewman #1), Mark Adair-Rios (Mike), Hector Atreyu Ruiz (Driver), Linda Shing (Dolores), Sean Smith (Dr. Lyman), Taira Soo (Office Manager)

A decent episode but nothing special. But I did like the ending. I thought it was very creepy when John had to get the key from the Terminator in stand-by mode.

Rating:

(From Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles: The Complete First Season marathon on January 21st, 2009)