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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)

Deliver Us from Evil, a review by Antares

Deliver Us from Evil (2006) 85/100 - When this documentary was over, I felt like I needed a shower, the content had been so sickeningly vile. Director Amy Berg was actually able to find a priest, who sexually abused countless children, including a 9 month old infant girl, to appear on camera and tell his story. At the beginning of the film, he appears contrite, sorrowful and ashamed for what he had done. But as more allegations are presented and the heinous nature of his actions are recounted by his victims, his demeanor seems to drift towards a "detached from reality" form of lecherous depravity. A couple of times I wanted to reach through the screen and just beat the living shit out of him when he would laugh or smirk when talking about certain events.

I've never understood why the courts can't use Federal RICO statutes against the Catholic Church. They are running, what is essentially a conspiratorial cover up of continuing criminal activities by the clergy. I've known two priests who have been accused of inappropriate behavior with minors. One was a priest in our parish when I was a child, the other, a classmate who went on to become a priest in adulthood. And both of them fit the pattern of mild mannered, yet seductively predatory. It makes one wonder how anyone can still have faith in the Roman Catholic church. I did come away with one bit of information that I did not know before watching the film. Celibacy in regards to Catholic priests, was instituted in the 4th century AD. It wasn't preached by Jesus, nor was it begun by Peter, the first Pope. According to Father Thomas Doyle, a rebel priest who fights on behalf of victims, it was started to keep a priest's wealth in the church after they died. And when you really get down to it, that is what the Catholic Church has always been about... money.

Teal = Masterpiece
Dark Green = Classic or someday will be
Lime Green = A good, entertaining film
Orange = Average
Red = Cinemuck
Brown = The color of crap, which this film is

(From Antares' Short Summations on July 13th, 2020)

Tom's Random Star Trek Reviews, a review by Tom

Star Trek: The Next Generation
7.11 Parallels
Writer: Brannon Braga (Writer)
Director: Robert Wiemer
Cast: Patrick Stewart (Capt. Jean-Luc Picard), Jonathan Frakes (Cmdr. William T. Riker), LeVar Burton (Lt. Cmdr. Geordi La Forge), Michael Dorn (Lieutenant Worf), Gates McFadden (Dr. Beverly Crusher), Marina Sirtis (Counselor Deanna Troi), Brent Spiner (Lt. Commander Data), Wil Wheaton (Wesley Crusher), Patti Yasutake (Nurse Ogawa), Mark Bramhall (Gul Nador), Majel Barrett (Computer Voice (voice))

Worf jumps between different parallel universes. It's fun to see different realities of the Enterprise crew. For example Worf's reaction when Deanna is coming onto him because they are married in the reality he jumped into.

Rating:

(From Tom's Random Star Trek Reviews on November 1st, 2011)