Night and the City

As part of its season of Hollywood Black listees in Europe, Home in Manchester screened Jules Dassin’s Night and the City (1950).

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Primarily acknowledged for virtually inventing the heist genre with the seminal Rififi (1955), and his triumph of semi- documentary realism The Naked City (1948), Julius Dassin's Night and the City is his lesser-known work, but one that is appreciated amongst cinephiles and fans of film noir. The protagonist, Harry Fabien, epitomises the morally ambiguous 'out for all he can get' figure that defines the genre.

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A sense of desperation permeates this picture, which is personified by Richard Widmark's performance. The role is immortalised by his frenetic, energetic performance, characteristic maniacal laugh and the ever-present beads of sweat on his forehead.  A nattily dressed, spat-shoed Richard Widmark- plays a hot-on-his-heels hustler who barely catches his breath whilst running around the warrens of a post-war, labyrinthine London. The character of Harry Fabien is on the run from the first moment we see him as he is chased through the streets by a man to whom he owes 'five quid'. The film tracks his several attempts from one desperate attempt to another to make a living through dodgy schemes, even stealing from his girlfriend. He is a self-destructive hustler doing anything to get ahead. As his American neighbour Adam says "Harry is an artist without an art. A man very unhappy...griping for the right level, the means with which to express himself".

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Adapted from Gerard Kersh's 1946 novel, Richard Widmark plays the protagonist, Harry Fabian. Though originally depicted as a pimp in the novel, In Night and the City, he is played as an American in London, who is endlessly on the hustle. The film opens with him running across a nocturnal London, under bridges and across squares, being chased by someone he has obviously conned. He then runs into the arms of his 'duchess' Mary, played by Gene Tierney- his long-term girlfriend. Once he starts talking about a new scam he thinks will take off and provide them with the house in Mayfair, she rages about all his former plans that didn't work out and pleads with him to be those 'nice people' they once were. Harry asks for the money she's hiding even which she is saving. He becomes hysterical and the desperation for his ideas to come through are apparent. He is obviously desperate to be taken seriously - as if he is judged by his last failure. Whilst at a boxing match, he ingratiates himself onto a former boxer Gregorius the Great (Stanislaus Zbyszko) and convinces him he can be his agent. He then goes to visit friends at the Silver Foxclub- where Mary also works. He tries to get a loan from Phil (played by a wonderfully imposing Francis Sullivan) and his feline, opportunistic wife Helen (played with command by Googie Withers). There is a subplot to the film- Helen wants to leave Phil and set up her own club. But she needs a license. She says she'll give Harry a loan if he procures the licence. he forges a license for her. When Harry is set up with his boxing operation in London's East End. This puts Harry in the line of trouble.

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Harry agitates 'the strangler' into fighting the elderly Gregorius. Gregorius ends up dying then Kristo wants Harry dead. Harry is then on the run. In a fantastic scene, Harry escapes across a blitzed London and hides out with friends who betray him. In the final scene, he sits with Anna, and looks back on his life. Mary turns up to the boatshed.  Harry desperately tries to redeem himself, but it turns out she has betrayed him and as he runs along the embankment screaming her betrayal, Kristo stands on the bridge and the strangler comes and kills Harry, before throwing him into the Thames.

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This film has the hallmark and tropes of the Film Noir genre. First and foremost is the expressionistic cinematography.  The cinematographer Max Greene mixes the expressionistic film noir style pioneered by the likes of John Alton with a more documentary or cinema verité style of London. The filming on the streets of London also reminded me of Alexander Mackendrick’s Sweet Smell of Success (1957). This too was a new way of filming as it depicted its main characters walking and talking around 42nd street in New York, capturing the neurotic energy of the streets and people of New York.

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One could compare Night and the City to Carol Reed's The Third Man (1949).  Most apparent is the same expressionistic camera work in black and white. Made a year before night and the city, it also uses a post-war city in ruins to explore crime in the underworld.  Both films are full of off-kilter angles and chiaroscuro shadows which further emphasises the darkness of the city.  The Third Man was made the year before Night and the City, but it too is filmed in the remains of a post-war city- in this case Vienna. Both films depict the downward journey of an American in a European city.

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Film noir is even evident in the film's title- Night and the City. Darkness is usually a visual cue for action in film noir. Darkness is also the embodiment of nightmare- visual as well as non-literal. The darkness and expressive lighting connote mystery and moral ambiguity. Film noir is part of the tradition in which cities are the embodiment of shadows and corruption- the modern embodiment of sin and depravity in the modern world.  This genre of film seeks to expose the so-called underbelly of the city.

The scene towards the end of the film, when Harry is trying to escape through the construction site is a perfect example of this style. The cinematographer, Max Greene, uses expressionistic lighting and shadow, but also uses several cameras that move with Harry.  This helps build constant tension and paranoia.

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Dassin shoots the network of London streets in a documentary style, as the camera moves quickly around Soho, travelling on the car or on the buses. It is apparent where the directors of La Nouvelle Vague took their inspiration.  Dassin's camera stye along with moments of improvisation were a key influence on their new style of cinema.

The city serves as an emotional landscape with its endless back alleys and secret passageways. This furthermore emphasises the feeling of claustrophobia and paranoia. Harry is essentially a rat trapped in a cage, without freedom. This film is almost like a time capsule.  It captures the nocturnal streets of Soho and the West End, with its underground bars, clubs and hideouts for those characters existing on the edges of society. Some of the local London characters are very vivid and almost Dickensian; expected perhaps as an American director depicting post-war English society.

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A quite disturbing scene also hints at the lack of freedom within this film: the wrestling scene in which Gregorius the Great ultimately dies. It is an endless scene of Gregorius and the Strangler literally fighting to the death, whilst Harry screams at them to stop. One could imply that this depicted the kind of existential struggle that Dassin himself was experiencing at the time.

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Another trope of film noir, is the femme fatale. Whilst Mary seems a sweet and honest person, she ultimately betrays Harry to his enemy whilst pretending she is giving him a way out. The final image of Harry, is of him screaming about her betrayal.

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Film noir at its centre, depicts a man always trying to make it, but down on his luck. They are of course morally ambiguous and cynical characters in their style and attitude. Their tendency to crime usually gets them caught in the end, which is what happens here. They are always doomed from the beginning and punished for wanting to get ahead.

Dassin first got his big break with Nazi Agent (1942). He was born in New York to Ukrainian immigrant parents. He married as a young man and travelled around Europe studying various forms of drama. When he returned to the States, he set up in New York where he became involved in the left-wing, Yiddish theatre scene- doing radio plays and so on. He was an admirer of playwright Clifford Odetts- who was a great figure of the New York, left-wing theatre- who also struggled to later get work to the Mcarthy period. Dassin was part of a group of New York actors and writers who were left wing and Communist, concerned with issues of social class and capitalism. Another famous member of this community was Elia Kaan, who famously betrayed names of his friends to the committee.

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In Dassin's case, Edward Dmytryk testified against him at the HUAC hearings.  Daryl Zanuck sent Dassin oversees to film as he knew that Dassin had been a part of the Communist party since 1939.  He therefore wanted him out of the country before he was called to testify in the House on Unamerican Activities Committee.

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It has been argued that this sense of desperation and anxiety that permeates this film is a manifestation of director Jules Dqssin's predicament and anxieties at the time. He had to escape persecution from the 'House on Un- American Activities Committe'. He was essentially ultimately blacklisted from working in Hollywood during the red scare paranoia that swept America in the post-war period. It is certainly the case that this film oozes freneticism, anxiety and paranoia; with a central character on the run.

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The film has been seen as a comment on capitalism. Dassin depicts a society of hustlers, out to make the next buck- the underworld of figures who exist in post-war London.  It is a nocturnal London, populated by gangs and crime.

The final scene is a masterclass in the build-up of tension and the unravelling of a character. Harry escapes to his friends Annas boatshed on the Thames embankment.  Harry is an opportunist and liar, but when he realises he is trapped, he becomes like a terrified child. He knows it is the end for him and the dogs are encircling him. With his cocky edifice broken down, he opens up to Anna. He tells her how he’s been running all his life, since he was a child, and how he almost made it. "Welfare officers, thugs, my father"- this reminds me of Brando in On the Waterfront. A smart kid, obviously lost on the way. We then hear the loud footsteps which we assume is his killer come to take him away. There is a terrific shot where he is in deep focus in the foreground, Anna in the back (this lens is also used when he is betrayed by Figler). It enhances here look of sheer terror.  It turns out to be Mary who gives him money and pleads with him to leave London. Instead, he tries to have one more chance with Mary and begs her to stay. This moment shows his character as self-pitying and ultimately exhausting. Perhaps at this point the audience feels recognition and therefore distaste about the character. As he follows her down the embankment, the camera pulls out as Kristo is waiting on the bridge. The strangler grabs Harry and throws him into the river. The film ends with Mary walking away with Adam. There are two edits of this film. Apparently, Dassin wanted the film to end with Kristo as he flicks his cigarette into the water. This would have been a more fatalistic, film noir end to the film.

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Night and the City is a blistering, fast-paced film with Widmark's frenetic, ferocious, non-stop performance at its centre. There is a real sense of urgency immediacy. The direction almost propels him into this dark underworld and his fate. This is a world of desperate and manipulative characters trying to make something through bad deeds all for the promise of money.  The city becomes the embodiment of what Harry has to navigate- narrow passages, claustrophobic back alleys and the ultimate pressure of it enclosing on him.