A Dassin Dossier
Mar 25, 2009J. Hoberman’s got a sharp and snazzy piece in the New York Times on American expat director Jules Dassin—just in time for Film Forum’s fifteen-film retrospective...
Synopsis
Two-bit hustler Harry Fabian (Richard Widmark) aches for a life of ease and plenty. Trailed by an inglorious history of go-nowhere schemes, he stumbles upon a chance of a lifetime in the form of legendary wrestler Gregorius the Great (Stanislaus Zbyszko). But there is no easy money in this underworld of shifting alliances, bottomless graft, and pummeled flesh––and Fabian soon learns the horrible price of his ambition. Luminously shot in the streets of London, Jules Dassin’s Night and the City is film noir of the first order and one of the director’s crowning achievements.
Cast
| Harry Fabian | Richard Widmark |
| Mary Bristol | Gene Tierney |
| Helen Nosseross | Googie Withers |
| Adam Dunn | Hugh Marlowe |
| Philip Nosseross | Francis L. Sullivan |
| Kristo | Herbert Lom |
| Gregorious | Stanislaus Zbyszko |
| The Strangler | Mike Mazurki |
| Mickey Beer | Charles Farrell |
Credits
| Director | Jules Dassin |
| Screenplay | Jo Eisenger |
| From the novel by | Gerald Kersh |
| Music | Franz Waxman |
| Cinematography | Max Greene |
| Art direction | C.P. Norman |
Disc Features
- New, restored high-definition digital transfer
- Audio commentary by film scholar Glenn Erickson
- New video interview with director Jules Dassin
- Excerpts from a 1972 French interview with Dassin
- A comparison by Christopher Husted of the Bernard Hermann estate of the two scores recorded for the British and American releases of the film
- Original theatrical trailer
- English subtitles for the deaf and hearing impaired
- Plus: a new essay by film critic Paul Arthur
From the Current
Night and the City: In the Labyrinth
by Jan 31, 2005Within film noir’s unparalleled roster of resonant titles—Kiss of Death, Out of the Past, Where Danger Lives, to name three—none is more emblematic or iconographically cogent than Night and the City
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