Review of Night and the City (1950) by Abhishek S — 30 Dec 2010

'Night and the City' is pretty much a perfect noir. Fast paced, dark, gloomy, relentless, cynical-full of nasty characters and broken dreams..the film is not going to brighten up anyone's day but if your in the mood for true noir.

.this is one of the best. I absolutely LOVE Widmark in this film. He brings such energy to his role..it's one of the greatest noir performances. You feel for his character, sure he makes mistakes and doesn't always do things the right way but you can't help but wish that he could succeed.

The rest of the cast is also excellent, they support Widmark's performance perfectly. The photography is top-notch, London had such a sinister quality to it in this film. Photography is very important in noir.

.it sets the tone, the mood, the atmosphere...the dark alleys and shadowy figures. The film is aided tremendously by the excellent camerawork. But I think what I love most about this film is the pacing and the screenplay.

Right from the first scene when we see Harry Fabian running-we are thrown into his world. The film doesn't let go a bit from start to finish. We know what's going to happen to him but we can't help but watch as his nightmarish world goes spiraling out of control.

The film is exhilarating which is odd because the subject matter is so bleak. It's just the way everything comes to together perfectly to the create a very satisfying experience is what elevates the film to not just merely being a great fiilm but to being a GREAT NOIR.

And that's something for me. ;).