Night And The City

Harry Fabian is a small time con man with big dreams in 1950 London in glorious black and white. What could possibly go wrong?

Night And The City

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In A Lonely Place

If you like Bogart, then this is his greatest performance that you may have never seen. If there is an actual plot to this film it is a weak whodunit that offers little in the way of options,  motivations, or clues. The story moves on the emotions of the characters carried in a blaze across Bogart’s shoulders. Excellent!

In A Lonely Place

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The Naked City

Worth it for a look at New York City in 1948 at street level where the actors seem as much a part of the crowd as they are in a film.

From Wiki

“Based on a story by Malvin Wald, The Naked City portrays the police investigation that follows the murder of a young model. A veteran cop is placed in charge of the case and he sets about, with the help of other beat cops and detectives, finding the girl’s killer. The Naked City producerMark Hellinger‘s voice was used for the film’s narration. Hellinger died of a sudden heart attack after a preview of the movie. The film was the inspiration for the 1958-63 TV series Naked Cityand its closing tag line, “There are eight million stories in the Naked City. This has been one of them.”

According to the book Noir Style by Alain Silver and James Ursini, the visual style of The Naked City was inspired by New York photographer Weegee, who published a book of photos of New York life entitled Naked City (1945).”

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The Phenix City Story

From Wiki

“The film depicts the real-life 1954 assassination of Albert Patterson, who had just been elected Alabama Attorney General on a platform of cleaning up Phenix City, Alabama, a city controlled by organized crime. Patterson was murdered in Phenix City, and the subsequent outcry resulted in the imposition of martial law on the city by the state government. Some prints of the film include a 13-minute newsreel-style preface including newsman Clete Roberts interviewing many of the actual participants.

In reality the city was so corrupt and dangerous–so many soldiers from nearby Fort Benning, Georgia, were robbed, beaten and murdered there that at one time the post’s commander, Gen.George S. Patton, threatened to take his tanks into the city and clean it out himself if the state didn’t do something about it (Patton was shortly thereafter transferred and the city remained the haven for gambling, prostitution and drug dealing that it had been).”

The Phenix City Story also features a dynamite early performance by Richard Kiley.

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Film Noir Week At My Place

Kicked it off last night with Out Of The Past, definitely a noir masterpiece. Thought I would share the posters as I go along.

 

 

 

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