The Naked City (Criterion #380).
1948 Universal Pictures.
Starring: Barry Fitzgerald, Howard Duff, Dorothy Hart, Don Taylor, Frank Conroy, Ted de Corsia
Director: Jules Dassin
Buy The Naked City at Amazon.
This film won an Academy Award for Best Cinematography (William H. Daniels), and for Best Film Editing (Paul Weatherwax).
One late night in the Big Apple, a former model named Jean Dexter is murdered when two men use chloroform on her, and leave her to drown in her bathtub. Then, one of the killers is killed by his partner and dumped into the East River when he drunkenly shows remorse for his actions. Also, Jean seemed to have been a victim of burglary, as a lot of jewelry she supposedly owned has turned up missing.
Homicide detective Lt. Dan Muldoon (Fitzgerald) and his rookie partner Jimmy Halloran (Taylor) are assigned to the case. Over the next six days, they investigate Jean Dexter's murder, tracing back to the last eighteen months of her life, and finding out that Dexter led a wild life, with plenty of lovers and social gatherings, and as the detectives probe deeper into the case, they discover a lot of interlocking reasons as to why at least three men might have wanted Jean dead. Eventually, a man named Frank Niles (Duff) is taken into custody for the jewelry theft, but he is not responsible for Jean's death. Duff initially lied about everything when questioned at first, including his relationship with model Ruth Morrison (Hart), but eventually confesses that he knows who killed Jean. That somebody is former wrestler turned criminal Willie Garzah (de Corsia), a man with a penchant for harmonica who also slaughtered his accomplice, Peter Backalis (Walter Burke). Garzah leads the police on a chase through Manhattan after assaulting Halloran (who tried to lure the murderer into a trap), which comes to a bloody end on the Williamsburg Bridge.
Highly recommended piece of film noir, and yes, there are eight million stories in the naked city.
Showing posts with label jules dassin. Show all posts
Showing posts with label jules dassin. Show all posts
Wednesday, May 13, 2009
Monday, February 9, 2009
Rififi
Rififi [Du rififi chez les hommes] (Criterion #115). 1955 Rialto Pictures, Gaumont & Janus Films.
Starring: Jean Servais, Carl Mohner, Robert Manuel, Jules Dassin (as Perlo Vita), Magali Noel
Director: Jules Dassin
Available at Amazon.
American filmmaker Jules Dassin found himself blacklisted in Hollywood after he made and released Night and the City. Dassin found work in France where he directed a film adaptation of Auguste le Breton's novel of the same name, writing the screenplay in English, and having a screenwriter named Rene Wheeler translate it into France. Dassin hated the novel, leaving out the racist overtones, and a scene involving necrophilia, and he instead made the heist scene, which only took up ten pages into the book, into the film's centerpiece.
The film was released in America with a dubbed soundtrack, which was included in Criterion's release, and that happens to be the one I'm watching, instead of using subtitles.
Tony le Stephanois (Servais) just got out of prison after a five year sentence, and he is asked by a friend named Jo le Suedois (Mohner) to participate in a theft of diamonds. Tony is godfather to Jo's son, but he declines to take part in the heist, only changing his mind after finding out his former lover Mado (Marie Sabouret) is now seeing another gangster, Pierre Grutter (Marcel Lupovici). Tony only agrees to take part on the condition that they not steal from the store window, but the jeweler's safe. Another gang member named Mario (Manuel) suggests that they recruit a safe cracker named Cesar (Dassin/Vita). After surveying the jewelry store, they break in from an upstairs flat and successfully pull off the theft. Cesar secretly takes a diamond ring as a gift for his mistress Viviane.
Grutter, upset over Tony's treatment of Mado, and discovering that he was part of the heist, he orders Tony and his accomplices killed. After Mario and his wife are murdered, and Cesar dies, Grutter ups the stakes by kidnapping Jo's son Tonio. It's up to Tony to save his godson once Jo finally cracks under pressure, and confronts Grutter himself.
Recommended movie.
Starring: Jean Servais, Carl Mohner, Robert Manuel, Jules Dassin (as Perlo Vita), Magali Noel
Director: Jules Dassin
Available at Amazon.
American filmmaker Jules Dassin found himself blacklisted in Hollywood after he made and released Night and the City. Dassin found work in France where he directed a film adaptation of Auguste le Breton's novel of the same name, writing the screenplay in English, and having a screenwriter named Rene Wheeler translate it into France. Dassin hated the novel, leaving out the racist overtones, and a scene involving necrophilia, and he instead made the heist scene, which only took up ten pages into the book, into the film's centerpiece.
The film was released in America with a dubbed soundtrack, which was included in Criterion's release, and that happens to be the one I'm watching, instead of using subtitles.
Tony le Stephanois (Servais) just got out of prison after a five year sentence, and he is asked by a friend named Jo le Suedois (Mohner) to participate in a theft of diamonds. Tony is godfather to Jo's son, but he declines to take part in the heist, only changing his mind after finding out his former lover Mado (Marie Sabouret) is now seeing another gangster, Pierre Grutter (Marcel Lupovici). Tony only agrees to take part on the condition that they not steal from the store window, but the jeweler's safe. Another gang member named Mario (Manuel) suggests that they recruit a safe cracker named Cesar (Dassin/Vita). After surveying the jewelry store, they break in from an upstairs flat and successfully pull off the theft. Cesar secretly takes a diamond ring as a gift for his mistress Viviane.
Grutter, upset over Tony's treatment of Mado, and discovering that he was part of the heist, he orders Tony and his accomplices killed. After Mario and his wife are murdered, and Cesar dies, Grutter ups the stakes by kidnapping Jo's son Tonio. It's up to Tony to save his godson once Jo finally cracks under pressure, and confronts Grutter himself.
Recommended movie.
Thursday, December 18, 2008
Night and the City
Night and the City (Criterion #274). 1950 20th Century Fox.
Starring: Richard Widmark, Gene Tierney, Googie Withers, Hugh Marlowe, Francis L. Sullivan
Director: Jules Dassin
Buy Night and the City at Amazon.
Harry Fabian (Widmark) is an American hustler who dreams of the good life, but he's never attained that success he craves so much. While in London, his girlfriend Mary (Tierney) catches him trying to steal 300 pounds, and asks him to find a job, as long as it's done in the daylight. Harry and Mary also work for the owner of the Silver Fox Club (Sullivan), and his wife Helen (Withers). Helen wants to leave her husband and start her own club, and she recognizes that she'll need Harry's talents to pull it off.
Harry has other plans, though: he plans to take control of the professional wrestling circuit from a local promoter and underworld boss Kristo (Herbert Lom). Unlike his other schemes, Harry is absolutely confident that this one could bring him the wealth and fame he desires so badly. Things go horribly awry when Fabian's partner, the retired wrestling legend Gregorius (Stanislaus Zbyszko), and father to Kristo, dies following an impromptu match with Harry's newest "box office draw", The Strangler (Mike Mazurki).
Recommended.
Starring: Richard Widmark, Gene Tierney, Googie Withers, Hugh Marlowe, Francis L. Sullivan
Director: Jules Dassin
Buy Night and the City at Amazon.
Harry Fabian (Widmark) is an American hustler who dreams of the good life, but he's never attained that success he craves so much. While in London, his girlfriend Mary (Tierney) catches him trying to steal 300 pounds, and asks him to find a job, as long as it's done in the daylight. Harry and Mary also work for the owner of the Silver Fox Club (Sullivan), and his wife Helen (Withers). Helen wants to leave her husband and start her own club, and she recognizes that she'll need Harry's talents to pull it off.
Harry has other plans, though: he plans to take control of the professional wrestling circuit from a local promoter and underworld boss Kristo (Herbert Lom). Unlike his other schemes, Harry is absolutely confident that this one could bring him the wealth and fame he desires so badly. Things go horribly awry when Fabian's partner, the retired wrestling legend Gregorius (Stanislaus Zbyszko), and father to Kristo, dies following an impromptu match with Harry's newest "box office draw", The Strangler (Mike Mazurki).
Recommended.
Thieves' Highway
Thieves' Highway (Criterion #273). 1949 20th Century Fox.
Starring: Richard Conte, Valentina Cortese, Lee J. Cobb, Barbara Lawrence, Jack Oakie
Director: Jules Dassin
Buy Thieves' Highway at Amazon.
One of the all-time great noir films depicting the cutthroat world of produce dealers. Nick Garcos (Conte), a veteran turned truck driver, comes home to find his father, who is a farmer, robbed and crippled. Learning that his father was attacked on the orders of a San Francisco produce dealer Mike Figlia (Cobb). Nick vows revenge. Teaming up with Ed (Millard Mitchell), Nick arranges to transport a shipment of apples to Figlia's business. Their first meeting is uneventful, but Figlia steals Nick's crop while he's resting in a prostitute named Rica's (Cortese) quarters. Nick demands, and gets the money for his apples, only to be attacked and robbed while with Rica. Meanwhile, Ed never makes it to San Francisco, and it leads to the final confrontation with Figlia after Nick discovers what happened to the old man.
Recommended.
Starring: Richard Conte, Valentina Cortese, Lee J. Cobb, Barbara Lawrence, Jack Oakie
Director: Jules Dassin
Buy Thieves' Highway at Amazon.
One of the all-time great noir films depicting the cutthroat world of produce dealers. Nick Garcos (Conte), a veteran turned truck driver, comes home to find his father, who is a farmer, robbed and crippled. Learning that his father was attacked on the orders of a San Francisco produce dealer Mike Figlia (Cobb). Nick vows revenge. Teaming up with Ed (Millard Mitchell), Nick arranges to transport a shipment of apples to Figlia's business. Their first meeting is uneventful, but Figlia steals Nick's crop while he's resting in a prostitute named Rica's (Cortese) quarters. Nick demands, and gets the money for his apples, only to be attacked and robbed while with Rica. Meanwhile, Ed never makes it to San Francisco, and it leads to the final confrontation with Figlia after Nick discovers what happened to the old man.
Recommended.
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