Night and the City (1950) on Netflix
NR19501h 36mCrimeFilm-NoirMystery
Harry Fabian, a London hustler, schemes to promote wrestling after befriending the veteran wrestler Gregorius, whose son Kristo controls the sport. His girlfriend Mary is tired of his plans.
- Netflix3.6/5
- IMDb7.8/1016,853 votes
- Rotten Tomatoes83%
Trailer
Plot summary
For years Harry Fabian has worked the nightclubs of London as a tout and a con man, chasing angles that never pay off. His girlfriend, the singer Mary Bristol, urges him to take a straight job, and Phil Nosseross, who owns a club, and his wife Helen both know Fabian as a man in constant need of cash. At a wrestling match, Fabian watches the veteran Greek champion Gregorius quarrel with his son Kristo, who runs the sport in London, and leave the arena with the wrestler Nikolas. Fabian follows them with an idea: to stage Greco-Roman wrestling in the city without Kristo. The venture would cost four hundred pounds. Nosseross offers half if Fabian can raise the rest, but the panhandler Figler, the forger Googin and the smuggler Anna all refuse to help.
Cast
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about Night and the City (1950)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- Gene Tierney was cast as Mary Bristol at the request of Darryl Zanuck, who was worried that personal problems had left the actress suicidal and hoped that the work would improve her state of mind, director Jules Dassin recalled.
- The film's very tough and prolonged fight scene was performed by Stanislaus Zbyszko, a celebrated professional wrestler in real life, and Mike Mazurki, who had been a professional wrestler before he became an actor.
- The British version of the film ran five minutes longer than the American one, with a more upbeat ending and a completely different film score, and Dassin endorsed the American version as closer to his vision.
- Director Jules Dassin later confessed that he had never read the novel upon which Night and the City is based, even though the 1950 film was adapted from it.
