Richard Widmark |
In London Harry Fabian (Richard Widmark of Don't Bother to Knock) is a hustler for a night club and is always coming up with one get-rich-quick scheme after another. His loving girlfriend, Mary (Gene Tierney), sings at the same club and tries her best to keep Harry's flights of fancy from careening out of control. He meets the son, Nikolas (Ken Richmond), of a famous retired wrestler. Gregorius (Stanislaus Sbyszko), and decides to become the younger man's manager. But this doesn't sit well with Gregorius' other son, Kristo (Herbert Lom), who has the fight racket in London sewn up. Besides, Harry needs money to stage a match, and if he can't get it from the corpulent club owner, Philip Nosseross (Francis L. Sullivan of Hell's Island), he'll get it from the man's wife, Helen (Googie Withers), who has a thing for him. But Harry may find he's bitten off more than he can chew as he attempts to balance all these factions and emerge a winner ...
Tierney and Widmark |
The Connecticut-born Jules Dassin also directed Rififi. Night and the City was remade in 1992 with Robert De Niro in the Harry Fabian role but the film was not well-received.
Verdict: Unusual drama with a rich and interesting cast. ***.
2 comments:
This looks interesting. Widmark was a solid leading man and a better actor than he ever got credit for. He did get one Oscar nod early in his career for Kiss of Death but should have also been nominated for Judgment at Nuremberg, along with all his costars!!
-Chris
Agreed! True, no one ever talked about Widmark being a "great actor" as such, but he was vivid and very effective in a great many films, including the famous "Kiss of Death."
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