Night and the City Family Review

A small-time grifter and nightclub tout takes advantage of some fortuitous circumstances and tries to become a big-time player as a wrestling promoter.Harry Fabian is a London hustler with ambitious plans that never work out. One day, when he encounters the most famous Greco-Roman wrestler in the world, Gregorius, at a London wrestling arena run by his son Kristo, he dreams up a scheme that he thinks will finally be his ticket to financial independence. As Fabian attempts to con everyone around him to get his scheme to work, he of course only ends up conning himself. This is an interesting tale of blind ambition, self-deception, broken dreams, and how a man who always thinks he's ahead of the game ends up tripping himself very badly.—Alan Katz <[email protected]>In London, the swindler Harry Fabian is an ambitious loser, frequently taking money from his girlfriend Mary Bristol. When he meets the famous Greco-Roman wrestler Gregorius the Great in the arena of his son and the wrestling lord Kristo, he plans a scheme to become successful. He cheats Greorious, promising clean combats in his own arena, and the old man accepts the partnership. However, without money to promote the fight, he invites his boss and owner of a nightclub Phil Nosseross to be his partner, but is betrayed and his business fails ending in a tragedy.—Claudio Carvalho, Rio de Janeiro, BrazilCagey swindler Harry Fabian (Richard Widmark as one of noir's most subversive antiheroes) aspires to make his mark as a promoter despite his nightclub singer girlfriend Mary Bristol (Gene Tierney) urging him to get a straight gig. Trailed by a slippery history of dead-end schemes, he stumbles upon legendary wrestler Gregorius the Great (played by retired legendary wrestler Stanislaus Zbyszko)-conning the wrestler into believing he can successfully promote the spectacular Greco-Roman contests Gregorius was once known for. But favorable outcomes can be bought in this interconnected syndicate of breakable contracts, unfathomable corruption, and disposable men-and naïve Fabian jeopardizes his own life with a foolhardy game plan that threatens a valuable family legacy. At the urging of 20th Century Fox studio head Darryl F. Zanuck, director Jules Dassin exported this assignment to London just as he was being blacklisted stateside.—Mae MorenoAmerican Harry Fabian is a small time hustler in London, his loyal wife, Mary Bristol, who is aware of his activities but probably not that they are truly unethical, amoral scams. Their life centers on the Silver Fox, a nightclub owned by Philip Nosseross, and largely managed by his wife, Helen Nosseross, Mary a singer there, and Harry who works his scams out of the club with the Nosserosses getting a cut. While Harry embarks on these scams, he always has the thought of bigger payouts, although he is never able to convince anyone to provide him with the few hundred quid seed money to carry out those bigger plans. Things change when he is trying to find investors for his latest big plan, namely to corner the market on exhibition wrestling in London by exploiting what he learns is a disagreement between father and son, Gregorius and Hermes Kristo, the former a traditional Greco-Roman wrestler, the latter a professional wrestling promoter. Helen wants to exploit the situation herself in trying to use Harry's plan to get away from Philip, who she never loved and truly detests, in wanting to open her own club without him. While loving Helen, Philip may understand his wife more than she realizes. As Harry, Helen and Philip's plans, some which are more open than others, are in direct conflict with each other, those conflicts may lead to collateral damage as each strives for what he/she wants, that damage not only to those directly involved, but also to Mary who wants to be part of Harry's salvation.—Huggo