Night and the City Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		4.5
Video		5.0
Audio		5.0
Extras		4.5
Overall		4.5

Night and the City Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Dr. Svet Atanasov August 6, 2015

Jules Dassin's "Night and the City" (1950) arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Criterion. The supplemental features on the disc include an original trailer for the film; archival interview with the American director; excerpt from an episode of the French television show L'invite du dimanche; audio commentary by film critic Glenn Erickson; the longer British Version of the film; and more. The release also arrives with an illustrated leaflet featuring film scholar Paul Arthur's essay "In the Labyrinth". In English, with optional English SDH subtitles for the main feature. Region-A "locked".

"Get the word around the East End, Soho, the Embankment. A thousand pounds for the man who gets Fabian. I want him."

His name is Harry Fabian (Richard Widmark) and he is a dreamer with a bad luck. He knows it. Years ago he had big dreams and tried to change his life many times, but never got the break other guys around him had early in their lives.

Now Harry has a plan that may finally work. In fact, he can already tell that it will. At a wrestling match in the heart of London, Harry has met the legendary Greek wrestler Gregorius (real Polish wresting veteran Stanislaus Zbyszko) and with his help he is going to make a small fortune. Gregorius has come to England with his son, Nikolas of Athens (British wrestler Ken Richmond), to see how his other son, Kristo (Herbert Lom), is promoting his Greco-Roman legacy, but he is disappointed and ready to go home. In front of the arena, Harry befriends Gregorius and asks him to allow Nikolas to appear in a special Greco-Roman event which the city will never forget. If Gregorius agrees, Harry will set up the event and immediately start promoting it.

Kristo warns Gregorius not to trust Harry, but he scolds him and walks away. Soon after, in a local wrestling club Gregorius begins preparing Nikolas for the event.

Harry also goes to work. First he steals some money from his naïve girlfriend, Mary (Gene Tierney), and then asks the owner of the popular night club Silver Fox, Philip Nosseross (Francis L. Sullivan), to become his partner. He agrees, but not because he wants to do business with Harry. Through Harry, he hopes to expose his wife, Helen (Googie Withers), a former prostitute, whom he believes is cheating on him.

For a while everything goes according to Harry’s brilliant plant, but then his lies are exposed and he is forced to run for his life.

Jules Dassin’s Night and the City is one of the most cynical noir films ever made. There literally isn’t a single character in it that one can side with and hope that at the end it will emerge victorious. Almost immediately after the opening credits roll, it becomes painfully obvious that they are either shady players ready to hurt anyone, even those that truly love them, or naïve souls who have chosen to suffer even though they could easily walk away from the misery that is plaguing their lives.

Widmark is unquestionably the heart and soul of the film. When he appears in front of the camera, one can immediately feel that he is a desperate man who is running out of time. So the mistakes he makes aren’t difficult to understand, what surprises is the fact that no one around him actually cares to help him out. Even his girlfriend, who sees him stealing her money and realizes that his lies will destroy him, effectively abandons him.

The men and women around Widmark’s character are also left to hang themselves. Initially they appear strong and level-headed, but a series of events expose their weaknesses and many get exactly what they deserve. Those who survive are left to ponder the consequences of their actions and suffer for the rest of their lives.

Dassin shot the film with cinematographer Mutz Greenbaum (Max Greene) on location in London. The footage from and around Soho, in particular, is very atmospheric. While in London, however, Dassin was blacklisted by Hollywood because he was once a member of the Communist Party. Later on, two very different versions of the film were created, both with different soundtracks -- the American Version was scored by Franz Waxman while the British Version was scored by Benjamin Frankel -- and featuring different footage. Dassin was not involved in the editing sessions, but preferred the shorter American Version.

Night and the City Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Presented in an aspect ratio of 1.33:1, encoded with MPEG-4 AVC and granted a 1080p transfer, Jules Dassin's Night and the City arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Criterion.

The following text appears inside the leaflet provided with this Blu-ray release:

"This new digital transfer was created in 4K resolution on an Oxberry wet-gate film scanner from the 35mm original camera negative. The film was restored at Cineric in New York using Blackmagic Design's DaVinci Revival, Cinnafilm's Dark Energy, and Pixel Farm's PFClean. The original monaural soundtrack was remastered at 24-bit from the 35mm magnetic track. Clicks, thumps, hiss, hum, and crackle were manually removed using Pro Tools HD, AudioCube's integrated workstation, and iZotope RX4.

Transfer supervisor: Schawn Belston/Twentieth Century Fox, Los Angeles.
Colorist: Daniel DeVincent/Cineric, New York.
For Cineric: Seth Berkowitz, Andrew Betzer, Simon Lund, Janos Pileni, Ulrike Reichhold, Adam Wangerin."

The film looks remarkably healthy and vibrant. Many of the improvements in detail and clarity are so dramatic that even during the darker outdoor footage now one could see tiny details that are simply missing on the old DVD release. Arguably the most impressive improvements, however, are in the area of color gradation. There is a fantastic range of healthy nuanced blacks and grays that give the film the special lush appearance that makes the great noir films so strikingly elegant (see the sequence at the end where Richard Widmark enters the construction site and notice how light is captured by the camera). Grain is beautifully resolved throughout the entire film and there are no traces of problematic sharpening adjustments. Excluding a couple of very small density fluctuations, all of which are clearly inherited, image stability is also outstanding (see an example in screencapture #9). Finally, there are no encoding anomalies to report in this review. To sum it all up, this is a fantastic restoration of Night and the City which will undoubtedly remain the film's definitive presentation. (Note: This is a Region-A "locked" Blu-ray release. Therefore, you must have a native Region-A or Region-Free player in order to access its content).

Night and the City Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

There are two standard audio tracks on this Blu-ray release: English LPCM 1.0 (American Version) and English Dolby Digital 1.0 (British Version). Optional SDH subtitles are provided.

I viewed the American Version of the film and did some random comparisons with the British Version later on. The lossless track is outstanding. Franz Waxman's score effectively enhances the tense atmosphere in a number of different segments, but balance remains excellent (there are no sudden spikes or drops in terms of dynamic intensity). The dialog is clean, sharp, stable, and free of background hiss. Also, there are no pops, audio dropouts, or digital distortions to report in our review.

The lossy track is quite good. Obviously, dynamic intensity here is different, but Benjamin Frankel's score also has drastically different qualities. Depth is quite good. You can view the British Version, but if you have not seen the film I encourage you to view the American Version first.

Night and the City Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Audio Commentary - in this audio commentary, Glenn Erickson, author of The Film Noir Reader essay on Night and the City and editor of the website DVD Savant, discusses the novel by Gerald Kersh that inspired Jules Dassin to direct Night and the City, the shooting script by Jo Eisinger, some of the major differences between the director's preferred American Version of the film and the longer British Version, Gene Tierney's somewhat underwhelming performance, the key conflicts in the film and its spectacular visual style, the careers of the principal actors, etc. The commentary was recorded exclusively for Criterion in 2004 and initially appeared on the DVD release of Night and the City.

• Trailer - original theatrical trailer for Night and the City. In English, not subtitled. (3 min, 1080p).

• British Version - director Jules Dassin was blacklisted in Hollywood while shooting Night and the City in England. Later on, two different versions of the film were created, both with different soundtracks, and featuring different footage. The director was not involved in the editing sessions, but preferred the American Version. Presented here is the longer British Version of the film (2K transfer). In English, not subtitled. (English Dolby Digital 1.0/1080p/101 min).

• Two Versions, Two Scores - in this archival documentary, music scholar Chris Husted, who in 2003 wrote an essay for the soundtrack release of Jules Dassin's Night and the City, discusses some of the major differences between Franz Waxman (American Version) and Benjamin Frankel's (British Version) scores. Included in the documentary are various comparisons highlighting the differences in select sequences from the film. The documentary was produced in 2005. In English, not subtitled. (24 min, 1080i).

• Jules Dassin - in this archival interview, director Jules Dassin discusses his blacklisting in Hollywood, the shooting of Night and the City in London, the various locations seen in the film (and specifically the fact that contrary to claims from the local press these locations were real), his interactions with the cast (with some fantastic comments about actor Stanislaus Zbyszko), the casting of Gene Tierney, etc. The interview was conducted exclusively for Criterion in 2004. In English, not subtitled. (18 min, 1080i).

• L'invite du dimanche - presented here is an excerpt from an episode of the French television show L'invite du dimanche in which director Jules Dassin discusses with interviewer Paul Seban the Hollywood system (and specifically how stars were treated by studio executives and producers), his work with Joan Crawford and Conrad Veidt, the unusual relationship between directors and producers at the time, McCarthyism and its impact on the arts and his career, Elia Kazan's statement before HUAC, etc. The episode was broadcast on French TV on June 14, 1970. In French, with optional English subtitles. (26 min, 1080i).

• Leaflet - illustrated leaflet featuring the late film scholar Paul Arthur's essay "In the Labyrinth".

Night and the City Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

A desperate hustler is forced to run for his life in Jules Dassin's remarkably cynical noir masterpiece Night and the City. Richard Widmark is spectacular as the hustler, but the film also features an unforgettable performance by professional wrestler and two-time World Heavyweight Champion Stanislaus Zbyszko as Gregorius the Great. Criterion's Blu-ray release of Night and the City is sourced from a new 4K restoration that may well be one of the very best done for a classic American noir film. VERY HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.