An excellent film noir, with Widmark in top form. The film opens with Widmark running down narrow London streets, and from there the film never loses it's frenetic energy. Widmark plays a guy who "wants to be somebody", always dreaming up new schemes to make him rich and a big shot. But he's really doomed from the beginning (lots of foreshadowing makes his eventual fate quite easy to predict) as one of life's losers. He scams his way into gaining a deal to manage a young wrestling star, but things spiral out of control in true noir fashion.
Interesting that this archetypal film noir should be shot in the shadowy streets of London, when dark American streets were the movement's ancestral home. But, as with "The Killers" and "Out Of The Past", this is one of the defining noir films. Just look at the title. It pretty much encapsulates noir, with the film taking place predominantly at night and in an urban setting. Director Jules Dassin's London underbelly is a disturbing, fascinating world- in a way, it's almost Dickensian in tone. The cinematography and DVD transfer looks wonderful.
While Widmark is awesome, the film is really given it's colour from the great supporting cast. Googie Withers is one woman who Widmark really shouldn't trust or mess with, but he does and with fatal consequences. Her morbidly obese husband, villainous but tragically in love with his no-good wife, is memorably played by Francis L Sullivan. Stanislaus Zbyszko is unforgettable as the proud Greco-Roman wrestling warrior, and Herbert Lom brilliantly underplays as his mafioso son. And, to make things even more noir, throw in Mike Mazurki as Strangler! Tierney unfortunately does not have much to do, with her faithful girlfriend role readily familiar (her role was actually added in by Dassin as a favour to Zanuck).
An incredibly moody, sometimes grotesque and tragic noir piece that, while brutal, manages to fit in more than a few moments of touching sensitivity and human tragedy. Who can forget Lom's final scene with Zbyszko?
Interesting that this archetypal film noir should be shot in the shadowy streets of London, when dark American streets were the movement's ancestral home. But, as with "The Killers" and "Out Of The Past", this is one of the defining noir films. Just look at the title. It pretty much encapsulates noir, with the film taking place predominantly at night and in an urban setting. Director Jules Dassin's London underbelly is a disturbing, fascinating world- in a way, it's almost Dickensian in tone. The cinematography and DVD transfer looks wonderful.
While Widmark is awesome, the film is really given it's colour from the great supporting cast. Googie Withers is one woman who Widmark really shouldn't trust or mess with, but he does and with fatal consequences. Her morbidly obese husband, villainous but tragically in love with his no-good wife, is memorably played by Francis L Sullivan. Stanislaus Zbyszko is unforgettable as the proud Greco-Roman wrestling warrior, and Herbert Lom brilliantly underplays as his mafioso son. And, to make things even more noir, throw in Mike Mazurki as Strangler! Tierney unfortunately does not have much to do, with her faithful girlfriend role readily familiar (her role was actually added in by Dassin as a favour to Zanuck).
An incredibly moody, sometimes grotesque and tragic noir piece that, while brutal, manages to fit in more than a few moments of touching sensitivity and human tragedy. Who can forget Lom's final scene with Zbyszko?