Dark City (1950 film)

Dark City is a 1950 American film noir crime film produced by Hal B. Wallis, directed by William Dieterle, and starring Charlton Heston in his Hollywood debut. The cast also features Lizabeth Scott, Viveca Lindfors, Dean Jagger, Don DeFore, Ed Begley, Jack Webb and Harry Morgan. Webb and Morgan both went on to co-star in the popular police drama television series Dragnet.[1] This was Heston's first appearance in a professional film production, following his participation in David Bradley's amateur Peer Gynt (1941) and semi-professional Julius Caesar (1950). In later interviews, he would refer to Dark City as "definitely not an 'A' picture, but a pretty good 'B'."

Dark City
Theatrical release poster
Directed byWilliam Dieterle
Produced byHal B. Wallis
Screenplay byJohn Meredyth Lucas
Larry Marcus
Based onthe story "No Escape"
by Larry Marcus
StarringCharlton Heston
Lizabeth Scott
Viveca Lindfors
Dean Jagger
Don DeFore
Music byFranz Waxman
CinematographyVictor Milner
Edited byWarren Low
Production
company
Hal Wallis Productions
Distributed byParamount Pictures
Release date
  • October 17, 1950 (1950-10-17) (United States)
Running time
98 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish

Plot

Danny Haley (Charlton Heston) is one of the owners of an illegal bookie joint.The police raid his establishment even though he pays the police for protection. Danny hangs out at the Sammy Cafe where he listens to singer Fran Garlan ( Lizabeth Scott ). Fran is in love with Danny but Danny tells her that he can't commit to a relationship and she is just a girlfriend.

Later that evening, at the Sammy Cafe, Danny meets businessman and Air Force veteran Arthur Wyant ( Don Defore ), who is in town to buy some equipment for a sports club. When Wyant opens his wallet to pay for his drinks Danny notices a check for $5,000 in his wallet. Danny then casually hints at the possibility of playing some poker, to which Arthur gladly agrees. The game is held in the now closed bookie joint and includes Danny's pals, Soldier ( Harry Morgan ), Barney ( Ed Begley ) and Augie ( Jack Webb ). During the game Wyant talks about his older brother Sidney ( Mike Mazurki ) who is coming to meet him late the next evening. Barney and Augie let Arthur win $325. The next evening, Barney and Augie cheat Arthur out of all his money including the $5,000 company check.

The next day, Danny buys a newspaper and sees that Wyant was found hanged in his hotel room. Fearing that they would attract attention from the police, Danny tells his friends that they should wait a few days to cash Wyant's check. Barney is the most nervous of the group. He tells the others that he thinks someone is following him. Later that night Barney, now openly afraid, calls Danny and says someone is after him. Danny tells him to go to sleep. But the next morning Barney is found hanged in his apartment

Police Captain Garvey ( Dean Jagger ) interviews Danny and Augie in his office. He tells them that he knows that there is a connection between Wyant's death and the poker game that they organized. Captain Garvey also tells them that Wyant left a letter for his brother Sidney. He informs them that Sidney is a dangerous criminal and likely to avenge his brother's death and that Barney was probably killed by Sidney. Danny and Augie deny any connection with Wyant's death.

Danny and Augie decide to try and find Sydney before he finds them. They decide to go to Los Angeles where Danny will try to get information about Sidney from Wyant's widow Victoria ( Viveca Lindfors ). Danny, posing an insurance agent, tells Victoria that he needs to find Sidney because he is the beneficiary of Wyant's life insurance policy, and that Victoria will be the beneficiary if Danny can't find Sidney. He tells her that he needs a picture of Sidney in order to confirm his identity. Victoria has destroyed all the pictures she had of Sidney and is afraid of him calling him a psychopath. Danny spends a romantic evening with Victoria and after returning home, kisses her. Unable to hide the truth anymore, he confesses who he really is, after which an angry Victoria chases him out of the house. Danny tries to give her Wyant's check, but she won't take it.

Returning to his motel, Danny finds Augie's body hanging from the shower in his room. The police arrest Danny after the hotel manager tells them that he heard both men having a loud argument the day before. Captain Garvey arrives in Los Angeles and, believing Danny to be innocent, manages to persuade his Los Angeles colleagues to release Danny, provided that he immediately leaves the city. Danny knows that the police are letting him go in order to use him as bait to catch the real killer Sydney.

Danny decides to go to Las Vegas when he learns that Soldier has moved there and found a job in a casino. Danny arrives and Soldier gets him a job as a croupier in his casino. Fran comes to Las Vegas too and Soldier finds her a job as the singer in the same casino's lounge.

After work one day Danny goes to a nearby casino to plays craps. He has a run of luck and builds his small stake into more than $10,000. While he is out playing Victoria calls the casino where Danny works, but Fran takes the call. Victoria tells Fran that Sidney has found out that Danny is in Las Vegas and is on his way there. Fran finds Danny and tells him what Victoria told her. Danny asks Fran to send the money he won to Victoria the next morning if anything happens to him. Believing that Danny is in love with Victoria, Fran decides to leave for Chicago.

After driving around for a while and feeling that he was being followed, Danny goes back to his motel room. He sits there prepared with a gun in his hand, waiting for Sidney's attack. Sidney comes out from the bathroom and catches Danny by surprise and after a struggle starts to choke Danny. But Captain Garvey and his men, who were following Danny all along, burst into the room and shoot Sidney.

The next morning at the airport Fran is walking towards her plane to Chicago. At the last moment, Danny comes running to the plane and tells Fran that he loves her. They kiss and turn around to walk back together into the airport.

Cast

Production notes

The working title of this film was No Escape. The production dates were from April 5 to May 12, 1950. Additional scenes and retakes were from May 9 to May 11, 1950. The production scenes were shot at the following Los Angeles locations: Griffith Observatory, Union Station, North Hollywood, an amusement pier in Ocean Park, the Wilshire Plaza Hotel and the Valley Vista Motel on Ventura Blvd. in the San Fernando Valley, California. In addition, background shots were filmed in Las Vegas, Nevada and Chicago, Illinois.[2]

Reception

Critical response

When the film was released, film critic for The New York Times, Bosley Crowther, applauded the work of newcomer Charlton Heston but panned the film, writing:

A new star named Charlton Heston — a tall, tweedy, rough-hewn sort of chap who looks like a triple-threat halfback on a midwestern college football team—is given an unfortunate send-off on the low and lurid level of crime in Hal Wallis' thriller, Dark City, which came to the Paramount yesterday. Apparently Mr. Heston, who has worked for the stage and video, has something more than appearance to recommend him to dramatic roles. He has a quiet but assertive magnetism, a youthful dignity and a plainly potential sense of timing that is the good actor's sine qua non. But in this 'clutching hand' chiller, he is called upon to play nothing more complex or demanding than a crooked gambler marked for doom.[3]

In 2004, film critic Dennis Schwartz gave the film a mixed review, writing:

Veteran director William Dieterle (The Devil and Daniel Webster) has been dealt a bad hand by the weak script, but the talented cast play out the hand as best they could ... The dark mood is set by Victor Milner's excellent B&W photography. Heston's finely tuned nuanced performance, as a guy gone bad but who can be saved by love, gives the melodrama enough film noir qualities to get over but not enough to relieve it of its tedium.[4]

References
  1. Dark City at the American Film Institute Catalog.
  2. IMDb, locations section. Accessed: August 3, 2013.
  3. Crowther, Bosley (October 19, 1950). "Charlton Heston Makes His Film Debut in Dark City, Feature at the Paramount Theatre". The New York Times. Retrieved July 10, 2013.
  4. Schwartz, Dennis. Ozus' World Movie Reviews, film review, November 9, 2004. Accessed: July 10, 2013.
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