Dark City (1950) User Reviews

For Some Working Capital

[bkoganbing · 6/10 · 21 October 2007]

Dark City would probably be an unknown film today if it were not for the fact that it introduced Charlton Heston in the starring role in his very first film in Hollywood. If not for that it would rate as a passably good noir thriller.

In fact Dark City did not even lead to Heston getting his real screen break in his second film. After having done Dark City, Heston just happened to be passing by Cecil B. DeMille's trailer, one of many contract players toiling in the last decade of the big studio system at Paramount. DeMille who liked tall leading men for his films and had made up his mind to cast an unknown in the role of circus boss in The Greatest Show On Earth saw Heston and his height got him the part. Later on DeMille learned about Dark City and had it run for him and was convinced even more.

For a man who played such noble characters later on screen, Dark City presents Heston as a cynical gambler whose bookie joint got raided. Needing some working capital to get back on their feet, Heston, Jack Webb, and Ed Begley find a sucker in the person of Don DeFore and rope him into a poker game. DeFore loses his shirt and when he signs over money that isn't his to cover his debts, he later kills himself.

That sets psychotic older brother Mike Mazurki on the trail of those responsible. And Heston is desperate to get some kind of line on the brother before he winds up dead.

Part of the reason Dark City isn't a better film is precisely because Heston is not a nice guy. There certainly is no rooting interest in what happens to him. Especially when he starts romancing DeFore's widow Viveca Lindfors in an attempt to get information on Mazurki.

The film was later remade taking it out west as Five Card Stud with Dean Martin in the Heston role and Robert Mitchum taking Mazurki's part. The victim in this case was a card cheat who the other players lynch, though Dean Martin protests that. Doing it that way made you care more what happened to Martin than what eventually will happen to Heston.

Lizabeth Scott as nightclub singer/girl friend of Heston, Harry Morgan as a retainer at the bookie joint, and Dean Jagger as the homicide cop round out the cast.

It's interesting to speculate though what kind of turn Charlton Heston's career would have taken if Cecil B. DeMille hadn't spotted him that day on the Paramount lot.

Good Crime Noir on Verge of Being Great; Good Cast and Direction

[silverscreen888 · 7/10 · 14 September 2005]

This film is crime noir since Danny Haley, its lead played admirably by Charlton Heston, in his first major Hollywood starring role is running an illegal bookie joint. The film, as no one else seems to have noticed, is about a man who because his British wife left him after the war and he is disillusioned by the military-industrial complex's fostering of postwar injustice, has taken up "hustling" instead of trying to play by the Establishment's rules. All throughout the movie, people keep blaming Danny for untrue things, his crime being in giving up on an increasingly corrupt postmodernist national government--i.e. neither being an altruistic Democrat nor an overworking Republican. In the film, Danny's place is raided by honest police officer Dean Jagger. The raid leaves Danny with no source of income. A stranger, Don DeFore, strikes up a conversation in Danny's hangout; he ends up in a poker game with Danny's bookie friends Soldier (Harry Morgan), Barney (Ed Begley Sr.) and Augie (Jack Webb). DeFore loses 5000 dollars in a crooked game, pays with a cashier's check and hangs himself in his hotel room that night--some of the money was not his...But, soon after, Barney is found hanged, and the rope was just put around his neck to make the crime look like a suicide. The jumpy, coward Augie and Danny figure that they are going to be the next targets, since they learn Arthur has a psychopathic brother, Sidney. They fly to Los Angeles to seek out the man's widow and get a photo of the brother. Soldier did not participate in the card game. He goes to work in a Vegas casino run by his old-time boxing friend Swede (Walter Sande). This intriguing setup is then turned toward Danny's life-altering meeting with Arthur's gorgeous widow (Viveca Lindfors). He has avoided making a commitment to Lizbeth Scott, a lounge singer who is very much in love with him. But seeing how determined the honest Lindfors is to make a life for her son, he decides to try to get enough money in Vegas to pay the widow back and pair with Scott. The kicker in the deal is the crazed Sidney is still hunting him and Augie as well. Cinematography is luminous B/W by Victor Milner, and the art direction by Franz Bachelin and Hans Dreier complements the great William Dieterle's direction effectively by my lights. Franz Waxman provided serviceable music, Sam Comer and Emile Kuri did complex set decorations; and the female participants looked lovely partly thanks to Edith Head's costumes.Larry Marcus' story "No Escape" has been adapted here by Ketti Frings, with John Meredyth Lucas. The script's episodic elements prevent this movie from being recognized for the fascinating character study it is. It is about what happens to those who for whatever reason stop trying to fight for life in the world of normative values, whoever the opponent, and who enter the world of the collective--crime--for whatever reason. In this story about Danny, the man who escapes the "dark city" he had thought to hide from life in, Charlton Heston is very good for his age. Jack Webb, a powerful radio actor, here turns in what I regard as his best screen performance ever as the nasty and cowardly Augie., Ed Begley Sr. was one of Hopllywood's best dramatic actors, infusing a small part in this feature with his usual dynamic intelligence; and Harry Morgan as the brassy "Soldier" is charismatic and effective. Viveca Lindfors is very well cast I suggest as the suffering but courageous wife; Don Defore was very good at playing a man shallower than he appeared, and here he has a lot to work with. This film is the first since Ayn Rand's "Love Letters" to reunite DeFore and Lizbeth Scott. Scott had limitations in drama although she was adept at comedy, and here she looks lovely as the singer, Fran. Others in the cast who showed to advantage included Dean Jagger, Walter Sande, Walter Burke, and many lesser known persons. Mike Mazurki was miscast as DeFore crazed brother but does his powerful best as usual. This is a very seminal-transitional film, I claim, from a period when noir films, crime or otherwise, had been set in the underworld, to the period where the breakdown of U.S. society had begun to affect law-abiding folk. It is also one of the post-war angst films wherein the war to "make the world safe for democracy" had been revealed as leading to difficulties for returning servicemen. It just misses being very good indeed.

A relentless crime noir, great cast

[secondtake · 8/10 · 13 December 2010]

Dark City (1950)

A surprise, really great. It's not quite a B-movie, though it has some of the honesty and simplicity of a lower budget film. And it has a whole host of terrific actors, including Charlton Heston in his first Hollywood film.

Did I just say Heston was terrific? Yes, here he is, a strong, stubborn, Heston-like character, well cast and well directed and beautifully filmed. And he's at the center of a plot that has several large twists that all make sense, and some great tension throughout. Except for two or three key moments where Heston (or some other actor) does something not quite plausible, the timing and direction by William Dieterle is superb.

The leading woman is a common type in post-war movies, a woman trying to make a living singing in a night club, and she is played with restrained simplicity by Lizabeth Scott. This gives the movie a chance to feature several songs, which she performs herself (Scott even recorded an album in 1957).

Beyond the truly engrossing story, where an unseen killer is on the loose thanks to the greed of a group of backroom poker players, the movie is held together but a half dozen terrific performances. The poker players themselves, including Heston and Ed Begley, are petty and greedy and eventually scared. The man they dupe, a visiting nice guy, is Don DeFore, who pulls it off brilliantly. There are even two guys who later became steadies in "Dragnet." And then there's the detective played by Dean Jaggar, and this talkative, philosophizing, good-guy investigator actually manages to see what's going on right away. Then the cat and mouse game begins.

Enticing, original thriller

[AvgJoe-2 · 11 March 2000]

Charlton Heston is wonderful as a gambler with a conscience who plays a fixed game of poker with his war buddy and in turn is accused of the murder in which the companion actually committed suicide. The supporting cast is equally great in this stereotypical 1950s film noir. Far from Heston's best, but still an very above-average film debut.

Card Sharks Get Terrorised By Victim's Psycho Brother

[seymourblack-1 · 7/10 · 6 March 2018]

Charlton Heston plays an amoral hustler in this moody thriller which has a good plot, a talented cast and plenty of suspense. It's based on the story "No Escape" by Larry Marcus (who is also one of the screenwriters) and, as the title suggests, features a group of characters who find themselves in a life threatening situation, with no obvious way out. It's also a story of revenge in which a growing sense of tension is generated by the presence of an unhinged avenger who, as well as remaining unseen by his victims, very effectively, starts picking them off one by one.

Danny Haley (Charlton Heston) is out of the building when his illegal bookmaking business gets raided by the cops and almost everyone present gets arrested. Due to a lack of hard evidence, however, no charges are brought against either, Danny or his associates, Barney (Ed Begley), Augie (Jack Webb) and Soldier (Henry Morgan). As the business has been raided repeatedly in recent months, despite the money that Danny had spent in pay-offs, it becomes impossible to carry on and everyone involved is left without any income. Unexpectedly, an opportunity to minimize their losses arises when Danny meets an out-of-town businessman in the local nightclub where his girlfriend Fran Garland (Lizabeth Scott) is the resident singer and notices that the friendly Arthur Winant (Don DeFore) has a $5,000 cashiers check in his possession.

After Winant is lured into a rigged poker game, he gets ripped off so badly by Danny, Barney and Augie, that he loses all his money including the $5,000 which belonged to his employers and unable to come to terms with what he'd done, commits suicide in his hotel room by hanging himself. Danny and his gang immediately fear the possible repercussions and things quickly get worse when Barney is murdered and they learn that Winant's psychopathic and very over-protective brother, Sidney (Mike Mazurki) is out for revenge.

Soldier, who was not involved in the card game decides to leave Chicago and goes to work in a Las Vegas casino that's run by one of his old friends and Danny and Augie go to Los Angeles where Danny poses as an insurance investigator and romances Winant's wife Victoria (Viveca Lindfors), in an effort to acquire a photograph of the maniac who's out to kill him. When it becomes clear that Victoria doesn't posses a photo of Sidney, Danny owns up to having deceived her and decides to head for Las Vegas where he's subsequently joined by Fran before some further surprising developments lead to his eventual confrontation with the fearsome Sidney.

This movie provided a very young-looking Charlton Heston with his first Hollywood starring role and the character he plays is rather complex because he's a man who, after having been betrayed by his wife and his best friend whilst on military service in England, had become very disillusioned, cynical and embittered. This led to the kind of detachment and lack of empathy he shows when he fleeces Winant and cruelly deceives the recently bereaved Victoria. It's also the reason for the hardboiled attitude that he habitually displays and his inability to commit properly to his loyal girlfriend, Fran. Heston's portrayal of this rather unsympathetic character is incredibly assured and surprisingly subtle, especially considering his relative inexperience at the time when the film was made.

Although the pace of the action is inconsistent and the level of suspense isn't fully exploited, "Dark City" is wonderfully atmospheric, well-acted and very enjoyable to watch throughout its entire 98 minutes.

No Escape

[richardchatten · 7/10 · 18 July 2020]

A talky Paramount crime drama in the vein of 'The Asphalt Jungle', set in New York but shot in Hollywood, as dour as the youthful Charlton Heston in his first Hollywood vehicle. Surrounded by producer Hal Wallis with a first rate cast (including the two future stars of 'Dragnet') and delivered with routine excellence by the seasoned William Dieterle, with a glamorous but soulful female opposite number in the shapely form of sequin-gowned torch singer Lizabeth Scott (and stalked through much of the film by Mike Mazurki the way Mike Hammer was by Dr. Soberin in 'Kiss Me Deadly').

Brotherly hate

[Lejink · 7/10 · 19 December 2018]

While the most notable aspect of this film on paper maybe that it features the debut starring role of Charlton Heston, it actually has a lot more going for it, being a better than average noir thriller. The morality-tale drama revolves around a seedy little story of three, practiced if hardly chummy card-sharps, one of whom is nightclub manager Heston, who set up a travelling innocent for a fall, tricking him in a crooked game out of the $5000 he's bearing for a good cause. However when the victim hangs himself the next day in remorse at his loss and shame, the trio don't reckon on the man's avenging brother who hits town and starts to take retribution against them one by one.

In a sub-plot, Heston is also being pursued, although this time more agreeably, by sultry nightclub singer Lizabeth Scott while another notable background character is a supposedly "punchy" ex-boxer played by M.A.S.H.'s Harry Morgan, who acts as Heston's loyal, good-natured sidekick, although there's not much evidence provided as to his actual slowness, indeed he's one of the better judges of character in the movie.

Director William Dieterle ratchets up the tension nicely as three become two becomes one and Heston's last man standing, now humanised somewhat by meeting and slightly improbably romancing the dead man's widow and befriending her orphaned child, awaits his turn at the massive hands of the revenging sibling wearing the big black ring. The dialogue is sharp, the characterisations credible and I also liked the "Casablanca"-type, although more uplifting, ending.

Besides capably employing staple noir devices like shadows, darkness and dread, the movie is notable for the excellent songs given to Scott to perform, the most famous of which is the evergreen "That Old Black Magic" but also featuring the superb torch-song "Letter From A Lady In Love".

Heston leads the cast in already recognisably commanding manner and Scott, Morgan, Ed Begley and especially Jack Webb, later of "Dragnet", bring their characters to life in his wake.

All in all, an effective lesser known noir well worth watching.

Small Time Crooks.

[rmax304823 · 7/10 · 29 March 2014]

Those accustomed to seeing Charlton Heston stride across a big screen flowing robes and saying things like, "Bring on the Hebrew dancing girls," are liable to be disappointed. Chuck Heston may be taller than Michael Jordan but he's a small-time gambler here, and not a very pleasant one.

Chuck is a member of a group that runs a small bookie joint in Los Angeles, the others being Ed Begley, Jack Webb, and Henry (Harry) Morgan Or maybe it's Harry (Henry) Morgan. It always mixes me up. There was another actor with a similar name from whom he wanted to distinguish himself and he did all too good a job of it. I can't grasp how he managed to untangle those two names himself. Maybe he was confused too. Why didn't he simply call himself H. H. Morgan? Or Humbert Humbert Morgan? Is that too much to ask? Has he no pity? Okay. I've been waiting twenty years to get that off my chest. Yes, doctor, thank you. the Xanax helped.

The five hoods soon sort themselves out. They all cheat when they can inveigle some stranger into playing poker with them, but their attitudes towards cheating differ. Hubert Horatio Morgan, known as "Soldier," is a bit of a dull bulb but generous and mostly helpful. Ed Begley is a professional who harbors no particular ill will towards anyone but just makes his living by illegal bookmaking and gambling. Jack Webb is not his Dragnet self. Not at all. A cynical, hard-headed character whose guiding vision is a dollar sign. He snarls a lot and natters the good-natured Soldier.

Heston has probably never had a nastier role. He was sometimes abrasive -- "The Big Country," "The Naked Jungle" -- but always proud and needful. In this film he has Lizabeth Scott (nee Emma Matzo) singing smoky ballads to him in her nightclub and mooning over him night and day. But due to some traumatic experiences with a woman while he was in the Army, he wants nothing to do with anybody. And he's not afraid to express himself. To Scott, who is trying to comfort him: "I want to be alone." To Webb: "Get out." The gang get the innocent Don DeFore hooked into a game in which DeFore unwisely loses five large that don't belong to him. He hangs himself. When DeFore's estranged, murderous brother gets wind of this, he begins stalking the gang members one by one. First to go is Ed Begley, found strangled in his flat. The police question Heston and Webb. "What was Barney like when you saw him last?" "He was -- just Barney," replies Heston indifferently, while Webb taps his foot impatiently, bored. Some friends, Begley had.

Webb gets the feeling he's being stalked too. He turns all sweaty and fidgety. He IS being stalked, too, and by a Mount Everest of muscle, Mike Mazurka, in real life a former pro wrestler. Webb is found hanging in his bathroom but nobody grieves.

Then it gets a little complicated, with Heston blowing town for a job in Las Vegas, trying to hide, knowing that if you're going to get lost, Las Vegas is the place to do it. He's gotten a little close to Don DeFore's widow, Viveca Lindfors, who is magnetic in appearance and demeanor but doesn't sparkle in the trashy way that Lizabeth Scott does.

I won't give away the ending. It's about what you'd expect. In his first film, Heston isn't very expressive but then the role calls for a somewhat arid character. Not counting the sympathy generated by the plight of the two women -- one loving from afar, the other a the widow of a nice guy -- the best performance may come from Horatio Hornblower Morgan in the role of the moral simpleton. He could have crawled out of the pages of a Russian novel.

Heston is strong in his first big role

[blanche-2 · 6/10 · 11 June 2013]

From 1950, Dark City is a noir starring Charlton Heston, Lizabeth Scott, Viveca Lindfors, Harry Morgan, Dean Jagger, Jack Webb, and Ed Begley. This was Heston's first major starring role; previously he had appeared in Julius Caesar, an independent film done in Chicago and starring Northwestern University students and graduates.

Heston is powerful as Danny Haley, a not very likable gambler who hangs out with a low crowd. One night he and his friends play poker with an out-of-towner (Dom Defore) and cheat him out of a check for $5000 that wasn't his money. Later, he hangs himself, and the group is questioned by a police detective (Dean Jagger) who feels that Danny is above the group in intelligence and potential, but is going to be murdered if he keeps going the way he is.

The dead man's brother, a psycho, is committed to tracking down every single person at the game and killing him. They start dying, too. No one knows what this man looks like, so Danny goes to see the widow (Lindfors) to see if she has any photos. That's when he realizes how scary this guy really is.

This is an effective film that for some reason has several long numbers performed by Lizabeth Scott, who plays a nightclub singer and Danny's girlfriend. It was almost as if she was being showcased, and her voice was dubbed! She looks beautiful, but one wonders what the director, William Dieterle, had in mind.

Heston is surrounded by first-class character actors and easily holds his own opposite them. His character is tough, and it isn't until a little later in the script that we see there's a heart there. It's a powerful performance. Scott pines for him with her breathless voice, and she's good as well.

Fine film, interesting to see Heston at 27.

What's your excuse Danny ?

[VanheesBenoit · 9/10 · 6 July 2010]

The description "Film Noir" still seems to cause lots of confusion: some people seem to think that every black & white movie with some cynicism in it is a Noir movie. By extension, Dark City is often labeled as Noir. It's OK with me to use jargon, but let's only use it correctly, shall we…

Although Dark City certainly has elements of the Noir genre, there is a very simple reason why this movie really don't qualify as such: indeed the cynical main character Dan Haley slowly but surely turns into a better man, gradually allowing his conscience to play a more important role in his life, and taking several correcting steps after a life of causing sadness and anger. In the end, there's even the promise of a bright future for him with torch singer Fran. All this is very un-Noir ! That doesn't make it all of a sudden a bad movie. On the contrary !

To me, Dark City actually has a very clever psychological plot. All along the way, we get bits of information about why Haley has become a cynical hoodlum. He has been a courageous soldier during the war, but the infidelity of his British wife led him to kill her new love interest. Charges against him were dropped, but it clearly left him quite cynical about interpersonal relationships. Still, he's not rotten to the core. We get first evidence of this, when he discovers that his poker game buddy Augie has been cheating in a game that left L.A. business man Arthur Winant penniless.

Another indication of his double feelings about the world around him can be found in his relationship with Fran:

Fran: Don't you ever need somebody Danny ? Danny: What for ? Fran: Just to need…

Although he keeps on pushing lovesick Fran away when she's once more trying to get too close to him, he will remain -in his own particular way- loyal to her.

So, if one of the reviewers complaints about the lack of chemistry between Heston and Scott, he seems to have completely missed the point this movie is trying to make. Of course there are no sparks flying around here !!! Heston's character is still too much influenced by his troubled past, by the betrayal of his love by his British wife and a friend. He's still in the process of adapting, of regaining some hope. In the end of the movie, he's only beginning to think about romancing again.

Then, several small elements distributed cleverly along the storyline like Tom Thumb's crumbs will lead to big changes in Haley's life. His friend Soldier's remark that he's "Worse than the others" is one of these little seeds, that makes him reflect about his actions. Another one is dropped, when Swede tells him about the Irish boy he killed during a boxing contest. Swede brought all the money he could find to the mother of the deceased young man, but she spat him in the face. This element makes Haley review his reactions concerning Victoria. Victoria too has an important impact on his life, as he sees how she's taking care of Billy, protecting him against uncle Sidney, and how difficult she must have got it, after her husband came back from the war. (Unless he was boasting, he is supposed to have been involved in Special Operations, a kind of work that generally leaves no one without psychological changes. The man is a heavy drinker, and although he has a gorgeous wife and a young son, he's soon playing Casanova in Chicago, dating Fran). Fran too drops several little seeds in Haley's mind, and so does the Police Captain. Although he remains outwardly cynical, all these little drops soon find a way to his heart. The fact that he was upset when he discovered that Augie had been cheating during the poker game already made it clear he wasn't rotten to the core. There still was the possibility for him to change his life. The several meetings with people he has after the suicide of Arthur Winant all turn out to be guiding lights to the right path of life again. And in the end, the patience and extreme loyalty of Fran is rewarded.

So, although this film starts as a Film Noir, this clever movie is in fact about how all kind of positive little events can set in motion important positive changes in someone's life. It's about hope, about starting all over again, about how something positive still can come out of sad events, such as a suicide. Real Film Noir isn't about optimistic at all. The main characters are cynical and self serving, and don't go through changes. Or if they do, it's only to become even more cynical at the end. See for ex. Fred MacMurray's character in Pushover, or Lizabeth Scott herself in Too late for tears. That's Noir with a capital N.

I was extremely pleased by this movie. I'm still trying to find out who actually sung the songs Lizabeth Scott's singing in this movie. Although she took 2 ½ years of singing lessons in the 1950's, and even released an LP, she never reached a sufficient good level to leave an impact as a singer. But the female singer who sang the songs in Dark City surely did. It are haunting melodies such as "Letter from a lady in love" or "Old black magic", sung with a sultry voice. Globally: nice storyline, fine cast, a movie that's worth adding to your collection ! 9/10

Disappointing, but nonetheless worth seeing!

[JohnHowardReid · 6/10 · 28 March 2018]

NOTES: Charlton Heston's professional movie debut. Locations filmed in Los Angeles and Las Vegas. All songs rendered by Lizabeth Scott.

COMMENT: Disappointing. The script seems so attenuated as to lose its promise of suspense and tension along the way of what turns out to be a long-winded yarn.

Romantic interludes with first Lizabeth Scott and then Viveca Lindfors don't help. And when the killer is finally revealed, it turns out to be a familiar cinema friend.

A lot of the initial promise is dissipated by songs - lots of songs - plus tedious and unbelievable romancing, and much talk (like the scenes in Jagger's office) to little purpose. More of the smart ripostes given to Jack Webb in the early sequences would have been most welcome. Also more action - what little we have is confined to the beginning and the climax.

Scott's performance is superficial, but Heston impresses in his professional screen debut, whilst Morgan, Webb and DeFore contribute solid support. To sum up, Heston was fortunate to make his debut in such good company. Begley and DeFore give stand-out portrayals and the rest of the players are no slackers either. Although disappointing in many respects, the script was directed with characteristic expertise by William Dieterle.

Actually there are several dark cities here...

[AlsExGal · 8/10 · 24 November 2012]

... as this film that starts out rather slow becomes a Hitchcock-like game of cat and mouse across the country involving a psychopath bent on vengeance against a group of crooked gamblers that drove his brother to suicide after he lost money that belonged to his company in a card game. The psychopathic brother is hunting the gamblers down one by one and hanging them - which is the way his brother killed himself. Up to the end all you see of this guy is a big beefy hand with a large black ring on one finger. The gamblers that know they're targets don't even know that much about the appearance of the man out to get them. And this is their one hope - to find out what the guy looks like so they can at least have a chance.

At first Charlton Heston may seem out of place here as a gray character at the center of a film noir, but he carries the role admirably. Dean Jagger is the police captain that introduces himself as head of vice but for some reason gets involved in first the suicide of the guy the gamblers took, and then in the murder cases of the gamblers. It's very strange though that he keeps dragging Heston's character downtown just to tell him he's doomed to die at the violent hands of the rampaging murderer - and then seems to do nothing about it other than to taunt him. You'll see several actors playing against their normal type here including Jack Webb as one of the gamblers that is at first a bully full of bravado turned to quivering coward as the killer closes in, and Harry Morgan as an ex-soldier turned simple by something that happened in WWII that is never explained.

Only one thing is a bit annoying in this film - for some reason the makers of this film seem to think Lizabeth Scott's nightclub singing is some kind of treat for the audience. I found it distracting and found myself groaning every time she'd show up for another number.

Another thing that's very interesting - five years after WWII ends much of the problems of the characters is laid at the feet of the destruction and upheaval of that war citing problems that must have been common in American society at that time - hastily made wartime marriages that went lukewarm after the war, men who went soft in the head as a result of being soldiers, men who went hard as a result of being soldiers. If you want to watch a highly effective little thriller I highly recommend this film.

Introducing Charlton Heston

[sol1218 · 6/10 · 23 January 2006]

(There are Spoilers) Charlton Heston known for the Biblical epics and movies with cast of thousands that he made during his fifty or so year career in motion pictures started out in his very first movie, back in 1950, in a little known film-noir curiosity piece playing a small-time hoodlum running a bookie joint in Chicago.

Having his gambling den raided three time in just over a month by the cops, even though he was paying them off, has Dan Haley, Charlton Heston,and his three fellow bookies Barney, Ed Bagely, Augie, Jack Webb, and Soldier, Henry Morgan, wonder if they should get into a much safer business like working a bar or being a croupier in a casino.

Trying to figure out where the next dollar is coming from Dan goes to the nightclub where his girlfriend Fran Garland, Lizabeth Scott,is doing a show and runs into out of town businessman Arthur Winant, Don DeFore. Seeing Winant pull out a number of big bills, including a $5,000.00 bank check, from his wallet as he paid for his drink Dan invites him for a game of cards at his now closed down bookie joint with his friends Barney Augie & Soldier. Winning $350.00 from the four book-makers Arthur is invited back the next evening, his last day in Chicago, for another card game with the four wanting another chance to win back their money.

This time around the bookies were ready for Winant and had the cards rigged, or marked, wiping the poor guy out of everything he had including his $5,000.00 bank check, which Winant signed over to them, which didn't even belong to him. Sick depressed and heart broken Winant goes back to his hotel room and hangs himself. It turns out that Arthur Winart's older brother Sidney, Mike Mazurki, found his body and called the police but Sidney didn't wait around for them to show up, he went out looking for those who drove his brother to kill himself, Dan Barney Augie & Soldier, and pay them back in kind.

Superior film-noir thriller with Sidney Winant, who spent a number of years in a mental institution for the criminally insane, out hunting down and killing those responsible for his brothers, Arthur, death and going from Chicago to Los Angeles to Las Vages to do it. Murdering Barney in Chicago and making it look like he killed himself, by hanging, Sidney has the remaining bookies on the run not even knowing What he, Sidney Winant, even looks like.

Both Dan & Augie travel to Los Angeles to see the late Arthur's wife Victoria, Viveca Lindfors, to get a photo of Sidney to be able to spot him before he attacks and murders them. Dan saying that he's an insurance investigator and that Victoria and Sidney are to receive a $10,000.00 policy that Arthur made out to them can't get a photo of Sidney since Victoria burnt all the photos she had of him wanting to keep him out of her memory forever, he's a dangerous homicidal lunatic she tells Dan.

Dan for his part starts to fall in love with Victoria and want's to give her back the check that her dead husband Arthur signed over to him. When Dan tell's her that he's one of the people who cheated him out of his money, that lead to his suicide, she rejected both Dan and the check.Back in his L.A motel room Dan finds that Sidney got to Augie, while he was at Victoria's house, with him hanging in the shower with a rope tied around his neck.

The movie then moves to Las Vagas with Dan on the run getting a job as a card dealer at his friends Swede's, Walter Sande, casino and meeting his fellow bookie Soldier and his girlfriend from the "Windy City" Fran who both were working there. Sidney finding out that Dan is in Vegas from Victoria's young son Billy, Mark Keuning,makes his way down there from L.A. Victoria then unexpectedly calls Dan and warns him about her brother-in-law finding out where he is has the police using Dan as bait set a trap for the big gorilla, Sidney is well over six feet tall and weighs about 270 pounds. The plan almost backfires when Sidney get's to Dan before they, the police,can get there in time to save Dan's life.

Not that old black magic...

[jbacks3 · 5/10 · 13 September 2011]

Dark City is likely most notable as being Chuck Heston's film debut. But it's also worth seeing for then-supporting actor Jack Webb (actually quite good) teaming with Harry Morgan, some 16 years before they'd pair up in the color reincarnation of Dragnet 1966. It's also significant in the script acknowledging the ugly possibilities of returning to post-WWII society (albeit without the impact of the vaguely similar theme of 1932's I Am A Fugitive Of a Chain Gain and WWI, or the more recent The Best Years of Our Lives). With the talent involved I'd expected a noir classic... but Dark City solidly misses the mark. What's wrong? I can name 3 things: The subplot involving grieving widow Viveca Lindfors is all wrong and slows the picture down to a crawl (and frankly it makes Heston look creepy in the pursuit of her--- without giving away why). The suspense of the mystery homicidally-inclined brother just isn't there. And I personally hated the lip sync'd intrusion of Lizbeth Scott's songs (I found myself saying "why weren't these whittled down in the editing room?"). Director William Dieterle's career was inexplicably on a slide by 1950 and his work here could best be described as yeoman-like. There's absolutely nothing wrong with any of the performances... it's just the script needed about 20 pages tossed and the musical numbers axed.

Then there were none in the Dark City

[jarrodmcdonald-1 · 28 August 2016]

As most people already know, this was Charlton Heston's very first Hollywood film at Paramount. He's very thin, very young, and very good in it. I think the story has an excellent premise-- it's a noir version of Agatha Christie's AND THEN THERE WERE NONE, where a killer is picking off a group of cons one by one. But the script is a bit padded in the middle. It did not need 97 minutes running time...it could have been told adequately in 75 minutes. And one has to wonder which city is darker-- Chicago, Los Angeles, or Las Vegas (since the action occurs in all three places).

Lizabeth Scott is good in all her dramatic scenes but sorry to say her lip syncing is pretty phony when she is trying to get over the illusion she's a singer. Don DeFore does a great job as a doomed gambler, and so does Ed Begley Sr. In his memoirs, Heston called this a good B film. I'm not sure producer Hal Wallis would have labeled it such. It's an A film that doesn't quite live up to its potential, but the moments of greatness in it (and there are some) do outshine the parts that don't work.

classic film noir

[zokikonobarsvedske · 7/10 · 3 August 2016]

Dark city is classic film noir with legendary Charlton Heston, this was his first movie so I would say that maybe he was a little stiff in his film debut but sure he gave a decent performance. I also think that Jack Webb was great in this movie, at some parts like he was more self-confident and convincing then other actors. One of the problems is that I expected more scary scenes with Mike Mazurki, it could been a much more tense and mysterious if the director was more focus on imaginative writers for the scenes of the movie, also music that is Lizabeth Scott singing too often prevent to convince the audience that there is a tense situation in the lives of the main characters. Danny Haley character played by Heston I think was more like a depressed man then a hustler. I also can't understand why people feel sorry for Arthur Winant? he was a gambler who lost the money that were not his, he also had a wife and child and he was still flirting with Fran Garland Denny's girlfriend, also Arthur was so proud that his older brother Sidney was a bully. People like Arthur Winant get what the are asking for so you can't blame same hustlers for cunning people like him. I give 7 out of 10. Worth watching for sure.

An impressive debut

[jotix100 · 7/10 · 4 June 2009]

Charlton Heston, a man that worked extensively in the American cinema, was seen for the first time in an important role in "Dark City", a decent drama-mystery with shades of film noir. This vehicle clearly took him to a prominent position in Hollywood. The German director William Dieterle, a veteran in the industry, was a reliable man to have behind the camera, as he proves here.

The story of Dan Haley, a young man that went from a somewhat privilege life to one on the other side of the tracks, is not too credible as the story develops, nothing redeems this man until he realizes what the consequence of his actions have a profound effect on the family of the man that he enticed into a poker game in which he and his underworld associates tried to get money that had been entrusted to the victim.

Dan was seeing the beautiful night club singer, Fran Garland, who obviously loves him. She knows there is something shady with Dan, but is she wants to believe that he has a good side. Things get complicated with the arrival of the widow of the man that was murdered, who knows nothing about the connection to Haley and his comrades. When he and Augie follow her to Los Angeles, he suffers a change of heart because he realizes what he was instrumental in destroying.

Charlton Heston's performance dominates the picture. Lizabeth Scott also enhanced it with an honest take of the singer. Viveca Lindfors shows up as the widow of the victim. The supporting cast is excellent, Dean Jagger, Don DeFore, Frank Morgan, Jack Webb, Ed Begley, and specially the brutish Mike Mazurski, contribute to the over all enjoyment of "Dark City" Victor Milner's black and white cinematography works well with the story being told. Franz Waxman musical score also serves the narrative well.

How many songs does a movie have to have to be a musical?

[disinterested_spectator · 6/10 · 3 July 2016]

Before going any further with that question, we need to make a distinction between expressionistic musicals like "My Fair Lady" (1964) or "Grease" (1978) and backstage musicals like "Gold Diggers of 1933" (1933) or "New York, New York" (1977). In the former, it is sometimes said, somewhat derisively, that people are just walking down the street and then break out into song, accompanied by a disembodied orchestra. In the latter, the singing and dancing occurs during rehearsals or on stage during a performance. In other words, it is realistic, something you might actually see and hear in real life. Actually, Busby Berkeley musicals are not realistic in the sense that the numbers could never be performed on a real stage, but they are more realistic than expressionistic musicals.

"Dark City" is certainly not an expressionistic musical. But does it qualify as a backstage musical? Early in the movie, we see Fran (Lizabeth Scott) singing a song in a nightclub. I thought to myself, her singing sounds fine to me, but I suspect a lot of people would say that she cannot sing, although I understand that the singing was dubbed anyway. But then, I further reflected, I don't have a good ear, so who am I to judge?

After she finishes her song, Danny (Charlton Heston), her boyfriend, tells her he liked her song, to which she replies, "Aren't we a pair? I can't sing and you don't have a good ear." That took me back a little.

Anyway, I mused that even though the movie had a song in it, it was not a musical, because one song does not a musical make. But then she sang another song, and another, and another, until she sang five in all. Still, the movie did not seem to me to be a musical, and it would not have been, even if they had managed to squeeze one more number into it. Moreover, just to get an objective assessment, I checked Internet Movie Database and Netflix, and neither of them classified it as a musical, but only as a crime drama or film noir.

In reflecting on why this was so, I thought back on that earlier comment by her that she could not sing, followed later by another remark to the effect that singing in a nightclub was just a way of making a living, something she would gladly give up if Danny would marry her. And that must be the key. In the typical backstage musical, the main performers are ambitious, just waiting for their chance to take the spotlight and become a star. Or, as in a Mickey Rooney/Judy Garland movie, where Rooney gets the idea of putting on a show to save whatever it is that needs saving in that movie, the success of the show is what matters. In other words, in a backstage musical, it is not a question of how much singing and dancing there is, but whether the plot centers around the performers qua performers, their individual success or the success of the show as a whole.

In "Dark City," on the other hand, the plot centers around people that are not performing musical numbers. Rather, Danny is a bookie who has been put out of business by too many raids and is looking for a bankroll so he can move to another town. He and his pals get a sucker into a poker game and take him for all his money. The sucker is devastated and commits suicide. Now the police are investigating the situation and the sucker's brother is out to kill everyone that was in the game. As a result, the songs Fran sings are just fillers, which actually have the effect of slowing the movie down.

As a crime drama, the movie is mediocre, but as an illustration of the fact that a backstage musical must be more than just a bunch of musical numbers, this movie is instructive.

newbie Heston

[SnoopyStyle · 6/10 · 12 June 2020]

The police raids bookie Danny Haley (Charlton Heston)'s operation. Fran Garland is his lounge singer girlfriend but he insists on his independence. He meets a sucker in Arthur Winant and lures him into poker games where he loses big. Arthur hangs himself and the gang fights among themselves over cheating the loveable loser.

Lizabeth Scott looks a bit like Bacall although she's singing a lot of old torch songs. Newcomer Heston is trying to be Bogie. I'm not saying that they are anywhere near that level but they are trying. They are joined by a talented cast. The black and white cinematography has some terrific noir scenes. This has some great bits but it falls short as a whole. The great twists and thrilling action never materialize. The turns are never that shocking. There is nothing to figure out. All in all, it's good but a little flat.

A good Noir

[norbert-plan-618-715813 · 7/10 · 7 March 2022]

A film Noir, which takes place in the city, at night, in the clubs, where bad boys who rip off an honest man find themselves pursued by the brother of the honest man (because he committed suicide) who kills them one by one (the hand that avenges is him). The police follow all this. Charlton Heston plays the leader of the bad boys and is torn between Lizabeth Scott, a little bland, in love with him and who spends her time singing (3 songs a little painful) and Viveca Lindfors, the wife of the honest man with whom he is a little bit in love.

Charton Heston carries the film on his shoulders. And has the advantage or disadvantage of remaining hermetic about his motivations. We do not understand him well. We don't understand his emotional convolutions: does he feel guilty? Or is he interested in the flesh? Perhaps it is the second question that is true. But it doesn't matter, because he carries the film. And also, the key element of the film is this hand, which kills one by one the thugs, without us seeing the person, except during his last attempt to kill Charlton Heston himself.

It is a good story.

A crooked poker game brings danger.

[michaelRokeefe · 8/10 · 27 November 2012]

Early in Charlton Heston's career; Danny Haley(Heston)suckers Arthur Winant(Don Defore)into a crooked poker game; Winant ends up losing a check that belonged to his brother and goes back to his hotel room and hangs himself. Arthur's brother Sidney(Mike Mazurki)will methodically dole out revenge with his personal violent vendetta. The poker playing Cronies of Danny start being bumped off one by one. Survivors have no idea what their hunter looks like and Danny goes to Winant's widow Victoria(Viveca Lindfors)posing as an insurance agent needing a photo of Sidney...Danny is certain that Sid would like his check back that his brother lost in the poker game. Hard to find a dull moment. Strong players round out the cast: Lizabeth Scott, Dean Jagger, Jack Webb, Harry Morgan and Ed Begley.

Brown Town

[writers_reign · 7/10 · 12 August 2020]

Like we needed another giant redwood this effort 'introduced' Charlton Heston who would spend decades literring every set he ever worked on with sawdust after graduating from the Forestry Commission. His love interest was Lizabeth Scott whose greatest acting triumphs were convincing audiences she wasn't as queer as a square grape. Fortunately helmer Wiiliam Diertele was on hand to see fair play and reliables like Harry Morgan, Dean Jagger and Jack Webb provided substance. Trudy Stevens dubbed some great numbers - including two by Frank Loesser = for Scott and all in all it's a pleasant enough diversion.

Money and revenge in a dark and unforgiving city!

[somic · 9/10 · 6 May 2008]

Dark City is a well crafted film. Most film noir fans will love it. It was released in 1950 and Stars Lizabeth Scott and Charlton Heston.

Heston plays a gambler (Danny Haley) who along with two friends sucker a man from out of town into a game of poker. Only one problem...it wasn't his money to gamble with. He signs over his check with the knowledge, (I'm in big trouble!) It is later revealed that he hung himself.

Now the story really takes off. The dead mans brother (who is insane), vows to track down those who were responsible for his brothers death, one at a time! This is a very intense storyline and will keep you on the edge of your seat.

Heston is wonderful in this film as is Lizabeth Scott. Scott had been in the film business for a number of years by the time she made this picture. But remember, this was Heston's first film. To watch him, you would never know. However it didn't hurt to have so many veteran actors surrounding him. Names like Dean Jagger, Don DeFore, Jack Web, Harry Morgan, Walter Sande, and Mark Keuning. This was a solid cast! If you haven't seen it yet, I highly recommend it. You will need this for your film noir collection.

Not to be seen twice.

[Yug · 6/10 · 16 October 1998]

The movie was not bad, but at times it dragged to nowhere.

Heston's star turn top-notch, but story isn't

[herbqedi · 5/10 · 19 June 2003]

Heston does a marvelous job is in his first star turn. Jack Webb, Harry Morgan, and Ed Begley lend impeccable supporting work. Don De Fore is re-teamed with Lizabeth Scott for the first time since You Came Along. Scott (Dead Reckoning, Strange Love of Martha Ivers, I Walk Alone, Stolen Face) is one of my all-time favorite femme fatales. Dieterle's direction is fast-paced and interesting throughout. Unfortunately, the whole turns out to be less than the sum of its parts.

The problem is in the inconsistent and unimaginative script. It's really a pedestrian tale of revenge with a miscast Mike Mazurki -- not a true film noir as it is normally billed. The parade of musical interludes is annoying. The chemistry between Scott and Heston doesn't work. And, the ending is a real letdown.

Chalk this one up as a well-acted and well-directed misfire.