Review by Vinoo
Language : English
Director : Jules Dassin
Film noir at its best. Harry Fabian (Richard Widmark of ‘Kiss of death’, ‘True Colours’, ‘Murder on the Orient Express’ etc) is a hustler and all his plans go awry one after the other. He is onto something else this time or so he thinks and for this he will pledge just about everything. He has in his hands the chance “to control professional wrestling in all of London”. And to meet this end he would use, Gregorius (Stanislaus Zbyzsko who was a wrestler in real life too, which explains his performance), the famous wrestler against his son and underworld don, Kristo, who now controls the wrestling scene in London. Harry gets his money from Phil Nosseross, his boss, while at the same time secretively getting money from his boss’ wife as well. He pulls off the biggest fight ever when he pits Gregorius’ man against ‘The Strangler’(Mike Mazurki). Harry Fabian has it all set up and nothing can come between him and fame. But then, circumstances conspire to add to his woes. There is a brawl before the real event in which the wrestler’s ward breaks his wrist, and Gregorius and The Strangler take on each other. While Gregorius wins the unofficial bout even before the real event, he is fighting for his life and ultimately dies. Now Harry Fabian has everything at stake and no fight. The wrestler’s son, Kristo, wants him, the cops want him, his old boss will not let him go that easy and the only one he can trust is seemingly his girlfriend (Gene Tierney of ‘Laura’ fame which I haven’t seen, ‘Iron Curtain’,etc). And the ever-inventive Harry Fabian comes up with one final plan even as he is about to meet his end. Why not let his girlfriend, Mary, become a police informant, and collect the reward for spilling information on him? For once Harry Fabian seems to have a fool-proof plan. The set up is brilliant and so is the climax.
The wrestling scene between Gregorius and The Strangler is simply outstanding and surprisingly real. Shot in brilliant Black & White by Mutz Greenbaum aka Max Greene (‘The Third man’ comes to mind), the Harry Fabian chase scenes in the streets of London will make you wish you were not the one being chased.
Other films of Jules Dassin that I have managed to watch and thereby recommend include ‘The Naked City’, ‘Rififi’, ‘Brute Force’, ‘Never on Sunday’(just about okay). Hope to access ‘Topkapi’ and his other movies soon. Jules Dassin is fast joining my list of favourite Directors.
‘Night and the City’ was remade in 1992, starring Robert De Niro. Now that is one De Niro film I seem to have missed but then I am not a great fan of remakes or ‘inspired’ films. And meanwhile I gather ‘Paa’ is ‘inspired’ from Francis Ford Coppola’s ‘Jack’. I can’t comment since I haven’t seen it myself. Maybe someone who has can let me know http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0116669/
Hope to be back richer from the www.iffk.in experience 11-18 December.
Useless trivia : Jules Dassin moved from USA to France after he was accused of colluding with the Communist party, ‘being a commie’ rather. He refused to testify and hence had to flee. If this is not ironic then what is for a tolerant democracy?
After moving to France, Jules Dassin’s first film, ‘Rififi’ in French, won him rave reviews and the Best Director Award at Cannes. And he must have thanked the American’s, for, he met with Melinda Mercouri who he would go on to not just marry but also cast in some of his films.
NB : For those in Namma Bengalooru, check out the Strand Book sale. It’s on until 13 December 2k9
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