ValeskaSuratt Posted September 4, 2012 Share Posted September 4, 2012 I'd never seen it, never even heard of it, but Jules Dassin's Night and the City (1950) was a stunner -- film noir so black its 'moral center' is a London gutter. From Wikipedia: "Dassin said Darryl F. Zanuck in 1948 called him into his office to inform him he would be blacklisted, *but he still had enough* *time to make a movie for Fox*. (Gee, thanks, Mr. Zanuck ...) "Dassin was officially blacklisted during production of Night and the City and was not even allowed on the studio property to edit or oversee the musical score for the film." It's got one of Widmark's rattiest rats, Gene Tierney for window dressing, a sneeringly evil nightclub owner named Phil Nosseross, and in the supporting cast wrestlers Stanislaus Zbyszko and Ken Richmond. Zbyszko was wrestling royalty, seen here in 1913: According to Wikipedia: "Knowing that a key role in the film was a grizzled Greco-Roman wrestling legend, director Jules Dassin said he 'didn't want to pick an actor and train him to be a wrestler -- I wanted to do the opposite. I had never gone to a wrestling match, but I had an image of a wrestler from my youth.' "The wrestler turned out to be Zbyszko. Dassin said, 'I was told he was dead, but it turned out he was alive and was a chicken farmer in New Jersey.' He turned out to be 'a beautiful, cultured, multilingual man' *who looked like a graceful* *rock formation*." As for the 6'5" Richmond, he went on to win a bronze in the '52 Olympics and then became the logo for J. Arthur Rank. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ziggyelman Posted September 4, 2012 Share Posted September 4, 2012 Nice write-up, Valeska. I had heard of the film, but never watched it before. Usually like anything Dassin directed... Was sure since it was Noir, it had to take place in NYC, silly me! Stanislaus Zbyszko was something else...IMDB and Wiki say he was born April 1, 1879...which means, he was 70 or 71 when this film was shot! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ValeskaSuratt Posted September 4, 2012 Author Share Posted September 4, 2012 > {quote:title=ziggyelman wrote:}{quote}Nice write-up, Valeska. I had heard of the film, but never watched it before. Usually like anything Dassin directed... Was sure since it was Noir, it had to take place in NYC, silly me! > Stanislaus Zbyszko was something else...IMDB and Wiki say he was born April 1, 1879...which means, he was 70 or 71 when this film was shot! Thanks, ziggyelman. What's amazing is that even at that advanced age, Zbyszko has a long and very exertive wrestling match with Mike Mazurki. (No spoilers -- I'll let you find out for yourself who wins.) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dpompper Posted September 4, 2012 Share Posted September 4, 2012 Indeed, it is a CLASSIC film. I especially appreciate the REAL scenes of New York streets from that period. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ValeskaSuratt Posted September 4, 2012 Author Share Posted September 4, 2012 > {quote:title=dpompper wrote:}{quote}Indeed, it is a CLASSIC film. I especially appreciate the REAL scenes of New York streets from that period. Just FYI, Night and the City is set -- and was shot -- in London. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dpompper Posted September 4, 2012 Share Posted September 4, 2012 Mea culpa. I was referring to "Naked City" (1948). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
joyrider Posted September 4, 2012 Share Posted September 4, 2012 Still waiting to see the British version. hint Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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