City That Never Sleeps

"City That Never Sleeps" is one of the strangest film noir movies I have seen--mostly because there is a real surreal aspect to the story that you just don't find in other noir pictures. I don't want to tell you more about this...suffice to say that one of the characters is VERY unusual and you learn just how unusual at the close of the movie.

Gig Young plays Johnny Kelly, a disaffected cop who is very unhappy in his marriage and is contemplating running off with his mistress, a stripper, and quitting his job on the force. When you see and hear why Johnny is unhappy, you do feel a bit sorry for him, as his evil mother-in-law lives with them and CONSTANTLY harangues him about his wife earning more than him! Instead of belting the old broad in the mouth (definitely a noir way of handling it) he plans on just leaving...for good. But before he does this he has one more night on the job...and a very eventful night it is. While there is MUCH more to the story and a plot involving William Talman who plays an amazingly cold and vicious killer, I think it's best you just see the film for yourself.

The big reveal at the end will determine whether you like this film or not...see the picture and see what I mean. I'd like to say more...but again, just see it for yourself. And, if you want to see it, it's currently up on YouTube.

In Chicago, the police officer Johnny Kelly (Gig Young) is unhappy with his work that pays low-salary and with his marriage. His wife Kathy Kelly (Paula Raymond) has a better salary and his mother-in-law frequently humiliates him. Johnny was forced by his father Sgt. John 'Pop' Kelly Sr. (Otto Hulett) to join the police, but he intends to quit his job and leave his wife to flee to California with his mistress Sally "Angel Face" Connors (Mala Powers), who dances in a night-club. When Johnny gets cold feet, Sally tells that she will move to California with the small-time actor Gregg Warren (Wally Cassell), who performs a robot in the window of the night-club where she works, and plans a show with her. During the night, the crooked lawyer Penrod Biddel (Edward Arnold) summons Johnny to participate in a scheme to arrest the thief Hayes Stewart (William Talman) and protect his younger brother Stubby Kelly (Ron Hagerthy) that has teamed-up with Hayes. However Biddel is betrayed by his ambitious wife Lydia Biddel (Marie Windsor) along the restless and busy night.

"City That Never Sleeps" is a film-noir with a good story of a cop dissatisfied with his job and wife that has the intention to give up of everything independent of the consequences and go to California with his mistress. The plot has many subplots but the conclusion is moralist and does not fit well to a film-noir. My vote is seven.

Title (Brazil): "A Cidade Que Não Dorme" ("The City That Never Sleeps")

I can't wait to see the DVD release of this film with the features and commentary because it is one of those rare Noir films that stay with you. Not so much for the average domestic problems that Gig Young's character displays but more for his relationship with Mala Powers and their great quotable lines:

Sally "Angel Face" Connors, dressed in a stripper's costume to Johnny Kelly- "Come here." Kelly's reply: "I've been there."

And Angel Face's great speech explaining her disillusionment: "I'm sick of this town. I'm with you Johnny. When I first came to this town I was gonna be... oh there were a lotta things I was gonna be- become famous. But Chicago's the big melting pot, and I got melted but good".

And there are also the throw-away lines in the bar: Waitress to Bartender: "Two Old Fashions- no ice, no water, no sugar, no grenadine".

"City That Never Sleeps" has a light step and has so many quirky little characters that you might wonder who the story is about. The film does focus on certain characters to make its point, is sometimes great to look at for its night-lit location photography and has some nice noir humor.

Gig Young has the unflappable charm and bon vivant attitude that almost gets in the way of his disillusioned cop Johnny Kelly. Kelly is the ultimate Everyman who has become a cop because his father wanted him to, and whose wife unwittingly emasculates him because she earns more money that he.

All in all, "City That Never Sleeps" is worth catching for its noir look and some good performances.

If you like your mysteries on the strange side, this movie is the one. I keep wondering how they filmed it without any people on the streets. Stock footage to bolster an obviously low budget helps somewhat, but this movie depicts Chicago in the middle of the night, and the only car on the street is the police car occupied by our hero. But this was 1953, so it was a different world at 3:00 a.m. There is a little of "The Asphalt Jungle" in this one--including the crooked lawyer, a pretty woman too evil for comfort, a safe to steal something from and the usual payment at the end. Then there is the twist -- the "ghost" influence -- who is in the middle of the evening's events, and who also narrates. Plus there's a guy portraying a store window mechanical man. Like I said, this is a strange one, but worth a curious look.

A 1953 Republic gem and a great noir find. This sort of small black and white drama was actually what finished off Republic as TV shows took up this sort of storyline and style, and the studio didn't adapt. Cop Gig Young and burlesque floozie Mala Powers go adulterous and the realism of the noir photography created on actual Chicago streets allow the viewer to be completely absorbed into their cheap backstreet world. This is such an interesting film, and the low budget actually works in its favour......like Monogram's startling DECOY of 1947. Chill Wills appears as a very special and strange character and I won't spoil who he is at all. A very clever and ultimately quite emotional film from a fascinating period in American Cop-dom: 1953...as LA CONFIDENTIAL proved for that city. Find this and relish it, and thank the crummy world of Republic for making it. As a bonus for all us noir-ees, the sensational Marie Windsor is here as well, by the narrowest of welcome margins.