"City That Never Sleeps" Review

 

by Daniel White

Marie Windsor manages to lend an air of much-needed film noir authenticity to Republic Pictures' City That Never Sleeps (1953). However, even one of Hollywood's fiercest femme fatales can't save this flick from failing to score as a true noir. Why? A standard screenplay by Steve Fisher that refuses to explore moral ambiguity or study the possibility that some folks prefer to inhabit the darkness. No, indeedy, City That Never Sleeps is firmly in the corner of family, faith, and the fuzz. Which makes it an adequate crime drama but NOT a dimly lit, dangerous film noir. Which is really too bad, because besides the gloriously amoral Marie as lawyer Edward Arnold's two-timing wife, the film displays several other twisted touches.

It opens with Chill Wills as the voice of the "city" (Chicago, in this case) introducing us to the main players in the movie. It's a cornball routine that gets heavy-handed when Wills turns up as police officer John Kelly's conscientious partner. Young is efficient as the conflicted Kelly, who feels trapped by his job and unhappy marriage. But it's easy to see why the actor was rarely offered leading man roles; there's something noticeably lightweight about him. Failing to fill out his uniform, he looks more like an unsure adolescent playing dress up than a grown man. Torn between his duties as doting husband and dutiful cop, he finally makes the decision to chuck it all and split Chi-town with embittered stripper, Cathy (an effective Mala Powers). However, before our self-doubting hero can break free, he has one more night driving around in his patrol car. A night in which he will come to the conclusion that being a faithful hubby and clock-punching flatfoot is more satisfying than running off with sex-pot showgirl "Angel Face" (Powers).

William Tallman nicely embodies a shady pickpocket-turned-muscle for Arnold's shifty attorney (a former magician, he keeps a white rabbit for a pet). And Wally Cassell as a forlorn loser who works as a mechanical man in a storefront window is a quirky gimmick that adds a unique flavor to the proceedings. But all these oddball add-ons can't conceal the fact this is nothing more than a cliched tale about the importance of coloring between the lines. In other words, "doing the right thing" at all costs. Ho-hum.

Cinematographer John L. Russell manages to give the flick an arresting, appropriate film noir feel and Paula Raymond, Otto Huelett and Bunny Kacher all do serviceable jobs in support roles. But this is a morality play where morality wins, making it ultimately less than memorable. Ending in one of the lamest foot chases ever filmed, City That Never Sleeps is available on YouTube.