Cinema
Night and the City
Jules Dassin · 1950
Synopsis
Harry Fabian, an American living in London, is a tout for the Silver Fox, Phil Nosseross's nightclub, where his partner, Mary Bristol, sings. Chased through the night streets by a man to whom he owes money, he goes to ask Mary for more for a new scheme. He meets Gregorius, a former Greek Greco-Roman wrestling champion, on bad terms with his son Kristo, who runs wrestling in London, and believes he has found the deal of a lifetime: organising his own fights.
Context
The film was shot in London from July to October 1949, at more than fifty locations in the city and on studio sets at Shepperton. Darryl Zanuck, head of Fox, advised the director to begin with the most expensive scenes, so that the studio could no longer stop him along the way. Removed from the editing, which he followed only by telephone, he discovered that two versions had been prepared: one for Great Britain, of one hundred and one minutes, with music by Benjamin Frankel and a more romantic ending, the other for America, of about ninety-five minutes, with a score by Franz Waxman. He recognised the second as his own.
Who it is for
One hour thirty-five minutes in the American version, in English with subtitles or in the French version; it was shot largely in the very streets of the capital.
Prizes and reception
Two cuts, two scores and two endings for the same film, depending on whether it was seen in Britain or elsewhere.
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