Night and the City (1950).

Night and the City (1950). A film noir based on the novel by Gerald Kersh, directed by Jules Dassin. Cast: Richard Widmark and Gene Tierney. Shot on location in London, the picture is considered a classic of the film noir genre. The film's British version was five minutes longer, with a more upbeat ending and featuring a completely different film score. Dassin has endorsed the American version as closer to his vision.

The story begins when, hustler Harry Fabian, borrows the money from his girl friend night club singer Mary Bristol, to open a greyhound racing track. Mary, borrowed the money from, designer Adam Dunn, which was supposed to be used to pay off the thug looking for Harry.

Harry, works as a promoter for a nightclub, The Silver Fox, run by Phil and Helen Nosseross..

Later, at a wrestling match, Harry is about to hustle a couple of customers, but.. is stopped by Kristo's father, Gregorius, a former champion wrestler who is not happy with the phony matches his son is staging. Harry, then promises Gregorius, that he will promote Greco Roman's wrestling matches in London.

Later, Harry asks Phil for financial backing, but.. he refuses. Helen, who is interested in Harry and wants to leave her husband, gives Harry the money on the condition that he will get her a license to reopen a closed nightclub. Thug Fergus Chilk, warns Phil that Harry should be stopped with his plans to promote wrestling. Phil suspects that Harry is having a affair with Helen and decides to "set him up" by becoming his silent partner.

As soon as Harry, books his first promotion, Chilk and Kristo pay him a visit, telling him to leave town. Harry, then introduces them to his partner Gregorius. Kristo warns his father, not to be involved with Harry, who cons more money out of Helen, before he gives her a phony club license. When Kristo tells Phil, he knows that he is Harry's partner, Phil, then promises him that Gregorius will learn that Harry is not a good person. Phil's plan involves telling Harry, that he is backing out of the deal unless Harry books, The Strangler, one of Kristo's better wrestlers.

Harry is forced to agree and talks with The Strangler's manager, Mickey Beer. They force The Strangler, into challenging Nikolas, and Gregorius is tricked into having Nikolas wrestle The Strangler. Harry tells Phil he has secured The Strangler but, as planned, Phil double-crosses him and phones Kristo in the belief that he will have Harry punished for having betrayed his father. Harry tells Kristo, that Gregorius wants the match to take place. Phil then tells Harry, that no one will give him the money he needs for the event. When Adam tells Mary that he has seen Harry near her flat, she finds him ransacking her place and finding her stash of money.

At a gym, The Strangler and Gregorius get into a fight, and Nikolas suffers a broken wrist trying to stop it. Kristo arrives in time to see his father demolish The Strangler. The match has been too much for the old man, who collapses and dies. Kristo blames Harry for his father's death and puts out the word that he will pay £1,000 to the man who gets Harry.

Helen at the end of her rope, tells Phil, that she is going to leave him to go into business with Harry. On the run, Harry phones Figler, king of the beggars, asking him for somewhere to hide. Figler tells him to come to his place, then phones Kristo.

At her new club, Helen is having a meeting with her girls, when a police officer comes to ask why the club is opening. Helen shows him the new license, but.. the officer discovers that it is a fake.

Helen returns to Phil, only to find that he has killed himself. Harry, suspects that he has tipped Kristo has been tipped off and leaves to hide out on a barge owned by Anna O'Leary. Mary finds Harry at the barge and tries to help him escape. He tells her to go to Kristo and collect the reward money on him. Will the police arrive before anybody else is killed?

If you are a film noir fan, who likes sinister, greed creeps. This classic film noir is for you. This is one of Gene Tierney, older performances.

 

Best Supporting Actor 1947: Results

5. Charles Bickford in The Farmer's Daughter- Bickford is certainly fine in his part, but nothing special. He perhaps could have stolen some scenes but he never is able to.

4. Thomas Gomez in Ride the Pink Horse- Although his part is fairly limited Gomez gives an enjoyable and charming performance that only adds to his film.

3. Edmund Gwenn in Miracle on 34th Street- Gwenn is not really a definitive Santa Clause by any means, and this is not any sort of great performance, but it is a good one where Gwenn makes Santa Clause just as kind and warm as he should be.

2. Robert Ryan in Crossfire- Robert Ryan plays the sort of role he became best known for and the truth is there is a reason he became known for this sort of role, because he was very good at it. This is not his best variation on this sort of character though.

1. Richard Widmark in Kiss of Death- There is no question for me who wins this year though as Widmark easily gives the most memorable and most effective performance out of the nominees. Widmark becomes basically invisible in his chilling creation of Tommy Udo a psychopath who only ever finds joy from what he does.

Best Supporting Actor 1947: Richard Widmark in Kiss of Death

Richard Widmark received his only Oscar nomination for portraying Tommy Udo in Kiss of Death.

Kiss of Death details the story of a criminal who becomes an informant to help his family, which gets him into a dangerous situation with one of the men he informed on.

Richard Widmark although had a long screen career he was only ever nominated for his for film role ever as the giggling psychopath Tommy Udo. What I found interesting from his first scene in this film was the fact that Widmark's performance here in no way resembles his later screen persona which was usually a deep voiced commanding figure. In this film though I barely recognized Widmark as he completely becomes the role of Tommy Udo.

As I said Widmark has a deep voice but here that is not apparent in the least. Widmark here instead has a rather high pitched weasel type of voice that works perfectly for the role of Tommy Udo. He makes Tommy Udo not some sort of overwhelming figure who seems to command, but far more freighting by always seeming to be dangerous by just how off of a person Widmark makes him, Widmark always shows that there is something simply off about Udo.

What makes Widmark's performance so memorable though is that Tommy is not only a Killer but a true sadist who loves to kill. The famous wheelchair pushing scene would not be nearly as memorable as it is if it were not for the grinning joyful face that Widmark has the moment Tommy is doing it. There is not a single moment in which Widmark shows any sort of sympathy inside of the disturbing Tommy.

Widmark simply makes the most out of the character of Tommy Udo who easily could have been played way over the top, but instead Widmark makes him bizarrely real in his psychopathy and all the more chilling because of that. There are so many aspects of this performance that could have gone wrong in lesser hands but with Widmark they never do. This is truly an accomplishment becuase of how risky Widmark plays his role, which is a little surprising since it was his first performance in a film.

The way he walks, the way he talks, the way he laughs, and especially the way he smiles only ever work to make Tommy Udo an unforgettable character. Every moment of the film he is in, which is not as much as one might think Widmark makes the most of. He absolutely holds your attention in every scene for every second with his fascinating portrayal. He makes Udo such an effective villain that even when he was off screen I was thinking about him. This is an amazing performance by Widmark that creates a chilling portrait of a smiling psychopath.

Best Supporting Actor 1947

And the Nominees Were:

Robert Ryan in Crossfire

Richard Widmark in Kiss of Death

Edmund Gwenn in Miracle on 34th Street

Thomas Gomez in Ride the Pink Horse

Charles Bickford in The Farmer's Daughter