Night and the City

Night and the City
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Jules Dassin
Written by	Austin Dempster William E. Watts
Screenplay by	Jo Eisinger
Based on	Night and the City by Gerald Kersh
Produced by	Samuel G. Engel
Starring	Richard Widmark Gene Tierney Googie Withers Herbert Lom
Cinematography	Max Greene
Edited by	Nick DeMaggio Sidney Stone
Music by	Franz Waxman (Benjamin Frankel in the British version)
Production company	20th Century Fox
Distributed by	20th Century Fox
Release date	April 1950 (1950-04) (United Kingdom)
Running time	96 minutes
Country	United Kingdom
Language	English

Night and the City is a 1950 British film noir directed by Jules Dassin and starring Richard Widmark, Gene Tierney and Googie Withers.^[1] It is based on the novel of the same name by Gerald Kersh. Shot on location in London and at Shepperton Studios, the plot revolves around an ambitious hustler who meets continual failures.

Dassin later confessed that he had never read the novel upon which the film is based. In an interview appearing on The Criterion Collection DVD release, Dassin recalls that the casting of Tierney was in response to a request by Darryl Zanuck, who was concerned that personal problems had rendered the actress "suicidal" and hoped that work would improve her state of mind. The film's British version was five minutes longer, with a more upbeat ending^{[clarification needed]} and featuring a completely different film score. Dassin endorsed the American version as closer to his vision.^[2]

The film contains a very tough and prolonged fight scene between Stanislaus Zbyszko, a celebrated professional wrestler in real life, and Mike Mazurki, who before becoming an actor was himself a professional wrestler.