Charlton Heston is one of my favorite leading men, and I’ll watch just about anything he’s in — which is a lot more than most people realize. These days, he’s most closely associated with the huge Biblical epics and dystopian science fiction which were his major highlights, but his was a career marked by decades of variety: disaster epics, war films, swashbuckling adventures that inspired Indiana Jones, lots of westerns, and even the occasional noir.
Heston’s breakout role was arguably in Cecil B. Demille’s The Greatest Show on Earth, but right before that he starred in a little-known but worthwhile film noir called Dark City, directed by William Dieterle. That title no doubt conjures for most of us the nightmarish paranoia and angular, Langian imagery of Alex Proyas’ groundbreaking and dystopian science-fiction neo-noir from 1998. Proyas’ film is not a remake of Dieterle’s, in case you were wondering, although one could certainly assume the title is a deliberate nod. Frankly, it’s the more appropriately named of the two: whereas the “Dark City” physically and thematically permeates every inch of Proyas’ film, it’s just a title sort of haphazardly applied onto the 1950 film (which, to begin with, takes place in multiple cities).
Not that I’m complaining. Despite the misnomer of the title, I found Dark City an interesting place to visit. The most obvious draw, of course, is a very young Charlton Heston in one of his earliest roles (his first professional credit after a pair of student projects). Before he was a seared into our minds as a noble Bible hero, he was one Danny Haley, small-time hustler who’s just smart enough to stay one step ahead of the police — just barely. At the time the role wasn’t a departure — there wasn’t yet any context to depart against — but in hindsight it certainly seems like one. Heston’s Haley is selfish, amoral, and hard-boiled — at least until the film allows his more heroic side, and with it an important clue about his history, to emerge.
Haley’s criminal cronies are actually a quite recognizable bunch, played by Harry Morgan (M*A*S*H), his Dragnet co-star Jack Webb, and Ed Begley. The familiar faces certainly add to the film’s appeal.
Haley’s primary love interest, Fran, is a nightclub singer played by noir regular Lizabeth Scott. Unfortunately the film grinds to a halt several times for her “show-stopping” numbers. Despite this, her character is pretty important — her open relationship with Haley is one of the film’s seedier elements. Fran wants to settle down, but Haley makes it explicitly clear that he’s only with her to have some fun with no commitment.
Haley and his gang play a few games of poker with Arthur Winant (Don DeFore), a friendly out-of-town visitor that Haley meets at the club. Unbeknownst to Haley, his card shark pals rig the game, hustling Arthur to the tune of $5000.
Things really go bad though, when the shamed Arthur commits suicide. Upon finding his body, Arthur’s mentally disturbed brother decides to take revenge on the “murderers” who drove the victim to his death. One by one they are picked off and Haley finds himself alone in a cat-and-mouse situation with the deadly and mysterious avenger.
There’s an odd tonal shift when Haley travels to Arthur’s home in LA and meets his widow under false pretenses, posing as an insurance investigator in an effort to find out something about the dead man’s brother. They strike up a romance in a strangely sunlit and fun-filled sequence which stands at odds with the rest of the film. This might sound a weird misstep for a noir film, but its fleeting happiness strengthens the picture’s darker overtones before careening into a strange ending which is as likely to satisfy some viewers as it is to annoy others.
THE PACKAGE
Dark City was released by classics distributor Olive Films on Dec 23.
The comes in an attractive package with classy artwork, but lacks any added value above that of the film itself — the disc has no additional features or even subtitles.
As for the presentation, I’m pretty satisfied with what I see: rich grain, decent detail (particularly in clothing textures on suitcoats and ties), and no obvious signs of DNR. There’s some flickering throughout, as in common in older films, and I did detect some shifty “wobblyness” in the picture, most notably in the scene in which Haley meets Ms. Winant, but these are relatively minimal issues that I only noticed on the second viewing when approaching it “critically”.
As can be seen in the accompanying screencaps, the image is pillarboxed on a 16:9 frame.
Special Features
None
Aside from some annoying pacing issues (the musical numbers I mentioned), I’m glad I sought this film out. It’s no lost classic, but it’s definitely worth a look if any of this sounds remotely in your wheelhouse. With no special features on the disc to entice viewers, the uninitiated might be better served by giving it a rental than a blind buy.
A/V Out.
