While the City Sleeps (1956) ⭐️⭐️⭐

A serial killer has been killing beautiful women in New York City and the new owner of a media company offers a high position in the company to the first of his senior executives who can get the earliest scoop on the case.

Starring: Dana Andrews, Rhonda Fleming, George Sanders, Vincent Price

Watch on: Prime Video, AppleTV, YouTube

I have come across some interesting films during my journey through the noir genre. I come across underrated gems like Black Angel, and come across films like The City That Never Sleeps that I really wanted to like, only to end up being pissed off with. And then I come across amusingly bad films like this. I have a very hard time wrapping my head around the fact that this was from the same director who did Scarlet Street. I did go in expecting a B movie, I was just hoping for a good time, which I did get. But this is an extremely uneven movie that is having a very hard time mixing the noir and workplace drama sub genres together. With the movie’s perks: it is cool that we know who the killer is right off the bat, and that the movie’s main focus is the hunt for him. It’s not like Columbo though. No detectives, just average guys. But boy it’s execution is so all over the place. Dana Andrews filmed this while he was really struggling with alcoholism, and it does show unfortunately. I am glad that he would become sober later and would do stronger work. I can tell that the cast was trying their best, but they weren’t given the best material. This movie feels like a rip off of Psycho, even though the book wasn’t even published yet. If you like B movies, you will have a field day with this. 

Ray Walton

Neurodivergent movie lover. Here to share reviews for horror and non horror movies that fall into the “Dark Cinema” category.