Dark City (1950 film)
| Dark City | |
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Theatrical release poster
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| Directed by | William Dieterle |
| Produced by | Hal B. Wallis |
| Screenplay by |
John Meredyth Lucas Larry Marcus |
| Based on | the story "No Escape" by Larry Marcus |
| Starring |
Charlton Heston Jack Webb Henry Morgan Ed Begley |
| Music by | Franz Waxman |
| Cinematography | Victor Milner |
| Edited by | Warren Low |
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Production
company |
Hal Wallis Productions
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| Distributed by | Paramount Pictures |
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Release date
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Running time
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98 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
Dark City is a 1950 American film noir crime film directed by William Dieterle starring Charlton Heston in his screen debut, and produced by Hal B. Wallis. The film features Lizabeth Scott, Dean Jagger, Jack Webb and Harry Morgan. Webb and Morgan both went on to co-star in the popular police drama television series Dragnet. Heston made his first professional big-screen appearance in the movie, having starred in two amateur college films a decade before. In interviews much later, he would refer to Dark City as "definitely not an 'A' picture, but a pretty good 'B'."
A group of hustlers take a man for $5000 in a poker game. When the man ends up killing himself, the heat is put on the gamblers in the game. The dead man's vengeful brother begins picking off the gamblers one by one.
The working title of this film was No Escape. The production dates were from April 5 to May 12, 1950. Additional scenes and retakes were from May 9 to May 11, 1950. The production scenes were shot at the following Los Angeles locations: Griffith Park Observatory, Union Station, North Hollywood, an amusement pier in Ocean Park, the Wilshire Plaza Hotel and the Valley Vista Motel on Ventura Blvd. in the San Fernando Valley, California. In addition, background shots were filmed in Las Vegas, Nevada and Chicago, Illinois.
When the film was released, film critic for the New York Times, Bosley Crowther, applauded the work of newcomer Charlton Heston but panned the film, writing:
A new star named Charlton Heston — a tall, tweedy, rough-hewn sort of chap who looks like a triple-threat halfback on a midwestern college football team—is given an unfortunate send-off on the low and lurid level of crime in Hal Wallis' thriller, Dark City, which came to the Paramount yesterday. Apparently Mr. Heston, who has worked for the stage and video, has something more than appearance to recommend him to dramatic roles. He has a quiet but assertive magnetism, a youthful dignity and a plainly potential sense of timing that is the good actor's sine qua non. But in this 'clutching hand' chiller, he is called upon to play nothing more complex or demanding than a crooked gambler marked for doom.
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Wikipedia