Dark City

Released Oct 6, 1950

1h 28m

Mystery & Thriller

List

Reviews

53%

100+ Ratings

Audience Score

An unseen killer stalks a gambler (Charlton Heston) and his cronies after a man they fleece at poker hangs himself.

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Moira Walsh

America Magazine

Mr. Heston, who appears to be able to act as well as to project a virile personality, has yet to find out that trying to deliver a well-rounded, intelligent characterization under these circumstances only compounds confusion.

Jul 15, 2021

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Sean Axmaker

Seanax.com

... an unambitious but handsome production from reliable studio hand William Dieterle.

Aug 11, 2010

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Dennis Schwartz

Dennis Schwartz Movie Reviews

The dark mood is set by Victor Milner's excellent B&W photography.

Rated: C+

Nov 8, 2004

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Audience Member

Charlton Heston, in his feature film debut, stars as a no-goodnik who, along with his confederates (Dean Jagger, Jack Webb, Harry Morgan, Ed Begley) cheats a man out of a large sum of money at a poker came. When the man then commits suicide and his brother goes on a killing spree, looking for revenge, this dark film noir gets extra nasty. It's not a classic, but there's a lot to like about this particularly cynical noir. Heston is strong in the lead. Lizabeth Scott plays a sultry nightclub singer and sings several numbers. William Dieterle gives them film an effectively moody look. And you also get to see future "Dragnet" partners Webb and Morgan antagonize each other in a very un-Joe Friday/Frank Gannon sort of way.

Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars

01/31/23

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Audience Member

A heavy-handed and tiresome film noir, with just about every cliche in the book, and at times cringeworthy characterizations and dialogue. It starts out as a crime drama, but then turns into a mysterious-"psychopathic"-killer-on-the-loose-and-out-for-revenge story (which would have been better if the killer's identity had been more mysterious). But really it's a post-war 1950s (re-)domestication drama (a stifling 1950s morality tale) of an all-American good guy (Heston) gone wrong overseas in the Second World War (though with no hint of post-traumatic stress disorder; instead it's a case of domestic disorder--everything here turns out to be about the danger of domestic disorder), which too-conveniently and rather obscenely has its cake and eats it too by having Heston "save" (and get saved by) the widow of the man he cheated and drove to suicide from the man's "psychopathic" brother (and in the process paying off her two mortgages with money he intentionally and magically wins playing craps!). Somehow Heston is a good guy who gets indulged by everybody (including the police) despite all his bad behavior (I guess because he's the kind of guy who went to Cornell, who came from a "good" family), but the "psychopathic" brother gets no sympathy whatsoever. But this film (and more so the society it represents) is the real psychopath. At least it features Heston and Jack Webb and Harry Morgan of TV's Dragnet (i.e. conservative icons) as crooks (though it ruins even this not least of all by portraying the police as guardian angels, as deus ex machina).

Rated 3 out of 5 stars

01/24/23

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Audience Member

A good entertaining B movie Film noir.

Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars

01/20/23

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Audience Member

I accidentally picked this film up while looking for the 1998 film by the same name. When I realized it was Charlton Heston's first film role, I was hooked. When I realized that I was looking at a young Harry Morgan, who I grew up knowing as Colonel Potter on M*A*S*H, I was amused. And when I got to the quite intense last twenty minutes, I was riveted! I'm not a particular fan of film noir (or really, of older films in general) but I did enjoy this one.

Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars

01/20/23

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Audience Member

an unambitious but handsome production from reliable studio hand William Dieterle.

Rated 3 out of 5 stars

01/21/23

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Audience Member

A relentless crime noir, great cast--Introducing Charlton Heston!!

Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars

02/22/23

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William Dieterle

Director

Charlton Heston

Danny Haley

Lizabeth Scott

Fran Garland

Viveca Lindfors

Victoria Winant

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Synopsis

An unseen killer stalks a gambler (Charlton Heston) and his cronies after a man they fleece at poker hangs himself.

Director: William Dieterle
Distributor: Paramount Pictures
Production Co: Paramount
Genre: Mystery & Thriller
Original Language: English
Release Date (Theaters): Oct 6, 1950, Wide
Release Date (Streaming): Nov 11, 2014
Runtime: 1h 28m

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