Leofwine_draca WHILE THE CITY SLEEPS is a film noir-cum-thriller from directorial maestro Fritz Lang, who of course made one of the greatest early serial killer movies in M. Sadly, this is a far cry from that movie, although it still proves worthwhile for fans of both the film noir genre and serial killer movies in general. Lang's directorial style is solid if unspectacular, but what lets this film down a bit is the script.Now, the serial killer storyline is very good and well handled. John Drew Barrymore is an effectively sleazy villain and you can truly believe the madness in his eyes. The scenes of him stalking and attacking women are as disturbing as you'd want. And the other thriller elements of the plot, including a top chase scene, are expertly staged as you'd expect from Lang.No, the problem is that to sustain the running time, the scriptwriter all this extra stuff exploring the internal politics of a newspaper office. Thus we get Vincent Price (on admitted top form) as the proprietor, and a bunch of others (including the reliable George Sanders) hot on the story. Dana Andrews's lead sometimes barely gets a look in. I appreciate all the media satire stuff, but it overwhelms the story at times and drags it down to a sluggish pace. Even screen lovelies like Rhonda Fleming and Ida Lupino barely get a look-in. These flaws don't make WHILE THE CITY SLEEPS a bad film, because it's still more than presentable, but it could have been up there with the best of Hitchcock had it focused more on the killer storyline.

ShootingShark When NYC newspaper tycoon Walter Kyne dies and the city is plagued by a serial killer, the pressure is on at Kyne Corporation to crack the case and inherit the top job ...This late-period film noir is a great little thriller with a terrific subtext - the killer's moral degeneracy reflected in the ethics of the media men who'll go to almost any lengths to get an exclusive. Made during TV's infancy, it is startlingly prescient of tabloid journalism tactics (here in the UK there is currently a huge public enquiry on exactly this subject), with Andrews excellent as the weary columnist tired of the seemingly endless lust of his bosses for titillating scoops. Everyone is a grifter looking to exploit the killer's acts to make themselves richer or more important, and the sensational cast chew through their dialogue in true hardball style. Mitchell comes out on top, Price and Sanders compare slimeball notes, Lupino is the gossip columnist from Hell, Fleming is even hotter than usual, and Barrymore (son of John and father of Drew) is intensely scary as the Lipstick Killer, in the kind of part that made Robert DeNiro a star. Adapted by Casey Robinson from Charles Einstein's wonderfully-titled book The Bloody Spur, based on a real case. This movie was made at the tail-end of Lang's illustrious career, but it's typically full of directorial inventiveness, tight pacing, brilliantly observed characters and a sobering view of human nature. It perhaps owes a little to some earlier films (Ace In The Hole, say), but it's a great, gripping, B-movie potboiler with a sensational cast.

screenman 'While The City Sleeps' is a tale about nocturnal goings-on and those who engage in them. In this case, villains, cops & journalists. The villain in question is a serial killer. Dana Andrews plays a star investigative reporter at a paper with executive power struggles.There's plenty of American stalwarts of the day, including its director, but the movie never generates much momentum. Lang seemed to be making a point about the interaction between the three branches of life. As a result, presentation is piecemeal and priorities seem a little confused. We focus on the petty rivalries of those at the paper, whilst some villain is murdering lonely women. A great deal of time is spent following Andrews' character's turbulent love-life. This would be fine if the movie was a romantic comedy of manners, but it tends to eclipse the stalking beast and his terrible crimes. Likewise the squabbling over promotion amongst his colleagues.All the threads rub along together. there's almost no developing tension. Only when the stalker goes after Andrews' fiancée do things move up a gear. But he's caught after a pretty formulaic chase. Then we're back to the office squabbles again.It's often described as a film-noir, but doesn't cut it for me. It's too stagy, filming is unimaginative, the plot is too predictable, the action too stilted and even the script is only average. Chandler it ain't.Worth a watch if there's nothing else to do, but it's just a pot-boiler, and certainly no classic.

seymourblack-1 "While The City Sleeps" is a well written and fast moving story about a power struggle that develops in a media organisation following the death of its well respected proprietor. Murder, romance and bitter rivalries feature strongly and the presence of a devious group of characters played by an all star cast ensures that the level of intrigue remains high throughout.After having read a report of the murder of a young woman who had been strangled, media mogul Amos Kyne (Robert Warwick) instructs his top executives to make the story into front page news and as the the killer had written the words "Ask Mother" in lipstick on a wall in his victim's apartment, Kyne adds that the murderer should be referred to as "The Lipstick Killer".Shortly after issuing these instructions, Kyne dies and his playboy son, Walter (Vincent Price) inherits the business. As he has no idea how to run a media empire, Walter decides that he'll create a new senior executive post so that the incumbent can effectively manage the business for him. The three candidates for the job are John Day (Thomas Mitchell), the editor of the "New York Sentinel", Mark Loving (George Sanders) who's in charge of the wire service and chief photographer Harry Kritzer (James Craig). Walter makes it clear that whichever man is able to provide a scoop by exposing the identity of "The Lipstick Killer" will be given the top job.In the past, Amos had made it clear that he would have liked Ed Mobley (Dana Andrews) to be his successor but the Pulitzer Prize winning ex-reporter who had moved on to become an author and news commentator on the Kyne TV channel had made it known that he was not interested in seeking more power. By contrast, Griffith and Loving have no such reservations and quickly go into competition with each other. Ktitzer, on the other hand is having an affair with Walter's wife Dorothy (Rhonda Fleming) and plans to use her to achieve his ambition. She though, is also power hungry and tells Harry that if he's successful as a result of her influence, she'll be pulling the strings.Despite his reluctance to get involved in the power struggle, Mobley agrees to Griffith's request to help him and Loving conscripts the assistance of his mistress Mildred Donner (Ida Lupino) who's also a columnist on Kyne's newspaper.Following the murder which had attracted Amos Kyne's attention, "The Lipstick Killer" had gone on to commit other murders and Mobley uses his friendship with the police detective who's working on the case to get the inside track on how the investigation is progressing. Together with Lieutenant Burt Kaufman (Howard Duff), Mobley then devises a plan to provoke the murderer into actions which will lead to his early arrest and a variety of further complications follow before the races for the top job and the arrest of the serial killer are finally concluded.This movie makes some interesting observations about the roles that the media can play in the context of high profile crimes. Initially, "The Lipstick Killer" story is given a high level of prominence because of its sensational nature and its potential for selling newspapers but it's then also used as an important component in the competition for a top job in the industry. The view is expressed that comic books encourage gullible readers into criminal acts and Lieutenent Kaufman also bemoans the fact that too much information about police methods is published in newspapers etc and this makes it much harder for law enforcement officers to keep one step ahead of the criminals. Television is also used by Mobley to make an important direct address to the serial killer.The competition between the Kyne executives soon makes them ruthless and unprincipled and their methods become increasingly corrupt and unsavoury and even Mobley who had originally appeared to have higher standards, proves to be a heavy drinker who has no qualms about setting up his own fiancée, to be a target for the serial killer. His principles also seem to dessert him when Loving sends Mildred to seduce him."While The City Sleeps" is intelligent and engrossing and the various strands of its rather involved plot are expertly brought together to produce an entertaining movie which really deserves more credit that it has previously been given.