Dark City (film 1950)

Young, handsome and confident Danny Haley ( Charlton Heston ) is one of the owners of an underground gaming club. One morning, he goes to the Sammy Cafe opposite the club to have a coffee, talk with regulars, and listen to singer Fran Garlan ( Lizabeth Scott ). Fran is clearly in love with Danny, there is a certain relationship between them, but Danny categorically refuses to talk about marriage and any mutual obligations.

Danny calls an employee of the club, nicknamed the Soldier, and reports that the police raided his establishment. Given that this is the second such raid in three months, Danny goes to the club, from where he calls his man in the police, demanding clarification. At this moment, police captain Garvey ( Dean Jagger ) arrives, reporting that the raid was carried out at his direction. He instructs his assistant to search Danny, and he manages only at the last moment to get rid of the gun illegally stored by him. Garvey leaves, but warns Danny and his partners, Barney ( Ed Begley ) and Oji ( Jack Webb ), of responsibility for illegal activities.

That same evening, at Sammy’s Café, Danny met a small businessman and Air Force veteran Arthur Vinant ( Don Defort ), who had come to their city to buy gym equipment for a sports club. Danny sees in his wallet a check for $ 5,000, after which, as if by the way, he hints at the possibility of playing poker, which Arthur gladly agrees. During the game, Arthur talks about his brother Sidney, who arrives in the city the next morning, and hints that his brother could be dangerous. Barney and Oji consciously give Arthur a win of $ 325 to make it seem like luck is on his side. Saying goodbye, they agree to continue the game the next evening. The next evening, Barney and Oji beat Arthur with all his cash, and then, with the help of Danny, persuade him to play again, saying that he will surely win back. As a result, Arthur loses another 5 thousand dollars, and as a payment he is forced to sign a check issued to him for the purchase of equipment.

The next day, the newspaper reported that Arthur was found hanged in his hotel room. Fearing that an investigation into Arthur's death could lead to them, Danny, Barney, Oji and Soldiers are afraid to cash the check. Barney anticipates something unkind, and calls Danny in the evening, saying that it seems to him that someone is chasing him. Danny comforts him as much as he can, but the next morning Barney is found hanging from his apartment.

Garvey calls Danny and Oji to him, and says that he is sure that there is a connection between the fact that Arthur lost a lot of money in cards and his suicide, as well as Barney’s death. Garvey also reports that an empty envelope was found at Arthur’s death place, addressed to Sydney, who is a dangerous criminal, and that Sydney is likely to avenge his brother’s death. Garvey then asks for a file on Danny, after which he interrogates him at his office. It turns out that Danny was a hero in the war, but was addicted to drinking, and after he accidentally killed his closest friend, whom his beloved wife had changed, was fired from the army. However, Danny continues to deny any connection with Arthur's death.

After the sudden disappearance of the Soldier, Danny and Oji decide to find Sydney before he finds them. They are sent to Los Angeles at the residence of Arthur, where they intend to establish the location and appearance of Sydney. Oji is trying to track down Sidney’s traces using his professional connections, while Danny, under the guise of an insurance agent, goes to Arthur’s widow Victoria ( Viveka Lindfors ) under the pretext that he should find Sydney because he has Arthur’s life insurance policy.

Danny manages to win Victoria and her son Billy with him, with whom he visits the amusement park the next day. Then, together with Victoria, Danny searches through the entire home archive in search of a photograph of Sydney, but they can’t find anything. In the end, Victoria confesses that she destroyed all the documents that are related to Sydney, as she was afraid that this could threaten her and Billy, born of Sydney, whom she called a psychopath. When Billy was born, Arthur was in the army. Returning, he recognized Billy as his own son. Victoria respected Arthur very much for this act, but they did not love each other. Victoria also says that she does not know how to live on, since Arthur paid the mortgage for the house and completely kept her with her son. The next day, Danny spent a romantic evening with Victoria at the planetarium, and after returning home, kissed her. Unable to hide the truth anymore, he confesses who he really is, after which an angry Victoria drives him out of the house.

Upon returning to the hotel, Danny is arrested on charges of killing Oji, who was found hanged at a motel. The manager, who discovered the body, says he heard Danny and Oji arguing loudly shortly before. Garvey arrives in Los Angeles, who is convinced that Danny did not kill Oji. He persuades his colleagues to release Danny, provided that he immediately leaves Los Angeles. Danny believes the police are going to use him as bait to capture the real killer, who, according to Garvey, is Sydney.

From Fran, Danny learns that the Soldier has moved to Las Vegas and works there in a casino. Danny arrives there and gets a croupier job. After some time, Fran also appears in the casino, arranging himself as a singer. Having received his first earnings, Danny goes to a nearby casino, where he plays with all his money. Meanwhile, Victoria calls the casino and tells Fran that Sidney, through Billy, has found out Danny’s address and is heading to Las Vegas. Fran finds Danny and informs him of this. Danny bets all his money, wins several times, receiving a total of over 11 thousand dollars. Then he asks Fran, in case something happens to him, send the money to Victoria the next morning. Believing that Danny is in love with Victoria, Fran decides to leave for Chicago.

Danny, meanwhile, comes into the room and prepares to attack Sydney, ambushing him. However, it turns out that Sydney had already made his way to his room beforehand. He attacks Danny from behind and begins to choke him. At this point, Garvey bursts into the room, accompanied by the police and shoots at Sydney, killing him while trying to escape. Garvey confesses that he really used Danny as a bait to catch Sydney.

The next morning, Fran is about to fly to Chicago at the airport. At the last moment, Danny comes running and says that he loves only her, she turns around and together they go towards the city.

Immediately after the release of the film, film critic Bosley Crowther from The New York Times praised the work of rookie Charlton Heston , but sharply criticized the film itself, writing: “A new star named Charlton Heston is a tall, roughly-cut type of guy who looks like a multi-profile midfielder for a football team from the Midwest - receives an unlucky career start in the low and terrible crime level thriller "Dark City". Obviously, Mr. Heston , who worked in the theater and on television, has something more than his appearance to be invited to dramatic roles. He has a quiet but convincing magnetism, the dignity of youth and a sense of time, without which the actor can not do. But in this horror story with a "grabbing hand" he is called upon to play something no more complicated and demanding than a doomed rogue player ” ^[1] .

Timeout magazine later wrote: “Given that Heston spent most of his career playing monumental heroes, it is amazing to see him as a petty criminal in this Hollywood debut. He plays a war hero, in whose life a difficult period has come, and he makes his living as a dubious poker game. He is hit by the killer maniac who wants to avenge the death of his brother, who committed suicide after losing all the money to Heston . As the name implies, we are in the realm of the film noir . Franz Waxmann’s woeful music and Victor Milner’s gloomy camera work ensure the desired atmosphere, but his scriptwriters didn’t get good maps at all ” ^[2] .

In 2004, film critic Dennis Schwartz gave the film a mixed review, writing: “Veteran director William Dieterle (The Devil and Daniel Webster ”), unfortunately, received a weak script, but the talented cast of actors survived all that was possible from it ... A gloomy mood is created Victor Milner’s excellent black and white camera work. The beautifully built-up nuanced play of Heston , a guy who has gone on a bad track, but who can be saved by love, gives this melodrama enough qualities of a film noir to raise it, but this is not enough to rid him of boredom ” ^[3] .

• The Dark City on the Internet Movie Database  
• Dark City (English) on allmovie