- John H. Auer's City that Never Sleeps is easily the wackiest film noir I've ever seen. The opening narration is provided by the city of Chicago, given a voice by Chill Wills. There are two characters named John Kelly, one being the son (Gig Young) and the other the father (Otto Hulett), and we eventually infer that another character named Stubby (Ron Hagerthy) also belongs to the Kelly clan. The villain of the piece is either a rotund man named Pinrod Biddel (Edward Arnold) or a magician-turned-thief named Hayes Stewart (William Talman). A mechanical man (Wally Cassell) figures prominently, as does a nightclub singer named "Angel Face" (Mala Powers). Young John's new partner (also played by Chill Wills) may or may not really exist, despite interacting with multiple characters.
- While I'm not sure City that Never Sleeps really works as a drama, it checks off the standard noir boxes with a cop who is both cheating on his wife (Paula Raymond) and doing favors for a mobster. It features a femme fatale (Marie Windsor) and lines like "He’s just a nice guy who shouldn’t have to die like a freak in a window." But then there's that mechanical man and the fact that the magician's apartment incorporates a white rabbit into its establishing shot. Also, a screeching offscreen mother-in-law and a young Tom Poston as a detective. Did I mention that the magician dies by electrocution on the third rail of an elevated train? When they dug this oddball out of the vault, I sincerely hope it came with a note reading "You utter fool! Who do you think you are dealing with?"
