- William Dieterle's Dark City is a sharp little film noir starring Charlton Heston as an aloof gambler named Danny Haley who lands himself in a heap of trouble. When Danny and his associates, Augie (Jack Webb) and Barney (Ed Begley), set out to relieve a chatty veteran named Winant (Don DeFore) of his $5,000 cashier's check, they never would have predicted that this otherwise jovial man would go hang himself in despair. For that matter, they didn't know about Winant's ex-wife (Viveca Lindfors) and son (Mark Keuning) and absolutely did not anticipate Winant's psychotic and vengeful brother Sidney (Mike Mazurki). Now Sidney's the one doing the hanging, and he has three necks on his list.
- Although Danny makes a conscious effort to repel any potential friends, he does find a few people lingering in his corner. The nightclub singer Fran Garland (Lizabeth Scott) sticks by Danny's side without even a hint of reciprocation, although one does wonder why Danny regularly drops in at her bar if he were really so disinterested. A punch-drunk former boxer nicknamed "Soldier" (Harry Morgan) helps Danny out at his gambling parlor and even lands him a new job in Las Vegas. The local police captain (Dean Jagger) seems to have a soft spot for Danny, too, although he peppers his concern with alarming analogies about sheep being led to the slaughter. Even the deceased man's ex-wife likes Danny well enough, although perhaps a little less when he reveals his role in Winant's death.
- In the wrong hands, a story like this could have been another forgettable crime picture, but Dieterle never runs out of clever tricks to keep the audience hooked. In one terrific scene, Fran saunters around a poker game, discovering along with the audience that Augie and Barney are ditching strong hands in hopes of a bigger payoff later from Winant. In another great choice, the movie hides Sidney until its final five minutes, preferring instead to maintain the mystery by flashing glimpses of his fancy ring. My favorite detail, however, is an auditory flourish in which an old record of Winant's voice skips to repeat the phrase "My time is up." Heston and the strong supporting cast help to make up for the fact that Scott belts out about six too many nightclub songs. Terrific location filming in Las Vegas, Chicago, and Los Angeles (including Griffiths Observatory!) helps, too, even if none of these cities prove to be as dark as the souls that reside within them.
