Dark City **** (1950, Charlton Heston, Lizabeth Scott, Dean Jagger) – Classic Movie Review 1322

Director William Dieterle’s 1950 classic film noir thriller stars a young-looking 27-year-old Charlton Heston, who makes a strong impression in his film debut as Danny Haley, a war hero turned villain running from a vengeful killer.

The intriguing cast (including Lizabeth Scott as Haley’s torch singer girlfriend, Fran Garland, Dean Jagger as tenacious cop Captain Garvey) is perhaps the main attraction of this neatly acted, nicely shot but routinely scripted revenge thriller. A quartet of screenwriters try to carve out a memorable screenplay from Larry Marcus’s story No Escape – John Meredyth Lucas, Leonardo Bercovici and Ketti Frings, as well as Larry Marcus himself.

Don DeFore plays Arthur Winant, a hick from the sticks sucker whom Haley and group of hustlers trick out of $5000 at a crooked poker game. But when Winant then kills himself, his crazy brother (Mike Mazurki) comes looking for vengeance, picking off the gamblers one by one.

The sterling performances, the dark atmosphere, Victor Milner’s moody cinematography and Franz Waxman’s rousing score help a lot to make this a special movie, while director Dieterle punches it along apace. Among the actors Heston shines, but note also the impactful roles for the two tough female stars, Scott and Viveca Lindfors as Victoria Winant.

Jack Webb and Harry Morgan appear together before they were teamed unforgettably in TV’s long-running Dragnet. It also features Ed Begley (1901-70) and Walter Sande, Mark Keuning, John Bishop, Walter Burke, Mike Donovan, Jimmie Dundee, Byron Foulger, Jay Morley, Ralph Peters, Dewey Robinson, Bill Sheehan, Otto Waldis and Stan Johnson. It’s quite a cast.

Harry Morgan died on 7 December 2011, aged 96. He was best known as Colonel Sherman T Potter, commander of the 4077th Mobile Army Surgical Hospital in TV’s M*A*S*H from 1978 until 1983. In the 1940s and 1950 he played bad guys and creeps but began to reveal a more likeable persona as a musician buddy of Glenn Miller (James Stewart) in The Glenn Miller Story (1954).

Lizabeth Scott was born Emma Matzo in 1922. Her most recent film is Pulp in 1972. From then she has been engaged in real estate development and volunteer work for various charities, such as Project HOPE and the Ancient Arts Council of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. Scott suffered heart failure at Cedars Sinai Medical Center and died on January 31 2015, aged 92.

Heston’s most famous role in politics came as the five-term president of the National Rifle Association from 1998 to 2003. He founded a conservative political action committee and supported Ronald Reagan. He died in 2008, aged 84.

(C) Derek Winnert 2014 Classic Movie Review 1322

Link to Derek Winnert’s home page for more film reviews: http://derekwinnert.com/

Dean Jagger (1903-91).

Viveca Lindfors (1920-95).

Ed Begley (1901-70).

Mike Mazurki (1907-90).