The Sleeping City (1950)

User Rating:

6.8/10   

Director:

George Sherman

Writers:

Jo Eisinger (screenplay)
Jo Eisinger (story)

Release Date:

20 September 1950 (USA)

Genre:

Crime | Film-Noir | Drama

Tagline:

EXCITEMENT RIPS THE NIGHT! (re-release print ad - all caps)

Plot:

At Bellvue Hospital, New York, an intern is shot in the head by an unknown killer. Inspector Gordon...

Plot Keywords:

Hospital | Drugs | Undercover | Beautiful Woman

Cast

Richard Conte	...	Fred Rowan
Coleen Gray	...	Ann Sebastian
Richard Taber	...	Pop Ware
John Alexander	...	Insp. Gordon
Peggy Dow	...	Kathy Hall
Alex Nicol	...	Dr. Steve Anderson

Also Known As:

Web of the City
Kaupungin nukkuessa (Finland) [fi]
Mentre la città dorme (Italy) [it]
Morfin (Denmark) [da]
När New York sover (Sweden) [sv]
Quando a Noite Morre (Portugal) [pt]

Runtime:

85 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Recording)

Certification:

Finland:K-16 | Sweden:15

Filming Locations:

Bellevue Hospital - 550 First Avenue, Manhattan, New York City, New York, USA

Company:

Universal International Pictures (UI)

Trivia:

In order to overcome New York Mayor O'Dwyer's objections to the negative portrayal of hospital procedures, Universal Studios provided an introduction, spoken by Richard Conte, in which he said the story was fictitious and did not take place in any particular U.S. city.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Where's Marlowe? (1998)

Where, or where is this noir classic?

I saw this movie once, many years ago, in NYC. It was filmed on location at Bellevue Hospital, eighty blocks south from where I did my residency training in medicine (50's-60's.) The medical attire, locations, and medical palaver are certainly dated, but that was the way it was ... many years ago. The movie's characters (Conte et al.) were grand; an atherosclerotic, aging, Bellevue Hospital was really like that, the state-of-the-art treatments, the accomodations for patients were all shockingly interesting. In this sense, it is living history of a past medical era.

The Noir is also so nicely done: hospital corridors, primitive art deco elevators, and night shots of Gotham streets. (All these retro-images are based on a film once seen by me forty years ago!)

If film renovators/DVD entreprenuers were to read this clip, I would recommend they consider this movie as one that many forgotten Noirs that need to be resurrected. It would be a cryptogenic discovery. Conte was a great actor, and he has a loyal following. (This movie was in his early career, and he plays a good guy!) He would be lauded later for his Godfather roles.)