| While the City Sleeps | |
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Theatrical release poster |
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| Directed by | Fritz Lang |
| Produced by | Bert E. Friedlob |
| Screenplay by | Casey Robinson |
| Story by | Charles Einstein |
| Starring | Dana Andrews Rhonda Fleming |
| Music by | Herschel Burke Gilbert |
| Cinematography | Ernest Laszlo |
| Editing by | Gene Fowler Jr. |
| Distributed by | RKO Radio Pictures |
| Release date(s) | May 16, 1956 |
| Running time | 95 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
While the City Sleeps is a 1956 film noir directed by Fritz Lang. The newspaper drama, written by Casey Robinson was based on The Bloody Spur by Charles Einstein. The novel depicts the story of the Lipstick Killer. The film features Dana Andrews, Rhonda Fleming, George Sanders, Howard Duff, and others.[1]
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A power struggle ensues after the death of media magnate Amos Kyne, whose corporation has been turned over to his sole heir, his foppish son Walter. Rather than run the company himself, Walter decides to let the heads of its three divisions fight it out for control.
Their assignment is to score an exclusive on a serial killer who is terrorizing women in New York. The Kyne organization's newspaper dubs him "The Lipstick Killer." If a resourceful someone can identify him even before the police do, Walter Kyne will reward him with the title of executive director.
One of the three, newspaper editor Jon Day Griffith, has an ally in high-profile reporter Edward Mobley, who also does reports on Kyne's television network. While wire-service chief Mark Loving recruits star writer Mildred Donner to be his eyes and ears, a third contender for the top job, Harry Kritzer, carries on a secret affair with Dorothy, who is Walter Kyne's wife.
Mobley becomes engaged to Loving's secretary, Nancy Liggett. As his police friend, Lt. Kaufman, gives him inside information on the murder investigation, Mobley taunts the killer on TV and uses Nancy as bait, hoping to lure the Lipstick Killer into coming after her.
In the end, the lives of both Nancy and Dorothy, who live across the hall from one another, are placed in serious danger at the Lipstick Killer's hands. And, although one of the three contenders for the executive director's job wins the contest, another has a surprise in store.
Film critic Bosley Crowther who liked the film, especially the acting, wrote: "Since it is full of sound and fury, murder, sacred and profane love and a fair quota of intramural intrigue, a viewer is left wondering if the tycoons of the giant Kyne publishing combine ever bother to cover such mundane stories as the weather. But while this journalistic jamboree is more flamboyant than probable, a tight and sophisticated script by Casey Robinson and a clutch of professional performances make While the City Sleeps a diverting and workmanlike fiction."[2]
Time Out film reviews wrote of the film, "Lang makes inspired use of glass-walled offices, where all is seen and nothing revealed, and traces explicit parallels between Andrews and the murderer. Lang's most underrated movie."[3]
Unavailable on home video since a VHS release in the 1990s, While the City Sleeps is now available on DVD in the UK by Exposure Cinema, and in the U.S. from the Warner Archive on DVD-R. Internet review site DVDBeaver compares releases, citing the Exposure release as superior due to the Warner Archive release being "Single-layered and significantly softer. It also has some brightness boosting." The review also states that "There are no extras, not even the trailer that is available on Exposure disc".
DVD Review - DVDBeaver.com Film Review - Eye For Film While the City Sleeps -