Ensofter Overrated and overhyped

Spidersecu Don't Believe the Hype

Sameer Callahan It really made me laugh, but for some moments I was tearing up because I could relate so much.

Bumpy Chip It’s not bad or unwatchable but despite the amplitude of the spectacle, the end result is underwhelming.

wes-connors One night in New York City, leather-clad delivery man John Barrymore Jr. (as Robert Manners) bludgeons to death a young woman as she gets into her bathtub. Relax, it occurs off-screen. The perpetrator a mother-fixated "Psycho" serial killer, targeting women who order feminine accessories from the drugstore. The sensational story of "The Lipstick Killer" is circulation gold for newspapers, with occasionally intoxicated "Sentinel" reporter Dana Andrews (as Edward "Ed" Mobley) getting the big scoops. Taking advantage of the situation, media mogul Vincent Price (as Walter Kyne), decides to promote his best worker to a financially rewarding position. Vying for the job are managing editor Thomas Mitchell (as John Day Griffith), wire service head George Sanders (as Mark Loving) and top photographer James Craig (as "Honest" Harry Kritzer)..."While the City Sleeps" boasts a great group of characters, taken from Charles Einstein's original story "The Bloody Spur" and kept lively by Casey Robinson's screenplay. They intertwine well, as directed by Fritz Lang. He moves everyone around multiple sets and a shadowy subway terminal. Sexy female roles go to fashion conscious Ida Lupino (as Mildred Donner), double dipping Rhonda Fleming (as Dorothy Kyne), and tightly attired Sally Forrest (as Nancy Liggett). A weakness is, however, that the "chemistry" between various players doesn't always work; the individual stars seem greater than the sum. The best couple is formed by Ms. Lupino and Mr. Andrews, but sparks aren't often flying like they should. In smaller roles, "silent" film stars Mae Marsh (the killer's mother) and Robert Warwick (the expiring Kyne) are used exceptionally well.******* While the City Sleeps (5/16/56) Fritz Lang ~ Dana Andrews, Thomas Mitchell, John Drew Barrymore, Ida Lupino

screenman 'While The City Sleeps' is a tale about nocturnal goings-on and those who engage in them. In this case, villains, cops & journalists. The villain in question is a serial killer. Dana Andrews plays a star investigative reporter at a paper with executive power struggles.There's plenty of American stalwarts of the day, including its director, but the movie never generates much momentum. Lang seemed to be making a point about the interaction between the three branches of life. As a result, presentation is piecemeal and priorities seem a little confused. We focus on the petty rivalries of those at the paper, whilst some villain is murdering lonely women. A great deal of time is spent following Andrews' character's turbulent love-life. This would be fine if the movie was a romantic comedy of manners, but it tends to eclipse the stalking beast and his terrible crimes. Likewise the squabbling over promotion amongst his colleagues.All the threads rub along together. there's almost no developing tension. Only when the stalker goes after Andrews' fiancée do things move up a gear. But he's caught after a pretty formulaic chase. Then we're back to the office squabbles again.It's often described as a film-noir, but doesn't cut it for me. It's too stagy, filming is unimaginative, the plot is too predictable, the action too stilted and even the script is only average. Chandler it ain't.Worth a watch if there's nothing else to do, but it's just a pot-boiler, and certainly no classic.

jotix100 Fritz Lang's Hollywood career was almost ending in 1956. His choice to direct this film will baffle anyone that has followed the master's career from his early days in Germany. The picture marked almost the end of his involvement in the American cinema for he only directed "Beyond a Reasonable Doubt" after this one, then left for Germany.The film combines two subjects that were close to Mr. Lang's heart, crime, and the way he perceived the empowerment of the news media in the country. We suspect the inspiration for this film might have been CBS, one of the most powerful networks in the land, and his star correspondent, Edward R. Morrow, a figure that might have influenced his own take on Edward Mobley, the television newscaster that is the clear favorite of the founder of the empire, Amos Kyne.The film combines the newspaper drama with that of a serial killer, an event that occupies the front page and the leading piece in Mobley's telecast. As Amos Kyne dies, there is a power struggle trying to be selected as the successor to the founder. The weak son of the late Amos Kyne, Walter, is the one to call the shots, as whom will be in charge of the media corporation, while the killer gets involved in the story in curious ways.The film gathered enough talent to make it commercially viable. Dana Andrews, with his good looks, was the perfect choice to play Mobley. The ensemble cast was wonderful because it brought together George Sanders, Thomas Mitchell, Ida Lupino, Vincent Price, Rhonda Fleming, and the menacing John Drew Barrymore Jr. to give the director a satisfying film.The only puzzling sequence involves a supposedly subway chase with a Los Angeles setting, something that clearly did not make much sense for those that realized the conflict of sites.

dougdoepke A few years earlier, RKO would have shaved the sub-plots and made the kind of tight little noir the studio was so good at. A decade earlier, cult director Lang would have shaved the sub-plots and made the kind of nifty study in perverse psychology he was so good at. But this is 1956 and TV is replacing the B-movie. So a budget studio like RKO is especially scrambling for a new formula. Unfortunately, what they come up with here is a sprawling story with a bunch of hard-to-follow subplots and a cast of aging stars for marquee appeal. The result is a turgid 100-plus minutes and, except for Andrews and Mitchell, a waste of some very fine actors.Maybe you can follow the power plays going on among the eight or so cast principals. After a while, I gave up. Folks interested in newspaper stories might find the movie worthwhile. To me, however, the various machinations come across as little more than glorified soap opera in dull shades of gray. The movie does come to life when Lipstick Killer Barrymore Jr. comes on screen and the palaver pauses for a refreshing few minutes. Too bad, the screenplay didn't allow Lang to focus more on one of his specialties, the killer's interesting mental state. But then, the script had to multiply the sub-plots and the superfluous scenes so as to accommodate the various star cameos they were paying for. There may be a good story buried somewhere in the pottage, and there are some snappy lines, but the overall result lumbers along, Lang or no Lang. Speaking of censorship, the curvaceous Fleming's various poses and sexy calisthenics, along with the script's smirking innuendo, typifies how the industry was reacting to the challenge of TV despite Production Code constraints, and definitely dates the production to that era. In passing—is it my imagination or does the circle-K logo of Kyne enterprises duplicate the logo for Kane's publishing empire in the much superior Citizen Kane (1940), and if so, what would be the point? Also, "kine" is an archaic term for cows, just as "swine" is for pigs. Was that intentional, and if so, what would be the point of that? Anyway, the movie shows clearly RKO's floundering efforts during a period of general studio decline.