Rent While the City Sleeps (1956)
3.6 of 5 from 77 ratings
1h 35min
- General info
- Available formats
- Synopsis:
- While a police-eluding serial killer prowls the New York streets, newspaper publisher Walter Kyne pits his three top newsmen against each other to catch the maniac and scoop the story, but in the ensuing chase the hounds become entangled in professional rivalry and romantic complications - with deadly consequences.
- Actors:
- Dana Andrews, Rhonda Fleming, George Sanders, Howard Duff, Thomas Mitchell, Vincent Price, Sally Forrest, John Drew Barrymore, James Craig, Ida Lupino, Robert Warwick, Mae Marsh, Ralph Peters, Sandy White, Larry J. Blake
- Directors:
- Fritz Lang
- Writers:
- Casey Robinson, Charles Einstein
- Studio:
- Exposure Cinema
- Genres:
- Drama
- Collections:
- 100 Years of German Expressionism, Film History, inema Paradiso's 2023 Centenary Club: Part 2, The Instant Expert's Guide, The Instant Expert's Guide to: Fritz Lang
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Reviews (1) of While the City Sleeps
Media Satire. - While the City Sleeps review by Steve
Fritz Lang's penultimate Hollywood film is a pulpy satire of American news services. Walter Kyne (Vincent Price) sets up a contest among his management team to compete for a new role in overall charge of his media empire, leaving him free to play carpet golf and spy on his unfaithful, pneumatic wife (a blonde Rhonda Fleming).
The Lipstick Killer is a psychopath murdering young women living alone in New York. Whoever impresses Kyne with the most sensationalist coverage will get the job. They are eclipsed at every turn by Dana Andrews' Pulitzer Prize winning reporter and broadcaster.
This is a lively, cynical, sexy film noir which is pessimistic about human nature and the media. Everyone in the film is grifting everyone else. They would sell out anybody for story recognition or a step up. It's about the perennial themes of film noir; greed and sex.
Andrews is a little stiff in the lead. Perhaps appropriately as his character is drunk throughout. Ida Lupino shines as a sexy older woman hired for the 'female angle' but who mostly angles after Dana. It's a suspenseful thriller which climaxes with an exciting chase through the New York subway. Not Lang's best work but still a lot of fun.
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