City That Never Sleeps Reviews

A strange and compelling film, this production was aimed at competing with the highly successful THE NAKED CITY, done in the popular 1950s semidocumentary style. Young is a cop resentful at having been talked onto the force by his police sergeant father Hulett. He is in love with Powers, a sultry stripper, but she tells him she intends to run off with ex-lover Cassell unless he leaves the city with her, abandoning his wife, Raymond. Cassell is an entertainer with a bizarre specialty; he is a mechanical man in the show window of the club where Powers works, his face gilded, his arms moving jerkily, his head spasmodically turning back and forth as if powered by tiny motors. Young ponders Powers' offer and then runs into Arnold, a wealthy lawyer, who offers him a great deal of money if he will arrest Talman, who is fooling around with his wife, Windsor. Before Young can pinch Talman, his close friend Arnold confronts the bounder and is shot to death. Talman also kills Windsor and Hulett, who tries to stop him, and is seen by only one set of eyes, that of mechanical man Cassell whom Talman believes is a robot. Young convinces Cassell to continue his mechanical man act in hopes of identifying Talman again (he doesn't know the killer by name). As he goes through his act, Powers begs Cassell to leave the window and run away with her, promising a new life. Cassell begins to cry at the thought of a clean future, and the tears startle the crowd before the window. Cries of "He's real!" bring Talman on the run. He realizes that Cassell has witnessed his triple murder and fires a shot at the mechanical man but misses. He flees with his one-time pal Young on his heels. The two race up the stairs to the elevated train tracks and struggle. Talman is just about to kill Young when he falls to his death. Young then goes home to his wife where he intends to stay. Wills, as a sentimental cop, narrates the film but injects more bathos than realism. The production was shot on location in Chicago which gives it a realistic feel. The story takes place in one night, and there is too much drama crammed into the time period to be believable, but the performances are above-average, particularly Talman's. Cassell, normally a lightweight supporting player, gives a surprising portrayal as the mechanical man.