Dark City Reviews

This was Heston's first film after Hal Wallis saw him on TV and signed him to a contract. Heston leads a group of con men who fleece businessman Don DeFore in a rigged poker game. DeFore loses money that isn't his and pays for his guilt by hanging himself. His psychotic brother, Mazurki, begins to hound the four gamblers, intent on killing them for what they did to DeFore. Heston's girl friend is Lizabeth Scott, in one of her better roles, as a night club singer. Heston doesn't have any idea who the killer is, so he goes to Los Angeles to visit DeFore's widow and get some sort of line on Mazurki, who is rapidly knocking off Heston's compatriots, ably played by Ed Begley, Jack Webb, and Harry Morgan (who were to make TV history on the other side of the law with "Dragnet"). Jagger is a dogged cop on the trail of Mazurki, and it's a toss-up who will get to whom first. Heston, despite his predicament, is not a very lovable guy, nor are his confederates. Still, DARK CITY is a well-done film with enough suspense to keep us on the edge. Five songs are included to break up the criminality: "If I Didn't Have You" (Jack Elliott, Harold Spina), "That Old Black Magic" (Harold Arlen, Johnny Mercer), "I Wish I Didn't Love You So" (Frank Loesser), "I'm in the Mood for Love" (Jimmy McHugh, Dorothy Fields), "Letter From A Lady In Love."