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Saturday, February 29, 2020

THE SLEEPING CITY (1950)

Not exactly air-tight, but darn effective, a memorable film noir progammer, served up with dank locations off the streets of Manhattan and fetid atmosphere from the bowels of Bellvue Hospital. (Plus lunch at a Horn & Hardart automat.) A surprise from vet B-Western megger George Sherman, charged up by the unexpected assignment. Stuck for fresh leads after a Bellvue interne gets murdered near the hospital, Richard Conte, a detective with a medical past, is called in to go undercover and scope out the situation as a new interne. (This sure sounds like a malpractice suit waiting to happen, but you buy it.) From there, it’s all suspense & procedural as Conte tries to keep his role hidden while paling up to the victim’s circle of co-workers, supervising doctors, gal-pal Coleen Gray, and non-medical hospital staffers. Not that this stops a second interne from getting killed . . . or was it suicide? There’s some awkward acting here and there, but Sherman runs a smart package, getting the most out of Jo Eisinger’s nasty original screenplay and on economical setups from cinematographer William Miller. A real find this. 

ATTENTION MUST BE PAID: Look fast to see debuting Robert Strauss, a year before he played ‘Animal’ on B’way & film in STALAG 17. He’s a detective with the wrong idea about the killer. And check out the eccentric buttoning (outside bottom only) on his Inspector’s double-breasted suit coat.

DOUBLE-BILL: The meaningless title was meant to make this look like a follow-up to Jules Dassin’s THE NAKED CITY/’48 (see ad copy on poster) which started a raft of police procedurals filmed (at least partly) on-location.

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