1953 · noir · police · chicago
City That Never Sleeps
Directed by John H. Auer1h 30m1953
Chicago cop Johnny Kelly, dissatisfied with his job and marriage, would like to run away with his stripper girlfriend Angel Face, but keeps getting cold feet. During one crowded night, Angel Face decides she's had enough vacillation, and crooked lawyer Biddel has an illegal mission for Johnny that could put him in a financial position to act. But other, conflicting schemes are also in progress...
Our read: City That Never Sleeps (1953) reads as a sombre, kinetic, grounded noir · police · chicago entry — measured in intensity, mid-stakes in scope, measured in temperature, ambivalent in outlook.
Sombre, kinetic, measured noir / police, grounded in texture. Ambivalent, mid-stakes, measured.
- sombre
- brisk
- intense
Watching City That Never Sleeps tonight? Spin for your lens.
Everyone on the couch spins once and gets one craft to watch for. After the credits, compare what you caught.
Your lens for tonight
?
Everyone on the couch gets one craft to watch for. Spin the wheel to get yours. Sound on: the narrator reads your mission.
Availability in the UK · via JustWatch
More info & search links
How City That Never Sleeps feels to watch.
Each axis is scored by hand, not from votes or genre averages. The bar uses the film's own colours.
What watching it is actually like.
“You want a classic B-film noir following moral drift on one Chicago night.”
Skip it tonight — Skip if black-and-white 1950s pacing or old noir tropes bore you tonight.
Eight films that feel like this one.
Closest in the twelve-axis space, not “people also liked”. All films like City That Never Sleeps, with why →
Discussion
Make it a movie night.
Pick a mood, get a film the whole couch will enjoy, and give everyone something to watch for.
Pick tonight's film →