The chiaroscuro drenched London provides one of my favorite backdrops to such a frantic, condemned film noir. Harry Fabian is constantly running from one desperate last chance to the next. At the same time, Dassin's direction is balanced and precise, with some excellent photography, stark lighting, and labyrinthine set pieces (Nosseross' night club is the noir highlight of the movie). Definitive.

Solid noir. The plot is good and fairly unpredictable. Richard Widmark is excellent as Harry Fabian; his performance is easily the movie's single greatest achievement. But there are some flaws. For one thing, there are too many damn characters. It's not that it was confusing -- more like unnecessary. In addition to that, there's some hammy 50's style acting, and some generic and overdone 50's soundtrack stylings. But I still enjoyed it.

A masterpiece of film noir, made with utmost care. It excels in every department, from Dassin's meticulous directing and the gripping performances - Widmark is on FIRE - right down to makeup. The script, apart from biting irony typical to the genre, has insight, warmth and roundness. Even the littlest of characters is well written and well played.

I wish my legs were full of gravy-snakes

One of the best film noirs ever made, and has perhaps the best noir cinematography of any; chiaroscuro has never been as heavily emphasized as this, with extreme contrasts and shadows lurking in every corner. Widmark's panicked, worrisome Harry Fabian is one of the great noir characters, perhaps the best example of the down-on-his-luck-loser archetype. The impending doom is relentless.

Brutal.

"That's what I do to your clowns."

R.I.P. Richard Widmark

Harry's "got everything", as a character puts it, "but is a dead man", a doomed antihero always looking for cash and a way to the top, always on the run. The dialogue is to-the-point but poetic ("Harry's an artist without an art"), the cinematograpy assured and often claustrophobic, and the play with light and shadow beautiful and expressive and, actually, very, very moving...

Widmark and Co. with the direction of Dassin make this the best film noir ever. Criminally underrated.

Withers and Sullivan were terrific in their supporting roles and this film is definitely "noir" through and through. However, I felt a critical moment in the plot failed to create the recipe for Fabian's demise.

Gripping story of a perpetual loser always trying to score big who gets in way over his head. The photography was super and I was never bored. I'm not a big Richard Widmark fan, but Francis Sullivan is always a pleasure.

Entertaining collaboration between Richard Widmark (fast becoming my favorite actor) and Jules Dassin (a creative, intelligent director). I love Dassin's visual style. Many noir directors use shadow indiscriminately, but Dassin seems to understand the proper use of chiaroscuro. His shots are always so well-composed and balanced. The story may have lost some steam after the wrestling match, but this is still a whopper of a flick. Recommended viewing.

It may be set in London, but it's very much the sort of film that gets held up today as a prime example of "film noir"; black and white, lots of shadows, lots of dirty dealings, and most of the characters are fuckheads. The protag in particular is a massive sleazeball, and the whole story is basically about how he'll cajole, manipulate, and outright fuck anyone in his ongoing attempt to be a big shot. The fight sequence (you'll know which one) is guaranteed to bring the house down

Incredible film; when I popped this in, I hadn't expected to be presented with the most exciting wrestling match I've ever seen in a movie. Wonderful from beginning to end.

What a fun movie. Harry Fabian is creepy and fun to watch at the same time. Awesom!