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While the City Sleeps

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While the City Sleeps is a 1956 film directed by Fritz Lang. The newspaper drama was based on "The Bloody Spur" by Charles Einstein. The film weaves together two stories- a serial killer hunt and the competition for a newspaper's editorship.

Plot

Power struggle between executives ensue after the death of media Amos Kyne, who turned over power to his sole heir, his foppish son (Vincent Price). He decides, instead of running the newspaper company himself, to let the heads of the three divisions of the newspaper to fight it out for control. Meanwhile, New York women become the prey of a serial killer. One of the three, newspaper editor John Daily Griffith, has an ally in high-profile reporter Edward Mobley, who is working on the biggest story of the day: "The Lipstick Killer," a serial murder, burglar and sex fiend who is terrorizing the city.

Reaction

Dark City: The Film Noir by Spencer Selby calls While the City Sleeps an "Offbeat thriller which is one of the most original and provocative noir newspaper films." [#endnote_book1]

Featured cast

Actor Role
Dana Andrews Edward Mobley
Rhonda Fleming Dorothy Kyne
George Sanders Mark Loving, KNS Chief
Howard Duff Lt. Burt Kaufman
Thomas Mitchell John Day Griffith (Sentinel managing editor)
Vincent Price Walter Kyne
Sally Forrest Nancy Liggett
John Barrymore Jr. Robert Manners
James Craig 'Honest' Harry Kritzer
Ida Lupino Mildred Donner

Trivia

References

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