The Sleeping City is a 1950 film noir

Film noir

Film noir is a cinematic term used primarily to describe stylish Hollywood crime dramas, particularly those that emphasize cynical attitudes and sexual motivations. Hollywood's classic film noir period is generally regarded as extending from the early 1940s to the late 1950s...

, shot in semidocumentary

Semidocumentary

Semidocumentary is a form of book, film, or television program presenting a fictional story that incorporates many factual details or actual events, or which is presented in a manner similar to a documentary...

 style, starring Richard Conte

Richard Conte

Richard Conte was an American actor. He appeared in numerous films from the 1940s through 1970s, including I'll Cry Tomorrow and The Godfather.-Life and career:...

. Set in and shot at New York's Bellevue Hospital, it was directed by George Sherman

George Sherman

George Sherman was a film director of action movies beginning in the 1930s. The New York-born director's films include The Sleeping City and Tomahawk.-Filmography:*Red River Range...

.

The film is notable for its dark and evocative photography, above-par performances by featured players and taut script by Jo Eisinger

Jo Eisinger

Jo Eisinger was a film and television writer whose career spanned more than forty years from the early forties well into the eighties...

, best known for her script of Night and the City

Night and the City

Night and the City is a film noir based on the novel by Gerald Kersh, directed by Jules Dassin, and starring Richard Widmark and Gene Tierney. Shot on location in London, the plot evolves around an ambitious hustler whose plans keep going wrong....

. It was one of the few motion pictures of the era to be shot entirely on location.

The Sleeping City is viewed by critics as one of the best examples of the use of betrayal -- in this instance, several layers of betrayal -- as a noir plot device. However, as is typical in this genre, the film is simply plotted and economical in its characterizations.

The movie begins with an unusual prologue, featuring Conte, to assure the audience that the story is "completely fictional" and did not take place at Bellevue or New York City. The prologue was inserted at the insistence of New York mayor William O'Dwyer, who had objected to the script as besmirching the reputation of the city-run hospital.

Plot

An intern is shot mysteriously on an East River pier adjoining Bellevue Hospital. The chief investigating detective views this as a difficult case, so with the cooperation of the Commissioner of Hospitals he assigns a detective who had been a medical corpsman, Fred Rowan of the Confidential Squad, to go undercover as intern "Fred Gilbert."

Rowan becomes involved with the attractive nurse Ann Sebastian (Coleen Gray

Coleen Gray

Coleen Gray is an American movie and television actress born in Staplehurst, Nebraska. She is known for her roles in the films Nightmare Alley , Red River , in which she played John Wayne's fiancée, and Stanley Kubrick's The Killing .-Early career:Born Doris Jensen, Gray was a farmer's daughter...

), and also becomes friendly with the popular elevator operator, Pop Ware (Richard Taber).

Ware, who works part-time taking bets, seems initially to be a benign character. But it becomes apparent that Ware has been loaning money to the interns, including the slain intern and another intern, Rowan's roommate Steve Anderson (Alex Nicol

Alex Nicol

For the Distinguished Service Cross recipient, see Alexander Nicol.Alex Nicol was an American actor and director. Nicol appeared in many Westerns including The Man from Laramie...

), who is depressed and commits suicide.

Rowan deliberately loses money betting with Ware, and Ware says that Rowan can pay off his bet by stealing "white stuf" -- narcotics. Rowan plays along, encouraged by Ann Sebastian. He stops providing drugs to Ware. Ware tries to kill Rowan, and is shot in a shootout on the roof of the hospital.

Investigators find that the nurse was worked as a courier for Ware. The movie ends with Rowan, turning aside pleas from Ann, placing her under arrest.

Cast

Actor	Role
Richard Conte Richard Conte Richard Conte was an American actor. He appeared in numerous films from the 1940s through 1970s, including I'll Cry Tomorrow and The Godfather.-Life and career:...	Fred Rowan
Coleen Gray Coleen Gray Coleen Gray is an American movie and television actress born in Staplehurst, Nebraska. She is known for her roles in the films Nightmare Alley , Red River , in which she played John Wayne's fiancée, and Stanley Kubrick's The Killing .-Early career:Born Doris Jensen, Gray was a farmer's daughter...	Ann Sebastian
Richard Taber	Pop Ware
John Alexander John Alexander (actor) John Alexander was an American stage and film actor.Perhaps his most memorable performance was as Teddy Brewster, a lunatic who thinks he is Theodore Roosevelt, in the 1944 classic film Arsenic and Old Lace opposite Cary Grant. He had previously portrayed that role in the 1941 Broadway play of the...	Insp. Gordon
Peggy Dow	Kathy Hall
Alex Nicol Alex Nicol For the Distinguished Service Cross recipient, see Alexander Nicol.Alex Nicol was an American actor and director. Nicol appeared in many Westerns including The Man from Laramie...	Dr. Steve Anderson