Underplayed Gems

While the City Sleeps (1928)

While the City Sleeps poster
Directed by
Jack Conway
Genre
drama film, silent film, crime film
Country
United States
Runtime
1h 10m
Rating
6.3 of 10 from 10 voters
Elsewhere
IMDb
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How it feels

A New York City police detective hunts down a murderous gangster. The story follows his pursuit through the city's underworld.

grittytensenoirishfast-pacedatmosphericmoodysuspenseful

What happens

While the City Sleeps is a 1928 American synchronized sound crime drama film about a tough New York City police detective, played by Lon Chaney, out to catch a murdering gangster. While the film has no audible dialog, it was released with a synchronized musical score with sound effects using the sound-on-film Western Electric Sound System process. The film was directed by Jack Conway, written by Andrew Percival Younger, and co-starred Anita Page, Carroll Nye, Wheeler Oakman, and Mae Busch. The sets were designed by Cedric Gibbons. Sam and Jack Feinberg (Chaney's set musicians) also played uncredited roles in the film; they can be seen playing in the band at Skeeter's nightclub, and also in the street scene where Mae Busch's body is found dead in her car. The movie was filmed on location in Los Angeles, and Lt. Roy Harlacher of the LAPD served as Chaney's technical advisor. The film was originally to be called either Chinatown or Easy Money. The film was in production from April 12, 1928 to May 18, 1928, and cost $259,000 to produce. The worldwide box office gross was $1,035,000. A still exists showing Chaney in the role of Detective Dan Coghlan. (from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA)

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