CITY THAT NEVER SLEEPS. Republic, 1953. Gig Young, Mala Powers, William Talman, Edward Arnold, Chill Wills, Marie Windsor, Paula Raymond. Writer: Steve Fisher. Director: John Auer.

   Form sometimes triumphs over substance in the oddest ways. Like a film called City That Never Sleeps.  Tired story, slack direction, (from John Auer, who is remembered, if at all, for The Crime of Dr. Crespi), hackneyed dialogue carrying a load of cliched situations, and yet …

   Mere description of the story doesn’t do it justice, but here goes: Chicago cop Johnny Kelley (Gig Young in an ill-fitting uniform) is about to leave his wife and the force to run off to California with a stripper, financed with a dirty deal from crooked lawyer Edward Arnold, who wants to get rid of troublesome henchman William Talman. Then, (WARNING!) on his last night on patrol, Johnny is partnered with Sergeant Joe, the angelic Spirit of the City (Chill Wills, and no, I’m not making this up!) whose divine intervention sets Johnny back on the right path. (END OF WARNING!)

   Woof.

   A film like this shouldn’t be watchable at all, but Sleeps is surprising grabby. Edward Arnold and William Talman (who had a nice line in noir bad guys until he got caught up by Perry Mason)   play off  nicely against each other, with Marie Windsor perfectly slutty as the girl who comes between them. Wally  Cassell does a  memorable bit as a broken-down actor  reduced to playing a mechanical man in a nightclub window, but the real star is cinematographer John L. Russell, who is gives the movie the stark, angular look of  an old Batman comic.

   Russell had a mildly distinguished career imparting a distinct  style to the Welles’ Macbeth and Hitchcock’s Psycho, and his look here is perfect 1950s Bob Kane: the characters grotesque, lantern-jawed and gimlet-eyed,  buildings (mostly shot on location) shot with  just a touch of expressionism, and a  pervasive sense of comic-book weirdness. It gives the sappy story just the right edge and makes for a film worth seeing.