The film draws predominantly from the Dassin film rather than the source novel. The setting of the film was changed to the New York boxing world, and Harry Fabian is a lawyer. It was directed and produced by Irwin Winkler, known for Guilty by Suspicion, which also starred De Niro. The film was remade in 1992 with Robert De Niro playing the lead role. Title: Guttersnipe: Little Novels Title Record 2379017 Author: Gerald Kersh Date: Type: COLLECTION Language: English User Rating: This title has no votes. The movie starred Richard Widmark as Harry Fabian and is often thought a significant London film noir. Later director Dassin told in an interview he hadn't read the novel. The film was made in Britain, and the setting remains the London wrestling world, but the film departs greatly from the source novel.

The novel was first filmed in 1950 by Jules Dassin, who had directed The Naked City two years earlier. The reissue features an introduction by John King, author of The Football Factory. In 2007 London Books republished it as part of their London Classics imprint. It was later republished, as a tie-in for the 1992 film version, by Brainiac Books in 1993. The novel was originally published by Michael Joseph in 1938 and was the author's first successful novel. Desperate and at rock bottom Harry will try anything to ensure he comes out on top. On one side the police are closing in on the other those he has swindled come calling. However, while his acts of pimping, blackmail, promoting professional wrestling, and deception are successful, the proceeds of crime soon slip from his hands.Įventually his world starts to come down around him. All those around him are treated as a means to an end without exception. The protagonist of the novel is Harry Fabian, a morally reprehensible pimp determined to become the top wrestling promoter in London.ĭuring the course of the novel Fabian is embroiled in various unscrupulous money-making ventures. It is a crime thriller set in 1930s London but also deals with social realism themes in the aftermath of the Great Depression. Night and the City is the third novel by British author Gerald Kersh, published in 1938.

Guttersnipe by Gerald Kersh