← Back to the films
Black telephone receivers and coiled cords hang beside a red block and the title.

Image: Monocurator · source · Original Monocurator artwork

Crime drama

While the City Sleeps

TenseBleak Great first watch · Easy Crime drama

A media heir turns a serial-murder investigation into a competition among executives, reporters, and photographers seeking promotion.

Year
1956
Director
Fritz Lang
Country
United States
Length
88 min
Language
English

What to expect

Lang links predatory crime to an institution that packages fear for circulation. Offices, headlines, television, and private ambition create a second hunt around the police investigation.

How to ease in

Separate the killer from the newspaper contest. The suspense becomes sharper when you track what each employee gains by keeping the case active and visible.

Heads-up

A quick, non-exhaustive note Includes serial murder, violence against women, stalking, misogyny, exploitative journalism, coercion, and alcohol.
Momo's Note May contain spoilers Who is Momo? →
Open the note ↓ Close the note ↑

The newsroom wants the killer caught, but it also wants the story to keep producing advantage. I watch information move through the building until ambition looks like another system of surveillance.

— Momo

Momo thinking about this film

Credits & versions

Credits
Screenplay
Casey Robinson
Production
Bert Friedlob · Bert Friedlob Productions, Inc.
Cinematography
Ernest Laszlo

Version map

BFI 88-minute presentation88 min88 minutes is attached only to the named BFI 88-minute presentation. No unsupported cut, score, territory, frame rate, source element, or restoration detail is inferred.Source: British Film Institute — While the City SleepsRuntime reference · Checked 2026-08-21

Where to go next

Want a gentler, shorter, or stranger next film? Ask Momo for something like this →
Momo is on shift. Visit Momo Cinema →

Continue through the catalogue →