---
title: 'While the City Sleeps (1956)'
type: 'film'
director: 'Fritz Lang'
released: '1956-05-16'
runtime_minutes: 100
countries:
  - 'United States'
canonical: 'https://cinepixo.com/movies/while-the-city-sleeps-1956'
review_count: 0
imdb: 'https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0049949/'
publisher: 'CinePixo'
---

# While the City Sleeps (1956)

1956 · 100 min · United States


## Synopsis

While the City Sleeps is a 1956 American film noir directed by Fritz Lang and starring Dana Andrews, Rhonda Fleming, George Sanders, Howard Duff, Thomas Mitchell, Vincent Price, John Drew Barrymore and Ida Lupino. Written by Casey Robinson, the newspaper drama was based on The Bloody Spur by Charles Einstein, which was inspired by the case of Chicago serial killer William Heirens. Five decades after the film's release, critic Dennis Schwartz wrote, "Fritz Lang ('M') directs his most under-appreciated great film, more a social commentary than a straight crime drama."

## Credits

- **Director:** [Fritz Lang](https://cinepixo.com/people/fritz-lang)
- **Screenplay:** [Carroll Clark](https://cinepixo.com/people/carroll-clark), [Casey Robinson](https://cinepixo.com/people/casey-robinson)
- **Original Music Composer:** [Herschel Burke Gilbert](https://cinepixo.com/people/herschel-burke-gilbert)
- **Director of Photography:** [Ernest Laszlo](https://cinepixo.com/people/ernest-laszlo)
- **Editor:** [Gene Fowler Jr.](https://cinepixo.com/people/gene-fowler-jr)

## Cast

- [Howard Duff](https://cinepixo.com/people/howard-duff)
- [James Craig](https://cinepixo.com/people/james-craig)
- [Dana Andrews](https://cinepixo.com/people/dana-andrews)
- [Mae Marsh](https://cinepixo.com/people/mae-marsh)
- [Vincent Price](https://cinepixo.com/people/vincent-price)
- [Rhonda Fleming](https://cinepixo.com/people/rhonda-fleming)
- [Thomas Mitchell](https://cinepixo.com/people/thomas-mitchell)
- [John Drew Barrymore](https://cinepixo.com/people/john-drew-barrymore)
- [Robert Warwick](https://cinepixo.com/people/robert-warwick)
- [Ida Lupino](https://cinepixo.com/people/ida-lupino)
- [Celia Lovsky](https://cinepixo.com/people/celia-lovsky)
- [Vladimir Sokoloff](https://cinepixo.com/people/vladimir-sokoloff)
- [Leonard Carey](https://cinepixo.com/people/leonard-carey)
- [George Sanders](https://cinepixo.com/people/george-sanders)
- [Larry J. Blake](https://cinepixo.com/people/larry-j-blake)

## Criticism on CinePixo

No reviews published yet.

Source: https://cinepixo.com/movies/while-the-city-sleeps-1956
Film facts: Wikidata (Q280682); synopsis from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. Reviews, themes and notes are the work of this site's members.