“Low and lurid,” said New York Times reviewer Bosley Crowther of Dark City. Was he praising with faint damns? In his debut screen role, Charlton Heston plays Dan Haley, an alienated vet turned small-time gambler who isn't so much pursued (by the cops, a lounge singer, an anonymous murderer, and a widowed suburbanite) as he is fleeing from his own disillusionment. After fleecing a fellow veteran (Don Defore) in town on business, Dan and his gang of low-ball hustlers (the unholy trinity: Ed Begley, Jack Webb, and Harry Morgan), find themselves the quarry of a psycho-killer bent on revenge. While the mayhem mounts, Fran (Lizabeth Scott), a second-rate songbird is also trying to kill Dan, but softly, with her words. She's got a thing for this damaged lug: “Don't you ever need anybody, Danny?” she asks smokily. “What for?” “Just to need,” she answers with her smoldering voice. As rendered by Victor Milner, the setting of Dark City is noir from its beat-up bookie joints and glistening nightclubs to its grimy hotel rooms. But director Dieterle seems intent on redeeming his gooey-eyed gambler, who sees the cards stacked against him. Perhaps, even in this “low and lurid” tale, the wounded vet deserves a winning flush, queen-of-hearts high.