The Naked City (1948)

Director:

Jules Dassin

Writers:

Albert Maltz (screenplay)
Malvin Wald (screenplay)

Release Date:

4 March 1948 (USA)

Genre:

Crime | Film-Noir | Mystery | Drama

Tagline:

The Most Exciting Story of the World's Most Exciting City!

Plot:

Amid a semi-documentary portrait of New York and its people, Jean Dexter, an attractive blonde model...

Plot Keywords:

No Opening Credits | Narration | Detective | Semi Documentary | Investigation

Awards:

Won 2 Oscars. Another 1 win & 4 nominations

Cast

Barry Fitzgerald	...	Det. Lt. Dan Muldoon
Howard Duff	...	Frank Niles
Dorothy Hart	...	Ruth Morrison
Don Taylor	...	Det. Jimmy Halloran
Frank Conroy	...	Capt. Donahue
Ted de Corsia	...	Willie Garzah aka Willie the Harmonica
House Jameson	...	Dr. Stoneman
Anne Sargent	...	Mrs. Halloran
Adelaide Klein	...	Mrs. Paula Batory
Grover Burgess	...	Mr. Batory
Tom Pedi	...	Det. Perelli
Enid Markey	...	Mrs. Edgar Hylton
Mark Hellinger	...	Narrator (voice)

Runtime:

96 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Recording)

Certification:

UK:A (cut) | Norway:16 | Finland:K-16 | USA:Unrated

Filming Locations:

City Morgue, New York City, New York, USA

Company:

Hellinger Productions

Trivia:

Film debut of James Gregory and John Randolph.

Goofs:

Errors in geography: During the pursuit of Willie Garza by the police, he climbs a tower on the Williamsburg bridge and looks down. Below are tennis courts on an island in the East River. There are no islands below the Williamsburg bridge; the island is most likely Roosevelt Island which has tennis courts and is crossed by the Queensboro bridge.

Quotes:

[last lines]
Narrator: There are eight million stories in the naked city. This has been one of them.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Strongbad_email.exe (2004) (V)

Naked City Provides For Taut Action Film ***1/2

Excellent crime drama film starring Barry Fitzgerald. In the first scene, I thought we would see another "Going My Way" performance. Afterwards, as the head detective, Fitzgerald was excellent with his Irish accent. He is breaking in Don Taylor to be a good detective and his teaching pays off as Taylor tracks down the usually ruthless Ted de Corsica.

The story involves the killing of a beautiful model. Howard Duff appears to be an innocent bystander at first but he is later revealed as a willing participant in a robbery ring that has netted quite a bit of jewelry. The ring even implicates a doctor who had treated the murder victim once. It's the old story of the old gentleman bewitched by an ingenue.

There are so many people in this film that went on to distinguished careers. You will see a very young Taylor who before becoming a director would star in "Father of the Bride," and "I'll Cry Tomorrow." We also see a very young David Opatoshu, who from a distance has the facial contours of New York Democratic candidate for governor Eliot Spitzer. Kathleen Freeman is in one scene in a packed subway car bemoaning the murder. James Gregory is a cop on the beat. You can go on and on with just recognizing people.

The ending scene on the bridge is exciting and the movie holds up even after so many years. An excellent example of how good detective work can apprehend a criminal. It's also the familiar story that greed can get gang members to turn on one another with murder resulting.