''The Naked City'' (aka ''Naked City'') is a 1948 American
film noir
Film noir (; ) is a cinematic term used primarily to describe stylish Hollywood crime dramas, particularly those that emphasize cynical attitudes and motivations. The 1940s and 1950s are generally regarded as the "classic period" of American '' ...
directed by
Jules Dassin, starring
Barry Fitzgerald
William Joseph Shields (10 March 1888 – 14 January 1961), known professionally as Barry Fitzgerald, was an Irish stage, film and television actor. In a career spanning almost forty years, he appeared in such notable films as ''Bringing Up Ba ...
,
Howard Duff
Howard is an English-language given name originating from Old French Huard (or Houard) from a Germanic source similar to Old High German ''*Hugihard'' "heart-brave", or ''*Hoh-ward'', literally "high defender; chief guardian". It is also probabl ...
,
Dorothy Hart and
Don Taylor. The film, shot almost entirely
on location in New York City, depicts the police investigation that follows the murder of a young model.
''Naked City'' received two
Academy Awards
The Academy Awards, better known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international film industry. The awards are regarded by many as the most prestigious, significant awards in the entertainment ind ...
, one for cinematography for
William H. Daniels
William H. Daniels ASC (December 1, 1901 – June 14, 1970) was a film cinematographer who was Greta Garbo's personal lensman. Early in his career he worked regularly with director Erich von Stroheim.
Early years
Daniels was born in Clev ...
and another for film editing to
Paul Weatherwax. In 2007, the film was selected for preservation in the United States
National Film Registry
The National Film Registry (NFR) is the United States National Film Preservation Board's (NFPB) collection of films selected for preservation, each selected for its historical, cultural and aesthetic contributions since the NFPB’s inception ...
by the
Library of Congress
The Library of Congress (LOC) is the research library that officially serves the United States Congress and is the ''de facto'' national library of the United States. It is the oldest federal cultural institution in the country. The libra ...
as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".
Plot
In the late hours of a hot New York summer night, a pair of men subdue and kill Jean Dexter, an ex-model, by knocking her out with
chloroform
Chloroform, or trichloromethane, is an organic compound with formula C H Cl3 and a common organic solvent. It is a colorless, strong-smelling, dense liquid produced on a large scale as a precursor to PTFE. It is also a precursor to various ...
and drowning her in her bathtub. When one of the murderers gets conscience-stricken while drunk, the other kills him and throws his body into the East River.
Homicide Detective Lt. Dan Muldoon and his young associate, Det. Jimmy Halloran, are assigned to Jean's case, which the medical examination has determined was murder. Muldoon has been a homicide cop for 22 years, Halloran for three months. At the scene, the police interrogate Martha Swenson, Jean's housekeeper, about Jean's boyfriends, and she tells them about a "Mr. Philip Henderson". They also discover a bottle of sleeping pills and her address book. Halloran questions the doctor who prescribed the pills, Lawrence Stoneman, and Ruth Morrison, another model and Jean's friend. Back at the police station, Muldoon questions Frank Niles, Jean's ex-boyfriend, who lies about everything, claiming only a business relationship with Jean and denying knowing Ruth. Because of his lies, Niles becomes the prime suspect. Later, Muldoon deduces from the bruises on Jean's neck that she was killed by at least two men.
That evening, Jean's parents, Mr. and Mrs. Batory, from whom Jean was estranged, arrive in New York to formally identify the body and tell the detectives that they have no knowledge of Jean's acquaintances. The next morning, the detectives learn that Niles sold a gold cigarette case stolen from Stoneman, then purchased a one-way airline ticket to Mexico. They also discover that one of Jean's rings was stolen from the home of a wealthy Mrs. Hylton. At Mrs. Hylton's Park Avenue apartment, the police learn that the ring actually belonged to her socialite daughter, who, to their surprise, turns out to be Ruth Morrison (having retained the name of Mrs. Hylton's previous husband).
Learning that Ruth's engagement ring is also stolen property, and that she is engaged to Niles, Muldoon and Halloran take Ruth to Niles' apartment, where they coincidentally interrupt someone trying to murder him. The killer takes a shot at the cops and escapes down the fire escape onto the nearby elevated train. When questioned about the stolen jewelry, Niles claims that they were all presents from Jean, which reveals his true relationship with her, much to Ruth's chagrin. Ruth realizes she is engaged to a swindler and slaps him. Niles is then arrested for the jewel thefts, but the murder case remains open.
Halloran learns that a body recovered from the East River, is that of small-time burglar Peter Backalis, who died within hours of the Dexter murder, and Halloran believes the two incidents are connected. Muldoon, although skeptical, lets him pursue the lead and assigns two veteran detectives on the squad to help Halloran with the legwork. Through further methodical but tedious investigation, Halloran discovers that Backalis's accomplice on a jewelry store burglary was Willie Garzah, a former wrestler who plays the harmonica. While Halloran and his team canvass the Lower East Side of New York using an old publicity photograph of Garzah, Muldoon compels Niles to identify Jean's mystery boyfriend. He reveals that Dr. Stoneman is "Henderson". At Stoneman's office, Muldoon uses Niles to trap the married, respectable physician into confessing that he fell in love with Jean, only to learn that she and Niles were using him in order to rob his society friends. Niles then confesses that Garzah killed Jean and Backalis. Halloran and Muldoon, using different approaches, have come up with the same killer.
Meanwhile, Halloran finally locates Garzah and, pretending that Backalis is in the hospital, tries to trick Garzah into accompanying him, but Garzah (knowing he killed Backalis) sees through the ruse. The ex-wrestler
rabbit punches
A rabbit punch is a blow to the back of the head or to the base of the skull. It is considered especially dangerous because it can damage the cervical vertebrae and subsequently the spinal cord, which may lead to serious and irreparable spinal ...
the rookie detective, momentarily knocking him unconscious. Garzah attempts to disappear in the crowded city, but as police descend upon the neighborhood, he panics and draws attention to himself when he shoots and kills a blind man's guide dog on the pedestrian walk of the
Williamsburg Bridge. Garzah attempts to flee over the bridge but, as police approach from both directions, he starts climbing one of the towers and is shot and wounded. High on the tower, Garzah refuses to surrender; gunfire is exchanged, and he is hit again and falls to his death.
As the skyline and street shots of New York are shown and a trashman sweeps up yesterday's newspapers, the narration concludes by saying "There are eight million stories in the naked city. This has been one of them."
Cast
*
Barry Fitzgerald
William Joseph Shields (10 March 1888 – 14 January 1961), known professionally as Barry Fitzgerald, was an Irish stage, film and television actor. In a career spanning almost forty years, he appeared in such notable films as ''Bringing Up Ba ...
as Detective Lt. Dan Muldoon
*
Howard Duff
Howard is an English-language given name originating from Old French Huard (or Houard) from a Germanic source similar to Old High German ''*Hugihard'' "heart-brave", or ''*Hoh-ward'', literally "high defender; chief guardian". It is also probabl ...
as Frank Niles
*
Dorothy Hart as Ruth Morrison
*
Don Taylor as Detective Jimmy Halloran
*
Frank Conroy as Captain Donahue
*
Ted de Corsia as Willie Garzah
*
House Jameson as Dr. Lawrence Stoneman
*
Anne Sargent
Anne Sargent (born Helen W. Thomas; November 18, 1923 – July 23, 2007) was a film and stage actress from West Pittston, Pennsylvania,''Hedda Hopper'', Los Angeles Times, July 27, 1950, pg. B10. who performed in theater under the directi ...
as Mrs. Halloran
*
Adelaide Klein
Adelaide Klein (July 8, 1900 – March 18, 1983) was an American actress who performed on radio, television, films, and the stage. She was best known for her dialects as a radio performer. Over the course of her thirty-year career, Klein performed ...
as Mrs. Paula Batory
* Grover Burgess as Mr. Batory
*
Tom Pedi
Tom Pedi (September 14, 1913 – December 29, 1996) was an American actor whose work included roles on stage, television and film in a career spanning 50 years. He was particularly well-known for his portrayal of Rocky, the night barman, in '' Th ...
as Detective Perelli
*
Enid Markey as Mrs. Edgar Hylton
*
Walter Burke as Pete Backalis
* Virginia Mullen as Martha Swenson
*
Mark Hellinger as Narrator
*
Lee Shumway as Patrolman (uncredited)
Production
Producer Mark Hellinger, who also narrated the film, was only 44 when he died of a heart attack on December 21, 1947, after reviewing the final cut of the film at his home.
The visual style of ''The Naked City'' was inspired by New York photographer
Weegee, who published a book of photographs of New York life titled ''Naked City'' (1945). Weegee was hired as a visual consultant on the film, and is credited with helping to craft its imagery. But film historian William Park has argued that, despite Weegee's work on the film and its title coming from Weegee's earlier work, the film owes its visual style more to
Italian neorealism rather than Weegee's photographic work.
The movie features the uncredited film debuts of
Kathleen Freeman,
Bruce Gordon,
James Gregory,
Nehemiah Persoff, and
John Randolph in small roles. Randolph, along with
Paul Ford, who also had a small part, was appearing at the time on the New York stage in ''
Command Decision''.
John Marley,
Arthur O'Connell
Arthur Joseph O'Connell (March 29, 1908 – May 18, 1981) was an American stage, film and television actor, who achieved prominence in character roles in the 1950s. He was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for both '' Picn ...
,
David Opatoshu
David Opatoshu (born David Opatovsky; January 30, 1918 – April 30, 1996) was an American actor. He is best known for his role in the film ''Exodus'' (1960).
Opatoshu began his acting career in the Yiddish theater. Following his tenure in th ...
, and
Molly Picon had small, uncredited roles.
The musical scoring process was contentious. Hellinger allowed Dassin to assign a former M-G-M colleague, the arranger
George Bassman
George Bassman (February 7, 1914 – June 26, 1997) was an American composer and arranger.
Biography
Born in New York City to a Ukrainian- and Lithuanian- Jewish émigré couple, Bassman was later raised in Boston and began studying music at t ...
, to compose the music. Hellinger found this so unsatisfactory that, on the night before he died, he begged his own first choice,
Miklós Rózsa, to step in. Rózsa concentrated on the climactic chase and epilogue, while
Frank Skinner
Christopher Graham Collins (born 28 January 1957), professionally known as Frank Skinner, is an English comedian, actor, presenter and writer. At the 2001 British Comedy Awards, he was named Best Comedy Entertainment Personality. His televisio ...
scored the early scenes. Rózsa later compiled a "Mark Hellinger Suite" of music from his three Hellinger pictures (including ''
The Killers
The Killers are an American rock band formed in Las Vegas in 2001 by Brandon Flowers (lead vocals, keyboards, bass) and Dave Keuning (lead guitar, backing vocals). After going through a number of short-term bass players and drummers in t ...
'' and ''
Brute Force
Brute Force or brute force may refer to:
Techniques
* Brute force method or proof by exhaustion, a method of mathematical proof
* Brute-force attack, a cryptanalytic attack
* Brute-force search, a computer problem-solving technique
People
* Brut ...
''). The ''Naked City'' epilogue, "Song of a Great City," was Rózsa's tribute to the producer.
Reception
Box office
The film was a considerable hit at the box office.
Critical reception
Film critic
Bosley Crowther, while having problems with the script, liked the location shooting and wrote, "Thanks to the actuality filming of much of its action in New York, a definite parochial fascination is liberally assured all the way and the seams in a none-too-good whodunnit are rather cleverly concealed. And thanks to a final, cops-and-robbers 'chase' through East Side Manhattan and on the Williamsburg Bridge, a generally talkative mystery story is whipped up to a roaring 'Hitchcock' end."
In July 2018, it was selected to be screened in the Venice Classics section at the
75th Venice International Film Festival
The 75th Venice International Film Festival was held from 29 August to 8 September 2018. Mexican film director Guillermo del Toro was named as the President of the Jury. '' First Man'', directed by Damien Chazelle, was selected to open the f ...
.
Awards and honors
Wins
* Academy Awards: Oscar,
Best Cinematography, Black-and-White,
William H. Daniels
William H. Daniels ASC (December 1, 1901 – June 14, 1970) was a film cinematographer who was Greta Garbo's personal lensman. Early in his career he worked regularly with director Erich von Stroheim.
Early years
Daniels was born in Clev ...
;
Best Film Editing,
Paul Weatherwax; 1949.
Nominations
* Academy Awards: Oscar, Best Writing, Motion Picture Story, Malvin Wald; 1949.
*
British Academy of Film and Television Arts
British may refer to:
Peoples, culture, and language
* British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies.
** Britishness, the British identity and common culture
* British English, ...
: BAFTA Film Award, Best Film from any Source, USA; 1949.
*
Writers Guild of America: WGA Award (Screen), Best Written American Drama, Albert Maltz and Malvin Wald; The Robert Meltzer Award (Screenplay Dealing Most Ably with Problems of the American Scene), Albert Maltz and Malvin Wald; 1949.
Adaptations
* The film was the inspiration for a half-hour
television series of the same name, which used the film's famous concluding line. The characters of Muldoon and Halloran initially returned in the series, but they were now played by
John McIntire
John Herrick McIntire (June 27, 1907 – January 30, 1991) was an American character actor who appeared in 65 theatrical films and many television series. McIntire is well known for having replaced Ward Bond, upon Bond's sudden death in Novem ...
and
James Franciscus. The series ran for a single season in 1958 to 1959, earning an
Emmy Award
The Emmy Awards, or Emmys, are an extensive range of awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international television industry. A number of annual Emmy Award ceremonies are held throughout the calendar year, each with the ...
nomination as Best Drama. It was resurrected in Fall 1960 as an hour-long drama, which ran from October 1960 to September 1963.
[Newcomb, p. 1585-1586.]
* The film inspired two
television film
A television film, alternatively known as a television movie, made-for-TV film/movie or TV film/movie, is a feature-length film that is produced and originally distributed by or to a television network, in contrast to theatrical films made for ...
s, ''
Naked City: Justice with a Bullet'' and ''
Naked City: A Killer Christmas'', starring
Scott Glenn
Theodore Scott Glenn (born January 26) is an American actor. His roles have included Pfc Glenn Kelly in ''Nashville'' (1975), Wes Hightower in '' Urban Cowboy'' (1980), astronaut Alan Shepard in '' The Right Stuff'' (1983), Emmett in '' Silverado ...
as Muldoon and
Courtney B. Vance
Courtney Bernard Vance (born March 12, 1960) is an American actor. Known for his commanding presence Vance started his career on stage before transitioning his career into film and television. He's received various accolades including a Tony Awa ...
as Halloran. They aired on
Showtime in October and December 1998 respectively.
* A case directly based on the plot of ''The Naked City'' was included as DLC for the 2011 video game ''
L.A. Noire'', featuring similar characters and an ending where the culprit is killed as he tries to climb up a tower.
References
Bibliography
* Eagan, Daniel. ''America's Film Legacy: The Authoritative Guide to the Landmark Movies in the National Film Registry.'' New York: Continuum, 2010.
* Krutnik, Frank. ''"Un-American" Hollywood: Politics and Film in the Blacklist Era.'' New Brunswick, N.J.: Rutgers University Press, 2008.
* Lewis, Jon and Smoodin, Eric Loren. ''Looking Past the Screen: Case Studies in American Film History and Method.'' Durham, N.C.: Duke University Press, 2007.
* Naremore, James. ''More Than Night: Film Noir in Its Contexts.'' Berkeley, Calif.: University of California Press, 2008.
* Newcomb, Horace. ''Encyclopedia of Television.'' Vol. 1. New York: CRC Press, 2004.
* Park, William. ''What Is Film Noir?'' Lewisburg, Pa.: Bucknell University Press, 2011.
* Sadoul, Georges and Morris, Peter. ''Dictionary of Films.'' Berkeley, Calif.: University of California Press, 1972.
* Spicer, Andrew. ''Historical Dictionary of Film Noir.'' Lanham, Md.: Scarecrow Press, 2010.
* Wald, Marvin; Maltz, Albert; and
Bruccoli, Matthew Joseph. ''The Naked City: A Screenplay.'' Carbondale, Ill.: Southern Illinois University Press, 1948.
* Willett, Ralph. ''The Naked City: Urban Crime Fiction in the USA.'' Manchester, UK: Manchester University Press, 1996.
External links
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Naked City, The
1948 films
1948 crime drama films
American black-and-white films
American crime drama films
American mystery films
Culture of New York City
1940s English-language films
Fictional portrayals of the New York City Police Department
Film noir
Films adapted into television shows
Films directed by Jules Dassin
Films scored by Miklós Rózsa
Films set in New York City
Films shot in New York City
Films whose cinematographer won the Best Cinematography Academy Award
Films whose editor won the Best Film Editing Academy Award
Films about the New York City Police Department
American police detective films
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1948 mystery films
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1940s American films