Naked City

Naked City
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
1948 American film noir by Jules Dassin
This article is about the 1948 film. For other uses, see Naked City (disambiguation) .

March 4, 1948 ( 1948-03-04 ) ( US )

Publicity stills from The Naked City

Barry Fitzgerald as Detective Lt. Dan Muldoon
Howard Duff 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 as Mrs. Halloran
Adelaide Klein as Mrs. Paula Batory
Grover Burgess as Mr. Batory
Tom Pedi 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)

^ "Top Grossers of 1948", Variety , 5 January 1949, p. 46

^ Lewis and Smoodin, p. 379.

^ Van Gelder, Lawrence. "Films Chosen For Registry." New York Times (December 28, 2007)

^ Wald, Maltz, and Bruccoli, p. 146.

^ Willett, p. 91; Eagan, p. 413; Spicer, p. 320.

^ Naremore, p. 281.

^ Park, p. 60.

^ See Rózsa's Double Life (1982, 1989) and Gergely Hubai, Torn Music: Rejected Film Scores (2012).

^ Variety (7 May 2018). "Variety (March 1948)" . New York, NY: Variety Publishing Company . Retrieved 7 May 2018 – via Internet Archive.

^ Crowther, Bosley. " Naked City, Mark Hellinger's Final Film, at Capitol – Fitzgerald Heads Cast." New York Times. March 5, 1948. Accessed 2008-01-30.

^ "Biennale Cinema 2018, Venice Classics" . labiennale.org . Retrieved 22 July 2018 .

^ "Awards Database." The British Academy of Film and Television Arts. BAFTA.org. No date. Accessed 2012-02-11.

^ Newcomb, p. 1585-1586.

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The Naked City (aka Naked City ) is a 1948 American film noir directed by Jules Dassin , starring Barry Fitzgerald , Howard Duff , 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 , one for cinematography for William H. Daniels and another for film editing to Paul Weatherwax . [2] In 2007, the film was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant". [3]

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 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 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."

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. [4]

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). [5] Weegee was hired as a visual consultant on the film, and is credited with helping to craft its imagery. [6] 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. [7]

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 , David Opatoshu , 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 , 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 scored the early scenes. Rózsa later compiled a "Mark Hellinger Suite" of music from his three Hellinger pictures (including The Killers and Brute Force ). The Naked City epilogue, "Song of a Great City," was Rózsa's tribute to the producer. [8]

The film was a considerable hit at the box office. [9]

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." [10]

In July 2018, it was selected to be screened in the Venice Classics section at the 75th Venice International Film Festival . [11]

All Titles TV Episodes Celebs Companies Keywords Advanced Search
Fully supported English (United States) Partially supported Français (Canada) Français (France) Deutsch (Deutschland) हिंदी (भारत) Italiano (Italia) Português (Brasil) Español (España) Español (México)
1948 1948 Not Rated Not Rated 1 h 36 m
A step-by-step look at a murder investigation on the streets of New York. A step-by-step look at a murder investigation on the streets of New York. A step-by-step look at a murder investigation on the streets of New York.
Albert Maltz (screenplay) Malvin Wald (screenplay)
Albert Maltz (screenplay) Malvin Wald (screenplay)
Albert Maltz (screenplay) Malvin Wald (screenplay) (story)
Most of the street scenes were shot on location in New York without the public's knowledge. Photographer William H. Daniels and his uncredited assistant Roy Tripp filmed people on the streets using a hidden camera from the back of an old moving van. Occasionally, a fake newsstand with a hidden camera inside was also set up on the sidewalk to secretly film the actors. Director Jules Dassin hired a juggler to distract the crowds and also hired a man to occasionally climb up on a light post and give a patriotic speech, while waving an American flag to get the crowd's attention.
When Garzah is running along a street in New York, the car holding the camera (in the passenger window) is visible in the store windows, keeping pace with the actor as he stops and starts.
The opening credits are spoken by producer/narrator Mark Hellinger. No
credits are seen on the screen.
Sobre las Olas (Over the Waves) (1887) (uncredited) Written by Juventino Rosas Background music for the girls on swings
Taut, tense semi-documentary style with great location shooting in New York City...
THE NAKED CITY is like watching a time capsule unfold of New York City in the late '40s--the cars, the subways, the bridges, the people bustling along busy streets totally unaware of filming (scenes were shot from cars with tinted windows and two-way mirrors), and at the center of it all is a rather routine detective story. But the difference is the style that director Jules Dassin gets out of his material, giving the drama a chance to build up the proper tension before the final shootout on city streets and bridges. BARRY FITZGERALD is the detective with the very helpful sidekick DON TAYLOR, a young police officer from Queens who helps him track down the man responsible for the death of a pretty blonde in what the tabloids called "The Bathtub Murder". Both men are excellent as they follow a batch of clues to get to the bottom of the crime. HOWARD DUFF is also excellent as a man mixed up in the robberies, with DOROTHY HART as his unsuspecting sweetheart. TED DeCORSIA, making his film debut, is the athletic villain, working out in his small apartment when detective Taylor finds him--but soon making his escape which leads to the film's most breathtaking moments of a dazzling chase that fills the last ten minutes with high tension suspense. The crime itself is not that interesting, but the style used to tell the tale (with a voice-over narration telling us at the conclusion that this is just one story in a city of millions) is what makes it far superior to most detective stories. That and the fact that New York City is given the spotlight for location photography that really hits the mark.
Suggest an edit or add missing content
By what name was The Naked City (1948) officially released in India in English?
The Best Movies and Shows in September
We Love These Hollywood Power Couples
Narrator : There are eight million stories in the naked city. This has been one of them.

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Naked City
(1958–1963)

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Technical Specs

(uncredited) (2 episodes, 1958-1959)

(written by) (3 episodes, 1962-1963)

(teleplay) (19 episodes, 1961-1963)

(based on an idea by) (1 episode, 1963)

Cop
/ ...
2 episodes, 1958-1959

Doc Nearing
/ ...
9 episodes, 1958-1963

Detective
/ ...
8 episodes, 1960-1963

Prisoner
/ ...
7 episodes, 1958-1962

Freddie
/ ...
7 episodes, 1961-1962

Alberto Russo
/ ...
6 episodes, 1958-1963

Alfred Tiloff
/ ...
6 episodes, 1959-1963

Barney Peters
/ ...
6 episodes, 1959-1963

Al Lacey
/ ...
6 episodes, 1958-1963

Al Buxley
/ ...
6 episodes, 1960-1963

Bookie
/ ...
5 episodes, 1959-1963

Gus Slack
/ ...
5 episodes, 1959-1961

Recorder
/ ...
3 episodes, 1958-1961

Patrolman
/ ...
2 episodes, 1958-1959

Elsie Knauf
/ ...
5 episodes, 1958-1962

Bixie
/ ...
5 episodes, 1961-1962

Caldwell Wyatt
/ ...
4 episodes, 1959-1962

Driver
/ ...
4 episodes, 1961-1963

Bodyguard
/ ...
4 episodes, 1959-1963

Benevento
/ ...
3 episodes, 1959-1963

Lab Technician
/ ...
2 episodes, 1959-1960

Gangster
/ ...
1 episode, 1961-1963

Henri Tourelle
/ ...
4 episodes, 1960-1962

Barney Sonners
/ ...
4 episodes, 1961-1962

Johnny Gary
/ ...
4 episodes, 1959-1960

Fran Burney
/ ...
4 episodes, 1960-1962

Al Horner
/ ...
4 episodes, 1961-1963

Driver
/ ...
4 episodes, 1962-1963

Klutz
/ ...
4 episodes, 1958-1961

Cameraman
/ ...
4 episodes, 1958-1962

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Naked City

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