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The Naked City (1948)
Director: Jules Dassin
Writers: Albert Maltz & Malvin Wald (screenplay)
Cast: Barry Fitzgerald, Howard Duff, Dorothy Hart, Don Taylor
Genre: Film Noir
The Naked City is a docudrama style film noir - crime drama filmed entirely on location in New York City. The film follows two detectives Barry Fitzgerald and his young assistant played by Don Taylor as they use modern criminal methodology to find the Bathtub Killer who's killed a beautiful young woman.
The Naked City is a film that almost never was, Universal Pictures executives didn't know what to do with this hybrid film and wanted to scrap it, but thanks to the family members of producer Mark Hellinger, they made Universal release this movie, as it was in Hellinger's contract to do so. Mark Hellinger is also the voice of the narration that dominates the first part of the film.
What's amazing about this Academy Award winning film (Best B&W Cinematography & Best Editing) is that it was shot in only 84 days, and exclusive shot in the streets and buildings of New York City. No studio shots at all. This give us a window back to NYC circa 1948 as we see sights and sounds that are absolutely authentic.
While the voice over narration is kind of odd and gets in the way at times, its also necessary as it was impossible to record sound on many of the street shots, thus a voice over narrator was used to fill in the missing sound blanks. Once we settle into the film the narration is infrequent and the actors take over and deliver up a fine little docudrama noir.
Especially good to see was Barry Fitzgerald as an experienced Homicide detective on the trail of an elusive murderer. Barry is wise, patient and while he uses his years of experience in police work, he's also teaching his young and green assistant. The film takes a low key approach and shows us the leg work that goes into tracking down 1000s of leads in a criminal case. I found the story interesting and exciting especially the police procedural parts.
The film making style is fresh and very different. A must see for any film noir fan.
+
Director: Jules Dassin
Writers: Albert Maltz & Malvin Wald (screenplay)
Cast: Barry Fitzgerald, Howard Duff, Dorothy Hart, Don Taylor
Genre: Film Noir
The Naked City is a docudrama style film noir - crime drama filmed entirely on location in New York City. The film follows two detectives Barry Fitzgerald and his young assistant played by Don Taylor as they use modern criminal methodology to find the Bathtub Killer who's killed a beautiful young woman.
The Naked City is a film that almost never was, Universal Pictures executives didn't know what to do with this hybrid film and wanted to scrap it, but thanks to the family members of producer Mark Hellinger, they made Universal release this movie, as it was in Hellinger's contract to do so. Mark Hellinger is also the voice of the narration that dominates the first part of the film.
What's amazing about this Academy Award winning film (Best B&W Cinematography & Best Editing) is that it was shot in only 84 days, and exclusive shot in the streets and buildings of New York City. No studio shots at all. This give us a window back to NYC circa 1948 as we see sights and sounds that are absolutely authentic.
While the voice over narration is kind of odd and gets in the way at times, its also necessary as it was impossible to record sound on many of the street shots, thus a voice over narrator was used to fill in the missing sound blanks. Once we settle into the film the narration is infrequent and the actors take over and deliver up a fine little docudrama noir.
Especially good to see was Barry Fitzgerald as an experienced Homicide detective on the trail of an elusive murderer. Barry is wise, patient and while he uses his years of experience in police work, he's also teaching his young and green assistant. The film takes a low key approach and shows us the leg work that goes into tracking down 1000s of leads in a criminal case. I found the story interesting and exciting especially the police procedural parts.
The film making style is fresh and very different. A must see for any film noir fan.
+