Runtime: 96 minutes
Directed by: Jules Dassin
Starring: Barry Fitzgerald, Howard Duff, Dorothy Hart, Don Taylor, Frank Conroy
From: Universal
This is a tremendous film noir:
Someone who constantly lies to the cops = an obvious suspect in a murder case.
Even seventy years after the fact this is still regarded as one of the better noirs ever made, and I will have to agree. The titular city is The Big Apple itself, New York City. The plot is a police procedural and focuses on young neophyte cop Jimmy Halloran and his teaming up with a veteran policeman who might as well be named Irish McIrishson but is actually Dan Muldoon... anyhow, the case is a woman who you see killed and the two killers attempt to stage the scene to make it look like a bathtub drowning due to pills but the law sees through that ruse. We see our heroes look for clues, interview suspects, interrogate random people, attempt to piece together the puzzle, etc. In addition, Halloran's home life is seen for a few scenes and not surprisingly, being married to a police officer is not an easy role to have.
Aside from a fascinating case that is covered, there are many shots of NYC itself, and for me it was spellbinding just to see what New York City looked like back in the late 40's, all the different ethnicities that inhabit the area, the architecture, etc. I mean, some time is spent showing random people in the city and offering snapshots of what their lives are like. The editing and cinematography are both great so no surprise to me they both won Academy Awards. There is occasional narration from producer Mark Hellinger; when you're the producer I suppose you can do that, no matter if at times what you're saying may be superfluous. Then again I shouldn't be heard on him as he passed away shortly before the movie was released, and at least the narration was usually amusingly cynical.
At times this feels like a documentary due to how this film was done, the focus on the procedural stuff, and all the exterior shots. The ending, though, is decidedly Hitchcockian. Amusingly, a supporting character is a former pro wrestler; I say that as director Jules Dassin would of course have a film two years later-Night and the City, which some say is even better than this-which is all about a con man who to earn a buck promotes an aging wrestler, portrayed by real life grappler Stanislaus Zbyszko. As for The Naked City, those that enjoy the Italian Neo-Realist films of the era may also appreciate this as that had to be an influence.
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