The Naked City

Famous and feted, The Naked City seems less the creation of director Jules Dassin and more of producer Mark Hellinger, whose proud, easygoing voiceover dominates the film. With its New York setting, both oppressive and intimate, and documentary style, the film is also a bit schizophrenic: playing off its concluding comment, “There are eight million stories in the Naked City,” the filmmakers interweave characters and anecdotes from various locations around the city, which alters the tone in unexpected ways. The “bathtub murder” that centers the film is introduced clinically, like just any other anecdote; we learn that a beautiful, money-hungry model has been drowned in her bathtub and that veteran police detective Dan Muldoon (Barry Fitzgerald) has been assigned to lead the investigation. “Dear God, why wasn’t she born ugly?” asks the victim’s mother when she arrives at the morgue to identify her daughter’s body. The film fantastically integrates New York City as a character, the first film to do so to such an extent, with chases across iconic bridges, elevated subway stations, and uptown streets. The film has its weaknesses, but it’s anchored in a dry noir sensibility and visual boldness. An important film both historically and technically.