The Naked City

Cinephile deep dive

The take

Jules Dassin directs. William H. Daniels behind the camera. Frank Skinner scores. Paul Weatherwax cuts. Runs lean at under 100 minutes. Produced in United States of America. Dialogue in English.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

• 178 years old — a genuine piece of film history.
• 2Directed by Jules Dassin, shot by William H. Daniels. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.
• 3Original score by Frank Skinner. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.
• 4Editor Paul Weatherwax shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
• 5Barry Fitzgerald and Howard Duff and Dorothy Hart carry the top of the cast.
• 6Marketing tagline: "The soul of a city. Her glory stripped! Her passion bared!".
• 7IMDB entry: tt0040636 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.
• 8Released under 20 different titles around the world.

The technical file

Cinematography

William H. Daniels

Original score

Frank Skinner

Editing

Paul Weatherwax

Costume design

Grace Houston

Makeup / hair

Bud Westmore

Sound

Leslie I. Carey

Runtime

96 min · 1h 36m

Status

Released

Original language

EN

Certification (US)

NR

IMDB

The Naked City (1948) ↗

Also by

Jules Dassin

• 
  Rififi

  1955 · ★ 7.8
• 
  Night and the City

  1950 · ★ 7.5
• 
  Thieves' Highway

  1949 · ★ 7.3
• 
  Brute Force

  1947 · ★ 7.3
• 
  The Canterville Ghost

  1944 · ★ 6.9
• 
  A Letter for Evie

  1946 · ★ 6.9

Trailers & featurettes

Watch the pieces

• 

  ▶
  The Naked City (1948) - Trailer

  Trailer

Community reviews

What people are saying

• JPV8522020-08-29
  ★ 8/10

  Entertaining crime-drama featuring some great NYC locales and the performance from Barry Fitzgerald was fun. Not a great film noir so can't say it's a classic in my book, but still a well done film from the 1940s. 3.75/5

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• griggs792024-11-14
  ★ 4/10

  By being filmed on the streets of New York, Naked City is a film that earnestly attempts to bring a sense of realism to the noir genre. This ambitious attempt, however, falls short of the mark, lacking the grit and charm that define true noir, and becomes painfully melodramatic. Its effort at authenticity is marred by its excessive voiceover, as Brian Cox's character in Adaptation. warned: "And God help you if you use voiceover in your work, my friends. God help you. That's flaccid, sloppy writing." The narration feels like a lazy shortcut that detracts from the visual storytelling instead of enhancing it. This one's all talk, no grit.

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• CinemaSerf2024-11-20
  ★ 7/10

  There's quite an affecting documentary feel to this film as "Lt. Muldoon" (Barry Fitzgerald) investigates the drowning of model "Jean" in what should have been the safety of her New York apartment. This cop is no slouch and is quickly dragging his newbie sidekick "Jimmy" (Don Taylor) all over the place in search of clues. Suspicion initially falls on the woman's close friend "Niles" (Howard Duff) but the police are pretty convinced that her maid, and also possibly her best pal "Ruth" (Dorothy Hart), may know more than they're letting on too. When they discover a bottle of sedatives, that some of her jewellery has gone missing and then a corpse floating in the East River the men must wade through a mire of lies, deceit and mis-information from witnesses who seem determined that the truth will never out. Fitzgerald is entirely convincing in this drama. He leads the process with a gritty determination and a plausible eye for not just the detail but the practical. He knows his city and he knows how to best to get results - sometimes using less conventional methods as he and his team start to hone in on the criminal and their MO. Taylor also does well here marrying the rookie approach to his task with a fresh angle less available to his less flexible boss. Hart, too, contributes well but it's really the procedural approach to the crime that sets this apart from standard mysteries. The writing reads as if it is based on real life experiences and also on an understanding of the value of the emerging use of scientific processes and team policing to narrow the field and get to the perpetrators. It takes it's time, but it never drags and there are clues for us watching to piece together too as this untrustworthy bunch look to self preservation more than to solving the killing. This takes a different approach to thriller story-telling and though I found the score a bit intrusive at times, I did enjoy it.

  Read full review ↓

Production companies

Who made it

• 

  Universal International Pictures

  US

Key crew

• ProducerMark Hellinger
• EditorPaul Weatherwax
• Associate ProducerJules Buck
• Art DirectionJohn DeCuir
• Sound DesignerLeslie I. Carey
• Makeup ArtistBud Westmore
• Set DecorationOliver Emert
• Set DecorationRussell A. Gausman
• Costume DesignGrace Houston
• Sound DesignerVernon W. Kramer
• Camera OperatorLew Swartz

Themes & keywords

What it's about, really

• new york city
• narration
• film noir
• murder
• docudrama
• semi-documentary
• procedural

Release history · US

When it landed

• Premiere1948-03-03NR· New York City, New York
• Theatrical1948-03-04

Also known as

International titles

• Die nackte StadtDE
• Stadt ohne MaskeDE
• New York esrarıTR
• StorstadSE
• La ciudad desnudaES
• Обнаженный городSU
• Oraşul nudRO
• Nos Bastidores de Nova IorquePT
• Nagie miastoPL
• La ciudad desnudaMX
• 裸の町JP
• Hadaka no machiJP
• La città nudaIT
• A meztelen városHU
• Γυμνή πόληGR