The Naked City
| The Naked City | |
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theatrical release poster
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| Directed by | Jules Dassin |
| Produced by | Mark Hellinger |
| Screenplay by |
Albert Maltz Malvin Wald |
| Story by | Malvin Wald |
| Starring |
Barry Fitzgerald Howard Duff Dorothy Hart Don Taylor |
| Narrated by | Mark Hellinger |
| Music by |
Miklós Rózsa Frank Skinner |
| Cinematography | William H. Daniels |
| Edited by | Paul Weatherwax |
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Production
company |
Mark Hellinger Productions
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| Distributed by | Universal Pictures |
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Release date
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Running time
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96 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Box office | $2.4 million |
The Naked City is a 1948 film noir directed by Jules Dassin. Based on a story by Malvin Wald, the film depicts the police investigation that follows the murder of a young model, incorporating heavy elements of police procedure. A veteran cop is placed in charge of the case and he sets about, with the help of other beat cops and detectives, to find the girl's killer. The movie, shot partially in documentary style, was filmed on location on the streets of New York City and features landmarks such as the Williamsburg Bridge, the Whitehall Building, and an apartment building on West 83rd Street in Manhattan as the scene of the murder.
The film received two Academy Awards, one for cinematography for William H. Daniels, and another for film editing to Paul Weatherwax. In 2007, The Naked City was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".
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, conscience-stricken, gets drunk, the other kills him, then lifts his body into the air and throws it into the East River.
Homicide Detective Lt. Dan Muldoon (Barry Fitzgerald) and his young associate, Jimmy Halloran (Don Taylor), are assigned to Jean's case, which the medical examination has determined was murder, not an accident. Muldoon has been a homicide cop for 22 years; Halloran for three months. At the scene, the police interrogate Martha Swenson (Virginia Mullen), Jean's housekeeper, about Jean's friends, and she tells them about a "Mr. Henderson." They also discover a bottle of sleeping pills and her address book. Halloran questions the doctor who prescribed the pills, Lawrence Stoneman (House Jameson), and Ruth Morrison (Dorothy Hart), another model. Back at the police station, Muldoon questions Frank Niles (Howard Duff), who lies about everything, claiming only a business relationship with Jean and denying knowing Ruth, to whom he is engaged. The police quickly discover the truth behind many of his lies. Later, Muldoon deduces from the bruises on Jean's neck that she was killed by at least two men.
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Wikipedia