THE NAKED CITY [1948 / 2014] [Blu-ray + DVD] [UK Release] There Are Eight Million Stories in the Naked City! This Is One Of Them! Filmed on the Streets of New York! With A cast of 8 Million New Yorkers!
Jules Dassin followed up his explosive prison picture ‘Brute Force’ with another slice of hard-boiled crime fiction. Within a decade he had made ‘Thieves Highway,’ ‘Night and the City’ and ‘Rififi,’ thus confirming Jules Dassin’s position as one of the all-time-great “film noir” directors.
New York, the middle of summer. A blonde ex-model is murdered in her bathtub and detectives Muldoon [Barry Fitzgerald] and Halloran [Don Taylor] are assigned to the case. Their investigation will lead them through the entire city, from Park Avenue to the Lower East Side, culminating in a thrilling climax atop the Williamsburg Bridge.
Inspired by the work of the infamous tabloid photographer Weegee [Arthur Fellig], ‘THE NAKED CITY’ was the first major Hollywood production to be shot entirely on the streets of New York, making use of more than a hundred authentic locations. Both its editing and its cinematographer would earn Academy Awards® – while the film itself would be recognised by the Library of Congress as one of American cinema’s most significant motion pictures. Narrated by Mark Hellinger.
FILM FACT No.1: Awards and Nominations: 1949 Academy Awards®: Win: Best Cinematography in Black-and-White for William H. Daniels. Win: Best Film Editing for Paul Weatherwax: Nominated: Best Writing in a Motion Picture Story for Malvin Wald. 1949 BAFTA® Film Awards: Nominated: Best Film from any Source, USA. 1949 Writers Guild of America: Nominated: Best Written American Drama for Albert Maltz and Malvin Wald. 1949 The Robert Meltzer Award: Nominated: Screenplay Dealing Most Ably with Problems of the American Scene for Albert Maltz and Malvin Wald. Producer Mark Hellinger, who also narrated the film, died of a heart attack on December 21, 1947, after reviewing the final cut of the film at his home. The film features the film debuts of Kathleen Freeman, Bruce Gordon, James Gregory, Nehemiah Persoff, and John Randolph in small roles. Mark Hellinger dropped dead from a heart attack in 1947, having lived just long enough to enjoy a successful preview of ‘THE NAKED CITY,’ and at long last, he finally got some sleep.
FILM FACT No.2: Producer Mark Hellinger, who also narrated the film, was only 44 when he died of a heart attack on the 21st December, 1947, after reviewing the final cut of the film at his home. The visual style of The Naked City was inspired by New York photographer Weegee [Arthur “Usher” Fellig], who published a book of photographs of New York life entitled “Naked City” (1945). Weegee was hired as a visual consultant on the film, and is credited with helping to craft its imagery. But film historian William Park, despite Weegee's work on the film and its title coming from Weegee's earlier work, has argued that the film owes its visual style more to Italian neorealism (of which ‘The Bicycle Thief’ is a well-known example) rather than Weegee's photographic work. The film features the film debuts of Kathleen Freeman, Bruce Gordon, James Gregory, Nehemiah Persoff, and John Randolph in small roles. Randolph, along with Paul Ford, who also had a small part, was appearing at the time on the New York stage in Command Decision. John Marley, Arthur O'Connell, David Opatoshu, and Molly Picon also had small, uncredited roles.
Cast: Barry Fitzgerald, Howard Duff, Dorothy Hart, Don Taylor, Frank Conroy, Ted de Corsia, House Jameson, Anne Sargent, Adelaide Klein, Grover Burgess, Tom Pedi, Enid Markey, Mark Hellinger, Jean Adair (uncredited), Celia Adler (uncredited), Janie Alexander (uncredited), Joyce Allen (uncredited), Beverly Bayne (uncredited), Ralph Brooks (uncredited), Harris Brown (uncredited), Ralph Bunker (uncredited), Alexander Campbell (uncredited), Retta Coleman (uncredited), G. Pat Collins (uncredited), Curt Conway (uncredited), Russ Conway Grace Coppin (uncredited), Paul Ford (uncredited), Kathleen Freeman (uncredited), Bruce Gordon (uncredited), Raymond Greenleaf (uncredited), Chuck Hamilton (uncredited), Robert H. Harris (uncredited), Bern Hoffman (uncredited), Edwin Jerome (uncredited), Joseph Karney (uncredited), Perc Launders (uncredited), George Lynn (uncredited), John Marley (uncredited), John McQuade (uncredited), Arthur O'Connell (uncredited), Nehemiah Persoff (uncredited), Molly Picon (uncredited), John Randolph (uncredited), Richard W. Shankland (uncredited), Lee Shumway (uncredited), Ralph Simone (uncredited), Elliott Sullivan (uncredited), Charles P. Thompson (uncredited), Mervin Williams (uncredited) and Victor Zimmerman (uncredited)
Director: Jules Dassin
Producers: Jules Buck and Mark Hellinger
Screenplay: Albert Maltz (screenplay) and Malvin Wald (screenplaystory)
Composers: Frank Skinner and Miklós Rózsa
Cinematography: William H. Daniels, A.S.C. (Director of Photography)
Image Resolution: 1080p (Black-and-White)
Aspect Ratio: 1.37:1
Audio: English: 1.0 LPCM Mono Audio
English: 2.0 Dolby Digital Stereo Audio
Subtitles: English SDH
Aspect Ratio: 1.37:1
Running Time: 96 minutes
Region: Region B/2
Number of discs: 2
Studio: Universal-International / Arrow Academy
Andrew’s Blu-ray Review: "There are eight million stories in the naked city. This has been one of them." With that memorably stark declaration, producer Mark Hellinger closes one of the greatest “film noir” of all time, Jules Dassin's ‘THE NAKED CITY’ [1948]. The picture itself is just as hard-edged as its narration, and totally ground-breaking detective story shot in raw documentary style amid the bridges and concrete canyons of New York City. Nowadays, this sort of location filming is commonplace, even on network Television. But Mark Hellinger and Jules Dassin were the first filmmakers to venture into the streets of the Big Apple to shoot this stark reality film.
Though this “film noir” and follows two detectives unravelling a murder case, The Naked City’s main character is, to coin a term from another “film noir” picture, ‘The Asphalt Jungle’ [1950]. Director Jules Dassin shot the picture on location in New York City without benefit of studio lots or soundstages. The film’s style ignores the typical expressiveness of certain types of characters and replaces them with somewhat prosaic yet acceptably charming detective characters. Where they go and the people they meet are only the conduits through which we become familiar with the urban landscape. The characters themselves help to humanize the film’s apathetic nucleus: the city. The film was inspired by a book called the “Naked City” and was created by newspaper photographer Arthur Fellig also known as “Weegee.” The 1945 book was a collection of photo images that showed the true-crime side of New York City. A blatant look at the underbelly of urbanity, Weegee’s book caught the eye of film producer and former newspaper man Mark Hellinger. After seeing the book, Mark Hellinger began work on producing a filmic text in which the city is the main character.
‘THE NAKED CITY’ opens in tawdry “film noir” style, with the murder of a young model in her Manhattan apartment. We then follow the six-day investigation of her death, which is led by straight-shooting Lt. Dan Muldoon [Barry Fitzgerald] and Detective James Halloran [Don Taylor]. Their often mundane police work is interspersed with quick sequences about the private lives of the detectives and the day-to-day rumblings of New York City itself. The investigation will lead to a trio of men who may have wanted the woman dead, including Frank Niles [Howard Duff], a shady type who seems to be hiding something even when he spills his guts to the cops. The final foot chase across the upper reaches of the Williamsburg Bridge is a classic sequence that is helped immeasurably by cinematographer William Daniels' OSCAR® winning camera work.
One interesting story becomes insignificant when compared to the scope of the city. The city itself is the most interesting character in this film; as cities often have personalities, New York is frequently credited as being the most significant. ‘THE NAKED CITY’ marks the first filmic attempt to describe such a setting as if it were a living being as close as one can do to experiencing the under belly seedy side of the atmosphere of a city. Writers such as Baudelaire and Louis Aragon gave Paris a similar treatment. The city demands both love and hate at the same time; and it reveals all the beauty and terror that humanity is capable of within a few hundred square miles.
No doubt about it, this is one great-looking black-and-white drama pack film. Film Director Jules Dassin and Cinematographer William Daniels delivered perhaps the most starkly realised film of the 1940s. Producer Mark Hellinger intended the images to resemble tabloid newspaper photographs. But it was Jules Dassin and William Daniels who had the brilliant idea to shoot scenes with a camera that was hidden inside a van, behind a tinted window. That way, the cast could cover the sidewalks without passers-by even knowing they were taking part in the film! The results are a virtual time capsule of life in post-war New York City. Nevertheless, even with Jules Dassin at the helm, Mark Hellinger is the most fascinating person connected to ‘THE NAKED CITY.’ When the film ends, of course the murderer gets his final comeuppance and Mark Hellinger’s narration closes the film with the iconic line “There are eight million stories in the Naked City. This has been one of them.” That line became popular enough to sustain a television programme series called ‘The Naked City’ from 1958-1963; each episode would end with the same message.
Finally, for those of you who are interested in ‘THE NAKED CITY’ film’s exact locations, they are as follows: The cop station used both for interiors and exteriors, is the 10th Precinct, 230 West 20th Street, which you can see virtually unchanged between 7th and 8th Avenues in Chelsea. The murder site is the Lathrop, 46 West 83rd Street, between Central Park West and Columbus Avenue, a couple of blocks north of the American Museum of Natural History. Other NY locations include Wall Street in the Financial District; and the foyer of the old Roxy Theater, which stood on the northeast corner of 50th Street and Seventh Avenue, until it was demolished in 1960. The final cop vs killer confrontation was filmed at the Williamsburg Bridge, where the villain takes a nosedive into the East River. The entrance to the bridge, which leads to Washington Plaza, Brooklyn, is at Delancey and Clinton Streets in Chinatown.
THE NAKED CITY MUSIC TRACK LIST
SOBRE LAS OLAS (Over the Waves) (1887) (uncredited) (Written by Juventino Rosas) [Background music for the girls on swings]
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Blu-ray Image Quality – Once again the very professional people at Arrow Academy have once again presented us a stunning 1080p Black-and-White encoded image to make this film look brand new. You also get an equally stunning 1.37:1 aspect ratio. Which shows, as if you go to the stunning designed booklet, it informs us that the Blu-ray was "The High Definition Master was produced by The Criterion Collection using the best available archival materials and was made available for this release by M-G-M via Hollywood Classics. Which means the high-definition transfer has been struck from a pre-existing master? But what you get with this Region B/2 Blu-ray disc is a great deal of clarity and image depth is very pleasing as is The Criterion Collection transfer. Most well-lit close-ups look very good, while the panoramic shots of the busy streets of New York boast decent fluidity. So all in all a great black-and-white presentation that is easy on the eye. The only slight anomaly is now and again you get this white line down the centre of the screen and at one point in the film at exactly 0:29.23 you see a one second flash of a tear to the film, which is of course on the negative and such a shame this could not of been fixed, but despite this, it is still an excellent crisp black-and-white image throughout the film. Please Note: Playback Region B/2: This will not play on most Blu-ray players sold in North America, Central America, South America, Japan, North Korea, South Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Southeast Asia. Learn more about Blu-ray region specifications.
Blu-ray Audio Quality – Arrow Academy brings us two audio presentations, in the guise of 1.0 LPCM Mono Audio and 2.0 Dolby Digital Stereo [audio commentary]. The main audio presentation is really good, well balanced and definitely a very pleasing audio experience, especially as there is no hint of a background hiss. The music score by Frank Skinner and Miklós Rózsa is only a primarily for the supportive role for a film that it is of more than sixty years old and still gives a dynamic intensity for a film of this genre. But there is of course only one dramatic exception to this music score is when the killer is confronted by the police. So all in all this is a very pleasing audio experience and is a great gain for a film that was made in 1948.
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Blu-ray Special Features and Extras:
New high definition digital transfer of the film
High Definition Blu-ray [1080p] and Standard Definition DVD presentation
Original 1.0 LPCM Mono Audio (uncompressed on the Blu-ray disc)
Optional English subtitles for the deaf and hearing impaired
Audio Commentary by screenwriter Malvin Wald: As soon as the Universal-International intro appears, Malvin Wald introduces himself and informs us that he was the screenwriter for the 1948 police drama ‘THE NAKED CITY,’ and was one of two screenwriters for the film and that he conceived the entire creation of the film over a six month period, and tells us it was a revolutionary film of its time, and of course was a world wild box office sensation, and the French critics hailed it as a “Police Documentary,” and in America the Academy Awards® gave it three award elements for the film. Alvin says that it was filmed in 107 different locations of New York City and that is why it gave it that special “film noir” look, as well as a sort of documentary feel to the film, but of course with an element of drama thrown into the mix to give it that added element of realism, especially of the murder element of the storyline. In the past films of police dramas they were made to look stupid, but with this film the police are made to look as they were on the job in a professional way and working with a team spirit in trying to solve the crime of murder especially. When we see the domestic arriving at the murdered blonde’s apartment, Malvin Wald informs us that he actually was able to read a real police report on a similar murder, but the case was never solved and feels there was an actual cover up, so much so this spurred Malvin Wald to enlarge on the story to include in the screenplay and when you first enter the Police Station and see all what goes on behind-the-scene when a crime is reported, Malvin Wald wanted it to look really realistic. Malvin Wald also informs us that the actor Barry Fitzgerald originally turned down the part of Det. Lt. Dan Muldoon as he felt he was not ideal for the part, whereas he felt Humphrey Bogart would be more ideal as the character of Det. Lt. Dan Muldoon, but eventually Malvin Wald with a lot of arm twisting he persuaded Barry Fitzgerald he would be perfect for the part, and I am so glad he did, as he is perfect in this film. Malvin Wald also informs us that to really make the film work really well, and with his research on different real life crime stories in New York, decided to do a patchwork of all the crime reports he was able to read, so in that respect he was able to weave and interesting scenario, and I personally feel Malvin Wald has done such a brilliant job, that is why the film worked so well. Malvin Wald also tells us an interesting story about Mark Hellinger who was able to see a sneak preview of the finished film in Los Angeles before he sadly passed away, and a week after the demise of Mark Hellinger, the executives at Universal-International didn’t know what to do with the film, because of some of the people involved with the film were blacklisted and was on the verge of burning the negative and the print, and a nasty fate nearly happened to the film ‘Citizen Kane,’ but because Mark Hellinger personally helped finance ‘THE NAKED CITY’ to the tune of $Million Dollars, so that meant the executives could not touch the film and of course eventually the film was released in the cinemas worldwide and of course the executives were proved wrong, as the film was a worldwide box office smash hit and of course equally it got great success from the Academy Awards® and of course Mark Hellinger was hailed as the films saviour. Malvin Wald n also tells us while researching for the film, he came into contact with a famous Detective in a Police Station in Brooklyn, and so the detective found out that Malvin Wald was born in Brooklyn and that is why he was given cart blanch in looking at all the crime report files, but on top of that when a murder crime is reported, you always get the odd ball eccentrics turning up saying they can solve the crime, but of course they are kindly told they will get back to them, but never do, so Malvin Wald decided to add this scene into the film with the eccentric old lady in saying she knew who killed the blonde, but of course as you will see they persuade the old lady that they will get back to her, in that way it gives the film much more realism. At around the 0:54.00 mark, Malvin Wald talks about the chase from the apartment, where the murdered escapes and eventually gets to escape via the subway, well Malvin Wald says that this film inspired films like ‘The French Connection’ and ‘Bullitt,’ because Malvin Wald thinks ‘THE NAKED CITY’ was ground-breaking “film noir,” but unfortunately the film went over budget by $1/2 Million Dollars, but despite this, it recovered its cost. Near the end of the film Malvin Wald and how brilliant the editing was in bringing the climax of the film to an exciting conclusion, but Malvin Wald n was equally impressed by the composer Miklós Rózsa dramatic film score that really emphasised the dramatic drama that is unfolding before our eyes. And so ends another fascinating and brilliant audio commentary and especially by the brilliant Malvin Wald, who did a fantastic job, who also gives a lot more information about the making of the film that I have not included in this review, especially the long process of bringing ‘THE NAKED CITY’ to the screen. So all I can say is please give it a view as you will be totally enthralled by what you hear, and so much so, I have to give it a 5 star rating, which is so well deserved.
Special Feature: New York and The Naked City [2014] [1080P] [1.85:1] [40:00] A personal account of the history of New York on the big screen by critic and lifelong New Yorker Amy Taubin, that was recorded in August 2014. Here we find Amy Taubin in some editing suite talking about her early days of the cinema in New York City, especially with Vitagraph Studios [also known as the Vitagraph Company of America], which was set up by the founders J. Stuart Blackton and Albert E. Smith in 1897 in Brooklyn, but initially had an office in Manhattan at the turn of the century, but was more prevalent in 1910, where they eventually they set off for California for the much better weather. Next Amy talks about James Nares, who was mainly a painter in the 1970s, but starts to produce underground films in New York, and one of his well-known film was entitled ‘STREET’ [1998] which was an unscripted 61-minute high definition video, which was known as a “slo-mo” film made with the “Phantom” system. Amy now moves onto the history of Hollywood and its “fantasy factory” of what New York is in their eyes around the 1940s period and preferred California, because it gave some distance from the money men in New York. Amy then moves onto talking about the film ‘THE NAKED CITY’ and its ground-breaking technique of filming, especially with the use of the interior and exterior views of New York and it was greatly influenced by newspaper photographer Arthur Fellig (“Weegee”), who as you know regularly photographed the crime scenes. Amy then moves onto the subject of Technology and Cinema Vérité that happened in the late 1950s, especially with the cameras that were used with synchronised sound 16mm cameras, that was influenced by Maurice Angle. Amy now turns her attention to a film that really influenced her greatly when Amy was young and went to the cinema a lot with a her grandma to see ‘Pickup on South Street’ [1953] which left her with a great impression and learnt a lot about the “facts of life” that influenced her intimate side of life. Amy talks a lot about the underground movement in New York and all the films her husband Richard Foreman [American playwright and avant-garde theater pioneer] and Amy use to go and see regular and how they got heavily involved with the “Avant-garde Movement” and talks glowingly about Ken Jacobs [American experimental filmmaker] who documented New York with all of his filming and has not stopped working for over 60 years, as well as mentioning lots of other prominent independent filmmakers, and one in particular is Shirley Clarke [American experimental and independent filmmaker] and Martin Scorsese [Director] was heavily influenced by Shirley Clarke. But as we entered the 1960s we had the following emerging into the limelight and they were jack Smith, Andy Warhol and Jonas Mekas, who were all at the forefront of independent filmmaking around New York and Amy feels these particular people were great at documenting all aspects of New York City. As we move onto the Eighties and the Independent genre of filming, the biggest influence was director John Cassavetes, as well as up and coming directors like Spike Lee, which leads us onto the influences of filming in New York in the 1990s and well into the 21st Century, and especially only wanting to make films in New York, especially mainly concentrating on only filming about “Bankers” and “Wealthy People” and not really the real people who live in New York. But all in all this is a really fascinating special feature and Amy Taubin is equally fascinating and so informative about the history of the different film genres that has happened in New York since the initial burst in 1897 until now in the 21st Century and is well worth viewing. Producer: Anthony Nield. Cinematography: David Mackenzie and Francesco Simeoni.
Special Feature: Jules Dassin at LACMA [2004] [1080p] [1.85:1] [52:00] Footage from Jules Dassin’s onstage appearance at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art in 2004 with an interesting interview with Bruce Goldstein in which the director discusses his career. There is some really annoying sound distortion from the original recording. As both a writer and director, Jules Dassin was best known for his “film noir” like ‘Thieves' Highway’ [1949], ‘Brute Force’ [1947] and ‘THE NAKED CITY’ [1948], as well as two influential heist films, ‘Rififi’ [1955] and ‘Topkapi’ [1964]. Jules Dassin also directed ‘Never on a Sunday’ [1960], which he wrote, produced and starred in alongside his future wife, Melina Mercouri. Jules Dassin is a very funny person, and repeatedly has the audience in fits of laughter as he unfolds with lots of information about his career. Work on ‘THE NAKED CITY’ and 'Rififi' is covered extensively, and he talks about producer Mark Hellinger who also provided the narration throughout the film and laments his passing. Jules Dassin also talks extensively about working for Alfred Hitchcock, also great respect for Darryl F. Zanuck. Listen out for the great Jack Lemmon story, which is totally hilarious, as well as very insightful and also very informative. But near the end of the talk he talks great deal of affection for his wife Melina Mercouri, and how he helped her career in the Greek Government. Despite the terrible sound problems, this was a really enjoyable viewing experience.
Special Feature: The Hollywood Ten [1950] [480i] [1.37:1] [15:00] A short documentary on the ten filmmakers blacklisted from Hollywood for their refusal to name names before the House of Un-American Activities. We get a brief look at The Hollywood Ten, a group of screenwriters and directors charged with contempt of court after challenging the House of Anti-American Activities and their controversial and self-incriminatory questions during the red scare. With that act of defiance, they were sentenced to one year in prison simply for speaking their minds and exercising their constitutional rights as concerned citizens. This is their story, their version of the facts and their opinions. Cast: J. Parnell Thomas (archive footage), Albert Maltz, Lester Cole, Samuel Ornitz, Adrian Scott, Alvah Bessie, Edward Dmytryk, Ring Lardner Jr., John Howard Lawson, Herbert J. Biberman, Dalton Trumbo, Lauren Bacall (archive footage), Humphrey Bogart (archive footage) and Richard Nixon (archive footage). Director: John Berry. Screenplay: John Berry. Cinematography: Nicolas Hayer.
Special Feature: Gallery of production stills by infamous photojournalist Weegee [2014] [1080p] [178:1] [1:07] There is a total of 67 stunning black-and-white publicity images, which includes some very rare publicity images, rare behind-the-scene film images, but mainly scenes from the film ‘THE NAKED CITY.’ To view all the images you have to hit the next button on your remote handset.
Theatrical Trailers: You have three film trailers and they are as follows: ‘THE NAKED CITY’ [1948] [480i] [1.37:1] [1:48]; ‘Brute Force’ [1947] [480i] [1.37:1] [2:14] and ‘Rififi’ [1955] [480i] [1.37:1] [2:44].
PLUS: Beautiful Printed Reversible Blu-ray Cover sleeve featuring the original poster and newly commissioned artwork by Vladimir Zimakov. Vladimir Zimakov is a Los Angeles based artist, designer and illustrator who works in a variety of techniques including linocut, silkscreen and letterpress among other traditional and digital media. He also frequently conducts workshops and teaches college level courses in the areas of Graphic Design, Illustration and Foundation.
BONUS: Beautiful Designed Collector’s 36 page booklet containing new writing on the film ‘THE NAKED CITY’ by Alastair Phillips entitled “JUST CLOSE ENOUGH.” It also contains “CONTEMPORARY REVIEWS;” new writing by Barry Salt entitled “WILLIAM H. DANIELS” and also new writing by Sergio Angelini entitled “8 MILLION STORIES.” It also has sections on “CAST;” “CREW;” ABOUT THE TRANSFER;” PEODUCTION CREDITS” and “SPECIAL THNKS.” The booklet also contains lots of stunning illustrations, plus of very rare black-and-white original production stills.
Finally, the film ‘THE NAKED CITY’ I have admired and loved over the years, especially when it was transferred to the smaller screen. It also cemented my opinion that Jules Dassin is one of the very best directors of this era with this type of genre “film noir.” ‘THE NAKED CITY’ is really a mixture of styles, where there's a crime story at its heart, but the crew are so delighted at filming on location in New York City that elements of documentary and neo-realism style footage of people going about their daily lives give this a strange, but equally fresh feel. But of course the climax of the film is the glorious chase through the busy streets of New York, all the more thrilling for the feeling of being there that the previous 75 minutes set up and the narrator Mark Hellinger is still with us all the way, informing us that the villain's desperate attempts to find one last hiding place is a failure and of course he flees into the upper levels of one of the city's bridges, and the entire skyline is suddenly on show, skyscrapers, tennis courts, rivers full of ships. It is totally magical experience and I love this film, but at the same time it is a shame we do not get the full version Jules Dassin wanted and directed! So once again Arrow Academy has again done a stunning superb professional job and is well worth purchasing of this ultimate Blu-ray disc! Highly Recommended!
Andrew C. Miller – Your Ultimate No.1 Film Aficionado
Le Cinema Paradiso
United Kingdom
