The Naked City (1948)

The Naked City is an American thriller film first released in 1948, directed by Jules Dassin.  The film stars Barry Fitzgerald, Howard Duff, Dorothy Hart, Don Taylor and Frank Conroy.  Our overall rating for this film is: excellent.


One hot summer evening in New York City, playgirl Jean Dexter, is murdered, downed in her bathtub by two assailants.   Detective Lieutenant Dan Muldoon is assigned to investigate the killing, assisted by his less experienced colleague Jimmy Halloran.  The finger of suspicion points to an unknown man named Henderson, but another man, Frank Niles, also becomes embroiled in the investigation.  Niles had a date with Jean the day before she died and clearly knows more about her death than he is prepared to admit...

The Naked City is one of the groundbreaking films made in the late 1940s which redefined the American crime drama and laid the groundwork for the police procedurals that would come to dominate television and cinema in subsequent decades.  It was the third in a trilogy of films directed by Jules Dassin (the others being Brute Force (1947) and Thieves Highway (1949)) which, together, offer a sombre social-realist portrait of American society in the years that followed WWII.   The film’s documentary style approach, achieved by using real locations throughout, gives it a realism and modernity that set it apart from other films of its genre and time.  Instead of the heavily stylised film noir approach which had prevailed in the preceding years, this film is shot in a far more naturalistical way, often with the use of hidden cameras in busy New York locations. 

The film is unusual in that it has no star actors, with the lead role being played by character actor Barry Fitzgerald – who is perfect in the part of the weather-beaten Irish American cop with a gentle persona and dry sense of humour.  The Naked City was to be Mark Hellinger’s final production credit.  The journalist turned producer died shortly before the film was released and it seems fitting that he should provide the film with its terse journalistic-style narration.  The film won two Oscars (for its cinematography and editing) and was the inspiration for the television series Naked City, which ran from 1958 to 1963.  

The film’s screenwriter Albert Maltz was one of the so-called Hollywood Ten who would be indicted for anti-American activities in 1947 at the start of the anti-Communist witch hunts.  His refusal to testify earned him a one year prison sentence and a place on the Hollywood blacklist in the years that followed.  Jules Dassin himself would be blacklisted in 1951 when he refused to comment on his earlier ties with the Communist Party.  The director left America and resumed his career in Europe, where he made some memorable films, most notably the French film noir classic Du rififi chez les hommes (1955).

© James Travers 2008

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