The Naked City (1948)

The Naked City (aka Naked City) is a 1948 American film noir directed by Jules Dassin, starring Barry Fitzgerald, Howard Duff, Dorothy Hart and Don Taylor. The film, shot almost entirely on location in New York City, depicts the police investigation that follows the murder of a young model.

Naked City received two Academy Awards, one for cinematography for William H. Daniels and another for film editing to Paul Weatherwax. In 2007, the film was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being “culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant”.

Director – Jules Dassin

Writers – Albert Maltz (screenplay), Malvin Wald (screenplay)

Cast –
Barry Fitzgerald as Detective Lt. Dan Muldoon
Howard Duff as Frank Niles
Dorothy Hart as Ruth Morrison
Don Taylor as Detective Jimmy Halloran
Frank Conroy as Captain Donahue
Ted de Corsia as Willie Garzah
House Jameson as Dr. Lawrence Stoneman
Anne Sargent as Mrs. Halloran
Adelaide Klein as Mrs. Paula Batory
Grover Burgess as Mr. Batory
Tom Pedi as Detective Perelli
Enid Markey as Mrs. Edgar Hylton
Walter Burke as Pete Backalis
Virginia Mullen as Martha Swenson
Mark Hellinger as Narrator
Lee Shumway as Patrolman (uncredited)

Watch “The Naked City” (1948)

Plot

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 gets conscience-stricken while drunk, the other kills him and throws his body into the East River.

Homicide Detective Lt. Dan Muldoon and his young associate, Det. Jimmy Halloran, are assigned to Jean’s case, which the medical examination has determined was murder. Muldoon has been a homicide cop for 22 years, Halloran for three months. At the scene, the police interrogate Martha Swenson, Jean’s housekeeper, about Jean’s boyfriends, and she tells them about a “Mr. Philip Henderson”. They also discover a bottle of sleeping pills and her address book. Halloran questions the doctor who prescribed the pills, Lawrence Stoneman, and Ruth Morrison, another model and Jean’s friend. Back at the police station, Muldoon questions Frank Niles, Jean’s ex-boyfriend, who lies about everything, claiming only a business relationship with Jean and denying knowing Ruth. Because of his lies, Niles becomes the prime suspect. Later, Muldoon deduces from the bruises on Jean’s neck that she was killed by at least two men.

That evening, Jean’s parents, Mr. and Mrs. Batory, from whom Jean was estranged, arrive in New York to formally identify the body and tell the detectives that they have no knowledge of Jean’s acquaintances. The next morning, the detectives learn that Niles sold a gold cigarette case stolen from Stoneman, then purchased a one-way airline ticket to Mexico. They also discover that one of Jean’s rings was stolen from the home of a wealthy Mrs. Hylton. At Mrs. Hylton’s Park Avenue apartment, the police learn that the ring actually belonged to her socialite daughter, who, to their surprise, turns out to be Ruth Morrison (having retained the name of Mrs. Hylton’s previous husband).

Learning that Ruth’s engagement ring is also stolen property, and that she is engaged to Niles, Muldoon and Halloran take Ruth to Niles’ apartment, where they coincidentally interrupt someone trying to murder him. The killer takes a shot at the cops and escapes down the fire escape onto the nearby elevated train. When questioned about the stolen jewelry, Niles claims that they were all presents from Jean, which reveals his true relationship with her, much to Ruth’s chagrin. Ruth realizes she is engaged to a swindler and slaps him. Niles is then arrested for the jewel thefts, but the murder case remains open.

Halloran learns that a body recovered from the East River, is that of small-time burglar Peter Backalis, who died within hours of the Dexter murder, and Halloran believes the two incidents are connected. Muldoon, although skeptical, lets him pursue the lead and assigns two veteran detectives on the squad to help Halloran with the legwork. Through further methodical but tedious investigation, Halloran discovers that Backalis’s accomplice on a jewelry store burglary was Willie Garzah, a former wrestler who plays the harmonica. While Halloran and his team canvass the Lower East Side of New York using an old publicity photograph of Garzah, Muldoon compels Niles to identify Jean’s mystery boyfriend. He reveals that Dr. Stoneman is “Henderson”. At Stoneman’s office, Muldoon uses Niles to trap the married, respectable physician into confessing that he fell in love with Jean, only to learn that she and Niles were using him in order to rob his society friends. Niles then confesses that Garzah killed Jean and Backalis. Halloran and Muldoon, using different approaches, have come up with the same killer.

Meanwhile, Halloran finally locates Garzah and, pretending that Backalis is in the hospital, tries to trick Garzah into accompanying him, but Garzah (knowing he killed Backalis) sees through the ruse. The ex-wrestler rabbit punches the rookie detective, momentarily knocking him unconscious. Garzah attempts to disappear in the crowded city, but as police descend upon the neighborhood, he panics and draws attention to himself when he shoots and kills a blind man’s guide dog on the pedestrian walk of the Williamsburg Bridge. Garzah attempts to flee over the bridge but, as police approach from both directions, he starts climbing one of the towers and is shot and wounded. High on the tower, Garzah refuses to surrender; gunfire is exchanged, and he is hit again and falls to his death.

As the skyline and street shots of New York are shown and a trashman sweeps up yesterday’s newspapers, the narration concludes by saying “There are eight million stories in the naked city. This has been one of them.”