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| Naked City - Criterion Collection | 
 enlarge | Director: Jules Dassin
Actors: Barry Fitzgerald, Howard Duff, Dorothy Hart, Don Taylor, Frank Conroy
Studio: Criterion
Category: DVD
List Price: $39.95
Buy New: $21.44
You Save: $18.51 (46%)
New (43) Used (14) from $21.44
Avg. Customer Rating:  28 reviews
Sales Rank: 20092
Format: Black & White, Dvd-video, Ntsc
Language: English (Original Language)
Rating: Unrated
Number Of Items: 1
Running Time: 96
Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1
Dimensions (in): 7.1 x 5.4 x 0.6
MPN: CC1687DDVD
UPC: 715515022927
EAN: 0715515022927
ASIN: B000M2E3GI
Theatrical Release Date: March 4, 1948
Release Date: March 20, 2007
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Product Description
"There are eight million stories in the Naked City" as the narrator immortally states at the close of this breathtakingly vivid film-and this is one of them. Master noir craftsman Jules Dassin and newspaperman-cum-producer Mark Hellinger's dazzling police procedural was shot entirely on location in New York City as influenced by Italian neorealism as American crime fiction. A double Academy Award-winner The Naked City remains a benchmark for naturalism in noir living and breathing in the promises and perils of the Big Apple from its lowest depths to its highest skyscrapers. System Requirements:Running Time: 96 Mins.Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: DRAMA Rating: NR UPC: 715515022927 Manufacturer No: CC1687DDVD
Amazon.com
"Ladies and gentlemen, the motion picture you are about to see is called The Naked City." With a helicopter shot slowly closing in on Manhattan, producer Mark Hellinger's staccato narration introduces the film ("It was not photographed in a studio . . .") and continues throughout like a documentary commentator with a literary flair. It's a conceit that serves this police story nicely, giving the patina of realism to this deglamorized look at the work of the homicide squad. Barry Fitzgerald reigns over the film with his jovial good humor as a veteran detective investigating the murder of a high-living model. He has few clues and fewer suspects, until he cracks the story of big-talking Howard Duff and throws some light on his shady past. Jules Dassin, who had just come off the shadowy, expressionist Brute Force, peels away those flourishes to shoot in a straightforward style influenced by the Italian neo-realists and the contemporary American newsreels. The film is rich in supporting performances by soon-to-be-famous character actors--Arthur O'Connell, James Gregory, Paul Ford--but the city itself becomes the film's most vivid character. Shot entirely on location in New York City, the distinctive cityscape looms over practically every shot and injects the film with a defining sense of place (cinematographer William Daniels won an Oscar for his work). You can see the roots of The French Connection in the bustling city scenes and the exciting foot chase finale on an elevated walkway. --Sean Axmaker
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| Customer Reviews: Read 23 more reviews...
 The Naked City June 25, 2007
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
Shot entirely on location in 1940s Manhattan, this semi-documentary police procedural offers a day-to-day look at the life of the Big Apple, its varied denizens, and the routine of two cops--old hand Fitzgerald (who quietly steals the film) and the dutiful but still green Taylor--out to catch a killer. Dassin handles the action with matter-of-fact directness, and soon fast-talking Frank Niles (Howard Duff) has raised their interest. But the great achievement of "City" is its verisimilitude of character and place, and a final chase scene on the Williamsburg Bridge that will steal your breath away. There might be "8 million stories in the naked city," but this sinister crime drama was the first--and still the best. Trivia note:this film was said to have inspired "Dragnet".
 Did I see the same film? June 23, 2007
9 out of 22 found this review helpful
This has developed a rep as being a landmark movie, but somehow I managed to miss it. Now that I've seen it I don't understand the praise at all. The Irish affected Fitzgerald barely carries the lead, and the rest of the acting is simply putrid, horribly ham handed. I watched the scene with the mother identifying her dead daughter, and all I could think of is that she had another job that afternoon and had to emote quick and flee. The preceding scene where the young cop comes home to handle spanking his kid is completely pointless, and the acting by husband and wife is soap opera quality at best, just awful.
It gets worse, there's a narrative track would embarrass a "Dragnet" episode, syrupy strings in the soundtrack, and dialogue that often wanders off point, making it difficult to follow. All the side bits just waste time, the action doesn't move from scene to scene in a form which builds any sense of continuity. I couldn't even finish watching it, so I guess I'll never know who Mcillicuddy was.
PS: Yes, I know this was 1948. But that's pretty late in the day to make something this inept. There were plenty of decent films being made by that time, no excuse.
The architype of police procedurals - and, film noir to boot June 4, 2007
2 out of 4 found this review helpful
A murder.
The evidence.
The investigation.
Red herrings.
Resolution.
This film's DNA runs through all that followed - from Dragnet to Law & Order.
Buy this film if you love 1948 NYC and Irish detectives - a great film!
 One of Eight Million Stories May 7, 2007
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
This landmark film, energetically directed by Jules Dassin not long before the McCarthy witch-hunts forced him out of the U.S., deserves the typically classy Criterion treatment. As we have now come to expect of all Criterion versions, the print has been beautifully restored and meticulously annotated. Movies of any decade do not hold up equally well; "Naked City" is flawed by producer Mark Hellinger's narration--often hammy and too much "on-the-nose"--and some dated performances. On the other hand, the police procedural still draws you in, the music score is superb, and the noirish yet documentary-quality of post-war New York City makes for a wondrous time-capsule. (Thank God the move was shot in black and white. Color would have ruined it.) Like the place and people it captures, ""The Naked City" is an imperfect but very good movie.
no truer depiction of new york was ever caught on screen May 5, 2007
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
just an all-around great movie! jules dassin directed this groundbreaking film, shot in and around late 1940s new york city: a decade too early for me to remember its reality, but still close enuf in time for me to sense just how accurately it was caught. any fan of procedural television cop shows of today (the "law & order" or "csi" franchises most prominent among them) should go take a look at this to understand where they came from; tho the immature eye might view this earlier version as "primitive" in some senses, that would be akin to a fan of adam sandler disparaging chaplin. barry fitzgerald is wonderfully schlumpfy as the long-time detective working his way thru a homicide investigation, even making a misstep or two along the way. great supporting cast, great editing, great writing, great cinematography, &c. -- and neat extras on the dvd, highlighted by a long interview with the still going strong dassin, whos a hoot! this is a must see.
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