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The Naked City

Play trailer Poster for The Naked City 1948 1h 36m Crime Drama Play Trailer Watchlist
Watchlist Tomatometer Popcornmeter
85% Tomatometer 27 Reviews 79% Popcornmeter 2,500+ Ratings
After a former model is drowned in her bathtub, Detective James Halloran (Don Taylor) and Lieutenant Dan Muldoon (Barry Fitzgerald) attempt to piece together her murder. A friend of the victim mentions Mr. Henderson, and the police also find the actions of Frank Niles (Howard Duff) peculiar. As Muldoon and Halloran start to fill in the details of the victim's past, they find that she had a lively social life, filled with many suitors, and the mystery becomes even more complex.
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The Naked City

Critics Reviews

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Brandon Judell IndieWire 06/15/2021
This horrendously acted, written, and directed crime caper tries to discover who chloroformed a beautiful blonde model and then drowned her in her own bathtub. Go to Full Review
Variety Staff Variety 07/03/2008
Throughout, despite its omniscient, stark melodrama, there has been no sight lost of an element of humor. Go to Full Review
Bosley Crowther New York Times 03/25/2006
3/5
A definite parochial fascination is liberally assured all the way and the seams in a none-too-good whodunnit are rather cleverly concealed. Go to Full Review
Brian Eggert Deep Focus Review 03/08/2024
3.5/4
The Naked City marks the first filmic attempt to describe such a setting as if it were a living being […] The city demands both love and hate; it reveals all the beauty and terror that humanity is capable of within a few hundred square miles. Go to Full Review
Sean Axmaker Stream on Demand 11/06/2022
... a pioneering police procedural that captures the mundane details of canvassing for clues and chasing down leads with loose performances. Go to Full Review
Taylor Baker Drink in the Movies 08/28/2021
90/100
Episode 6: Bourbon and Smoke Go to Full Review
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Audience Reviews

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Alain E @AlainE Oct 12 Definitely overrated because it is very uneven trying to decide whether to be a realistic crime story, insert some commentary about the city or even attempt to add some ridiculous comedy with the old lady who comes to advise the police to find the killer using magic tricks. The scene with the dead girl’s parents was very strong. The description of the mundane things the police has to do investigating a crime was close to reality. The final long chase is totally impossible. The police hear a single shot in a city milieu and immediately locate where the suspect is. Photography is indeed excellent but editing of the extraneous elements would have improved the picture. Of course the critics already anointed it with 86% approval rating. Barry Fitzgerald successfully balanced his role of a police officer and a coedic element. See more tucker s @tucker83014 Sep 30 Extremely entertaining, especially considering it was filmed almost 80 years ago. Decades ahead of it's time See more Russ G @RT78760655 03/15/2025 I'd have to rate this as a failed cinematic experiment. It did spawn a TV series, though. See more Insomniac X @RT03001349 03/05/2025 This archetypal procedural drama brought documentary-style presentation to the popular film noir movement of the 1940's. Stunning location photography provides a window into the city's past, while a perfectly cast crew of characters animate a story that is by turns brutal, humorous, and heartbreaking. The pairing of an impulsive rookie with a seasoned but warmhearted veteran has been borrowed by everybody from Kurosawa to Fincher. A must-see for crime genre fans. See more acsdoug D @acsdoug 08/04/2024 The story is really not too bad of a police procedural. I just thought the excessive and often lame narration detracted too much from the story. See more Jay H @RT70414899 04/29/2024 This movie is ruined by very obvious and very annoying narration. See more Read all reviews
The Naked City

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Movie Info

Synopsis After a former model is drowned in her bathtub, Detective James Halloran (Don Taylor) and Lieutenant Dan Muldoon (Barry Fitzgerald) attempt to piece together her murder. A friend of the victim mentions Mr. Henderson, and the police also find the actions of Frank Niles (Howard Duff) peculiar. As Muldoon and Halloran start to fill in the details of the victim's past, they find that she had a lively social life, filled with many suitors, and the mystery becomes even more complex.
Director
Jules Dassin
Producer
Mark Hellinger
Screenwriter
Albert Maltz, Malvin Wald, Malvin Wald
Distributor
Image Entertainment Inc., Universal Pictures, The Roan Group
Production Co
Hellinger Productions, Universal International Pictures
Genre
Crime, Drama
Original Language
English
Release Date (Theaters)
Mar 4, 1948, Wide
Release Date (Streaming)
Feb 27, 2017
Runtime
1h 36m
Sound Mix
Mono
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