The Naked City

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The Naked City

Released Mar 4, 1948

1h 36m

Crime

Drama

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Tomatometer

Popcornmeter

86%

Tomatometer

28 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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Brandon Judell

IndieWire

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.

Jun 15, 2021

Full Review

Variety Staff

Variety

Throughout, despite its omniscient, stark melodrama, there has been no sight lost of an element of humor.

Jul 3, 2008

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Bosley Crowther

New York Times

A definite parochial fascination is liberally assured all the way and the seams in a none-too-good whodunnit are rather cleverly concealed.

Rated: 3/5

Mar 25, 2006

Full Review

Brian Eggert

Deep Focus Review

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.

Rated: 3.5/4

Mar 8, 2024

Full Review

Brian Susbielles

InSession Film

The narration sets us up as New York City being stripped bare, no more glamour or glitz, but a city with its own dark scenes

Mar 7, 2023

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Sean Axmaker

Stream on Demand

... a pioneering police procedural that captures the mundane details of canvassing for clues and chasing down leads with loose performances.

Nov 6, 2022

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tucker s

Extremely entertaining, especially considering it was filmed almost 80 years ago. Decades ahead of it's time

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

09/30/25

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Russ G

I'd have to rate this as a failed cinematic experiment. It did spawn a TV series, though.

Rated 1.5 out of 5 stars

03/15/25

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Insomniac X

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.

Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars

03/05/25

Full Review

Lane B

If it weren't for the mediocrity of the acting and dialogue, and the awful narration this could have been a classic film noir masterpiece. If you are at all interested in excellent cinephotography ignore all that and see this film. The cinephotographer William Daniels won an Academy Award for his work and anyone with an eye for photography can see why. Shot on the streets of New York, Daniels delivers one masterful street scene after the other that rivals the best street photography of that era: Helen Levit, William Klein, Robert Frank and Cartier Bresson. Each shot on the street is set up like a revelation of New York street life from foreground to deep background. Night photography is mysterious and detailed, broad daylight is exquisite – everywhere you look there is life and action. I will be showing this film to my college students from this day forward. Don't miss it.

Rated 3 out of 5 stars

08/22/24

Full Review

acsdoug D

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.

Rated 3 out of 5 stars

08/04/24

Full Review

Jay H

This movie is ruined by very obvious and very annoying narration.

Rated 1 out of 5 stars

04/29/24

Full Review

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Jules Dassin

Director

Barry Fitzgerald

Det. Lt. Dan Muldoon

Howard Duff

Frank Niles

Dorothy Hart

Ruth Morrison

Don Taylor

Det. Jimmy Halloran

Frank Conroy

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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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