Spotlight

Spotlight Date: 20-July-08
Spoiler Rating: Medium

The Naked City (1948)

The hook of The Naked City is that it will give the viewer a sense of what New York is all about, an overview of the myriad tales generated when eight million people inhabit an island. This is stated in the unorthodox opening, a voice-over paired with aerial shots which is used in lieu of credits. (The voice names the principal actors, the director, and the cinematographer along with the movie's purpose.) The film does not make good on its promise, in part because no one picture could. It follows a murder investigation as its central story, which places it in a genre and thus precludes an all-encompassing feel. Still, The Naked City does offer glimpses of interesting people both connected and unconnected to the crime in addition to whodunit thrills. It also imparts a pleasant sensation of stepping back in time to a New York where horse-drawn carts were still used for deliveries and the Twin Towers were yet to rise and fall. (Horses in the 1940s: who knew?)

The primary and most enjoyable character is the lieutenant in charge of the investigation (Barry Fitzgerald), an aging Irishman whose pudgy frame and genial demeanor do not mask the fact that you would not want to piss him off. He regards the proceedings with an amused and unflappable calm. The victim was a model drowned in her bathtub. The suspects are few. A shady friend of the deceased (Howard Duff) tops the list since just about everything he tells the cops during their first interview turns out to be false. As dedicated officers tail him and his fiancée (Dorothy Hart), a fresh-faced rookie (Don Taylor, looking more like Luke Wilson's brother than Owen does) beats the pavement in search of leads. Is there a connection between the murder and a rash of stolen jewelry? How about the body of a petty thief found in the river? Should suspicion fall on the model's doctor, whose name crops up more than once?

These questions culminate in a fine shoot-out on a bridge, which likely contributed to the movie's Oscar win for Best Black-and-White Cinematography. Before then the hunt involves grieving parents, batty old ladies, tough street fighters, and worried wives and helpmeets. Though not exactly laying the city bare, it is enough of the circus to make a show.

Copyright © 2008 The Jujube (M. I. Kim). All rights reserved.