"The Naked City" *** (out of ****)
Continuing in the recent new direction I have decided to take this blog, namely focusing more attention on the works of distinguish filmmakers, it occurred to me the work of Jules Dassin has been left out.
Dassin has a unique biography. He was a member of the communist party back in the 1930s. He left the party in the 40s but was still blacklisted. As a result he left the United States to make films heading to France, where he shot what is considered the granddaddy of crime films, "Riffi". But "The Naked City" was made before all this controversy broke out. It was, in fact, the last film he made before the storm broke out.
"The Naked City" bills itself as an intense, gritty, realistic police drama. Emphasis is placed on the idea it was shot on location in New York.
The film wants to be observed as not glamorizing both city life and police work. It wants the viewer to believe what it sees on-screen as real not fiction. Many of the actors make debut here. It is suppose to resemble the Italian neo-realism movement but "The Naked City" doesn't come off as interesting as those classic films.
Barry Fitzgerald stars as Det. Lt. Dan Muldoon who is investigating the death of a young woman, along with his rookie partner, Jimmy Halloran (Don Taylor). At first the case seems to lead to nowhere. But slowly clues start to pick up after a prime suspect Frank Niles (Howard Duff) starts to get caught in a pack of lies.
The film is told in a matter of fact kind of way. A narrator informs us about life in the city, the hard work police do and explains the thought process of the characters.
The narrator reminds me of Frank Capra's WW2 American propaganda short films.
"The Naked City" ultimately fails in my opinion for the very reason it wants to be celebrated. By having the story told so matter of factly it loses all sense of drama and suspense. The viewer simply sits and watches everything unfold before their eyes with no involvement. The film reminds me of the television show "Dragnet". If you ever watched that show, you could never accuse it of being suspenseful. Would Sgt. Friday solve the case or not? It was blandly acted and blandly written. It followed the catchphrase of Joe Friday "just the facts ma'am".
These type of films were becoming popular during this period. "The Naked City" was made in 1948, "Dragnet" appeared in 1951. There was the Jimmy Stewart film "The FBI Story" and the Oscar nominated documentary feature "I Was a Communist for the FBI". The public wanted to see these more realistic works involving police and their government. In many ways "The Naked City" started it or at least was a major influence. You cannot talk me out of believing this film made "Dragnet" possible.
There are two scenes which do stand out for me. The parents of the victim are called to identify the body. The mother breaks down. It does cause for a very emotional scene. And is probably the best in the movie. A chase scene at the end is actually well constructed and does become involving.
I don't mean to sound as if "The Naked City" is a bad movie. It isn't. Dassin was a talented director. But I feel he has made better films including "Night and the City", "Riffi" and "Thieves Highway". "The Naked City" has very little emotion and that caused me to have a difficult time getting involved in the flow of the picture. One might want to argue back at me, but that was the point! Fine, they succeeded in making a film that ultimately didn't involve me. Way to go!
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