The Naked City (1948) on Netflix
NR19481h 36mCrimeDramaFilm-Noir
Jean Dexter, once a model, is found drowned in her bathtub in her New York apartment. Detectives Dan Muldoon and Jimmy Halloran take the case, which the medical examiner calls murder.
- Netflix3.6/5
- IMDb7.5/1017,262 votes
- Rotten Tomatoes86%
Trailer
Plot summary
Lt. Dan Muldoon, a homicide veteran, and his young colleague Det. Jimmy Halloran are handed the death of Jean Dexter, an ex-model found in the bathtub of her apartment on a hot summer night. The housekeeper at the scene mentions men's pajamas bearing the name Philip Henderson and says Jean's jewelry is gone. A prescription bottle sends Halloran to Dr. Lawrence Stoneman, and Ruth Morrison, a model and a friend of the dead woman, is questioned. Frank Niles, Jean's ex-boyfriend, claims the two had a business relationship and that he does not know Ruth. His answers shift, making him the chief suspect, yet he has an alibi for the night.
Cast
- Grover Burgessas Mr. Batory
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about The Naked City (1948)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- The scoring was so contentious that producer Mark Hellinger, on the night before he died, begged his own first choice Miklós Rózsa to step in after finding arranger George Bassman's music unsatisfactory; Rózsa scored the climactic chase and epilogue.
- Producer Mark Hellinger, who also narrated The Naked City, was only 44 when he died of a heart attack on December 21, 1947, after reviewing the final cut of the film at his home.
- The film inspired a mission in Rockstar's video game L.A. Noire that mirrors its plot, with a model killed by two assailants and a Dr. Stoneman supplying her prescriptions, and names a dress shop D'Assine after director Jules Dassin.
- The film's title and visual style came from New York photographer Weegee, whose 1945 book of photographs was called Naked City; he was hired as a visual consultant and helped craft the movie's imagery.
