Review of The Naked City (1948) by Corey M — 22 Aug 2008

A brilliant film that is largely overlooked for it's monumental contribution to film and television. Radical in style and story structure for 1948, this picture moved away from the stylized world of film noir to show how a police investigation is conducted from start to finish.

Using new lightweight cameras,director Jules Dassin stayed away from phony Hollywood backlots and instead took to the streets using New York City as a character (in a staggering 107 locations!) along with its inhabitants (Dassin's proletariat touch - he would be blacklisted several years later and become an expatriate). This entirely-on-location, documentary style (the picture The House on 92nd Street was the only other film of that time to utilize this technique) showing an in-depth police procedural led the way to television shows such as Dragnet, the film's namesake show The Naked City, Homicide: Life on the Street, NYPD Blue, etc.

All of that aside however, the picture still packs a punch as does the final foot chase over the Williamsburg Bridge, which is a stunning feat even by today's standards.