The Naked City Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		4.0
Video		3.5
Audio		4.5
Extras		4.0
Overall		4.0

The Naked City Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Dr. Svet Atanasov November 15, 2014

Winner of Oscar Awards for Best Cinematography and Best Editing, Jules Dassin's "The Naked City" (1948) arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of British distributors Arrow Video. The supplemental features on the disc include an original trailer for the film; audio commentary by writer Malvin Wald; production and archival stills; new video program featuring critic Amy Taubin; the short documentary "The Hollywood Ten"; and more. The release also arrives with a collector’s booklet containing new writing on the film by Alastair Phillips, Barry Salt and Sergio Angelini, illustrated with original production stills. In English, with optional English SDH subtitles for the main feature. Region-B "locked".

"Just between ourselves... You never told your fiancée what good friends you and Miss Dexter were, did you?"

When beautiful model Jean Dexter is murdered in her apartment, detectives Dan Muldoon (Barry Fitzgerald, Going My Way) and Jimmy Halloran (Don Taylor, Stalag 17) begin asking questions. One of the model’s best friends, Frank Niles (Howard Duff, While the City Sleeps), a handsome playboy who likes to tell lies, becomes their primary suspect.

Niles is questioned by Muldoon, who quickly discovers that he is a seasoned thief. He then exposes some of his lies to his fiancée, Ruth Morrison (Dorothy Hart, Tarzan's Savage Fury), and when she realizes that she never knew the man she was planning to marry, she panics. Around the same time, someone tries to kill Niles.

Embarrassed but determined to prove that he has nothing to do with Dexter's murder, Niles leads Muldoon and Halloran to a well-respected doctor (House Jameson, The Swimmer) who helped him and a second man named Garzah (Ted de Corsia, The Killing) who has targeted and robbed some of his clients. When the detectives attempt to track down the second man, all hell breaks loose.

There are a couple of things that separate Jules Dassin’s The Naked City from other film noirs from the 1940s. First, it is the structure of its story and the manner in which the murder case is described and solved. The film is narrated by producer Mark Hellinger -- the man behind such classic film noirs as Raoul Walsh’s They Drive by Night and Robert Siodmak’s The Killers -- who constantly guides the viewer and points out important details. These casual descriptions infuse the film with a sense of intimacy that forces the viewer to trust the narrator and focus on the mechanics of the investigation process rather than the evolving relationships between the main characters.

The overwhelming majority of the film was also shot on location in New York City, often amidst large crowds of people who were completely unaware that somewhere there was a camera rolling. Unsurprisingly, large portions of it feel as if they were extracted from a documentary feature about life in a booming metropolis that no longer exists. Especially during the second half, where the detectives go after Garzah, the viewer can easily feel its rhythm. (There is a wonderful new video piece on this release in which critic and lifelong New Yorker Amy Taubin explains in great detail how drastically her city has changed since Dassin's film).

The acting is somewhat uneven, but this is something that actually works quite well for the type of film The Naked City is. More elegant acting likely would have made the footage mentioned earlier look and feel completely out of sync with the rest of the film.

The Naked City was photographed by William Daniels, whose innovative work won him an Oscar Award for Best Cinematography. Daniels' credits also include such classic films as Dassin's Brute Force, Henry Koster’s Harvey, Richard Brooks’ Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, and Lewis Milestone’s Ocean's 11.

The energetic orchestral score was composed by the legendary Miklós Rózsa (Ben-Hur, Double Indemnity) and Frank Skinner (Black Angel, Written on the Wind).

The Naked City Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Presented in an aspect ratio of 1.33:1, encoded with MPEG-4 AVC and granted a 1080p transfer, Jules Dassin's The Naked City arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Arrow Video.

The following text appears inside the booklet provided with this release:

"The High Definition master was produced by The Criterion Collection using the best available archival materials and was made available for this release by MGM via Hollywood Classics.

Disc and Booklet produced by Anthony Nield.
Executive producer: Francesco Simeoni,
Technical producer: James White."

The high-definition transfer has been struck from a pre-existing master. However, clarity and image depth are quite pleasing. Most well-lit close-ups look very good, while the panoramic shots from the busy streets of New York boast decent fluidity. There are no traces of problematic degraining corrections. However, there are portions of the film where grain exposure could fluctuate. Edge-enhancement is not an issue of concern. Some light scratches and specks occasionally pop up here and there, but never become distracting. Image stability can be improved -- there are a few shaky transitions and during a couple of sequences even some light wobbling. There are no encoding anomalies to report in this review. All in all, there is room for improvement, but this is a pleasing organic presentation of The Naked City and a good upgrade over existing DVD releases of the film. (Note: This is a Region-B "locked" Blu-ray release. Therefore, you must have a native Region-B or Region-Free player in order to access its content).

The Naked City Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

There is only one standard audio track on this Blu-ray release: English LPCM 1.0. For the record, Arrow Video have provided optional English SDH subtitles for the main feature.

The lossless track is very good. The audio is well balanced, depth and clarity are very pleasing, and there is no background hiss. The music has primarily a supportive role and rather predictably for a film more than sixty years old dynamic intensity is limited. (Perhaps the only exception is the finale, where the killer is confronted by the police). There are no audio dropouts or digital distortions to report in this review.

The Naked City Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Audio Commentary - in this audio commentary, writer Malvin Wald, who wrote the original story that inspired The Naked City and worked on the script for the film, discusses his contribution to it, Jules Dassin's directing style and precisely how various parts of the film were shot in New York City, the social overtones in the film as well as the blacklisting of its director and other cast and crew members, the unique structure of the story, etc. This audio commentary was also included on Criterion's DVD release of The Naked City.

• Trailers - three original trailers.
  
  1. The Naked City
  2. Brute Force
  3. Rififi

• Stills Gallery - a collection of production and archival stills.

• New York and The Naked City - in this new video piece, film critic and lifelong New Yorker Amy Taubin discusses the production history of Jules Dassin's film, the socio-political climate in America at the time when the film was made and the changing landscape of the film industry, the film's unique quality and success, how New York City has changed during the years, etc. The video piece was produced in August 2014. In English, not subtitled. (40 min).

• The Hollywood Ten - presented here is a short documentary film which focuses on the ten documentary filmmakers that were blacklisted from Hollywood during the McCarthy era. The ten men that appeared before the House Un-American Activities Committee and refused to answer questions about their political affiliations were Alvah Bessie, Herbert Biberman, Lester Cole, Edward Dmytryk, Ring Lardner, Jr., John Howard Lawson, Samuel Ornitz, Adrian Scott, Dalton Trumbo, and Albert Maltz (co-writer of The Naked City). In English, not subtitled. (15 min).

• Jules Dassin at LACMA - presented here is footage from Jules Dassin's appearance at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art in April 2004. The director recalls how he was offered to shoot Rififi, his initial impressions of Auguste Le Breton's novel which inspired it, and his discussions with composer Georges Auric during and after the shooting process, and discusses his relationship with producers Mark Hellinger and Darryl F. Zanuck, the shooting of The Naked City in New York City, etc. The footage also appears on Criterion's DVD release. In English, not subtitled. (52 min).

• Cover - reversible sleeve featuring the original poster and newly commissioned artwork by Vladimir Zimakov.

• Booklet - collector's booklet containing new writing on the film by Alastair Phillips, Barry Salt and Sergio Angelini, illustrated with original production stills.

The Naked City Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

It is not the murder case or its resolution but the on-location shooting and authentic atmosphere that make Jules Dassin's The Naked City such a unique film. And this is why it is still so fascinating to behold -- it offers a raw glimpse at a booming metropolis that no longer exists. The Naked City is now available on a Region-B "locked" Blu-ray courtesy of British distributors Arrow Video. This is an essential American film that should have a local release. Let's hope that Criterion will upgarde their DVD release of The Naked City in 2015. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.