The Naked City

Produced by Mark Hellinger, a former New York crime reporter, The Naked City is a semi-documentary narrated by Hellinger which starts with the murder of a blonde model and follows the police investigation headed by Lieutenant Daniel Muldoon.  They start with no leads but then her ring leads them to one person, him to another and so on until they get their man.
 
Shot entirely in New York City, including some covert photography - Jules Dassin and cinematographer William Daniels went around the city in a van with two-way mirrored windows so they could shoot people acting naturally and the city in its naked state to get the most realism - this is as much about the Big Apple as the investigation into Jean Dexter's murder.
 

 
There are no big names, perhaps only Barry Fitzgerald will be recognisable to the casual viewer, and this adds to the vérité look of the film with a fine mixture of long shots and quick cuts adding to the naturalistic aesthetic.  This reunited Jules Dassin, Mark Hellinger and Miklós Rózsa the year after they made Brute Force, Dassin again shows himself a master of cranking up the tension en route to a thrilling finale aided by Rózsa's superb score.
 
On the periphery of the noir movement, there is no flawed male lead or femme fatale, The Naked City relies on the tense police investigation, stylish photography and voiceover to earn its place in the noir canon.  Dassin was a master of tension, something he displayed in the terrific French noir, Rififi (Du rififi chez les hommes, 1955).
 
Picture and Sound
This has been released untouched by Arrow Films and is the same transfer as you'd see on TV with a spectacularly quiet soundtrack - I can't remember ever turning my amplifier up as high as I did last night whilst watching this. In addition, there is a notable drop in volume for a couple of scenes near the end making me strain my ears even more.  There are no subtitles to help out and no extra features.
 
 

 
Final Thoughts
The Naked City is a terrific film, a wonderful pseudo-documentary style police thriller/drama but it's just a shame that the disc disappoints.  If you're a big fan of the film, then I'd consider a purchase but a rental is probably the way to go.