Joaquim da Silva Fontes, Significação e Estabilidade do Género no ...

In my analysis of The Big Combo in Part IV, I will return to the theme of the noir
investigator. One should note here, however, that there is an important departure from what
Hirsch states above: while the manhunt theme persists in the second phase of film noir with
its series of semi-documentaries, especially with detectives or police investigators solving
cases as their “badge of honor” and therefore being only related to the crimes through their
own jobs, the noir private eye series establish a more personal or obsessive reason for
crime investigation, involving issues of moral compromise and psychological complexity.
Thus, in noirs such as Cornered, Phantom Lady, The Big Clock or Deadline at Dawn we
are introduced to manhunts carried out by investigators spurred on by largely personal
motives.
The Naked City remains another brilliant example of Hollywood’s assimilation of
documentary style filmmaking. The film opens with a magnificent aerial shot of
Manhattan’s skyline and an extraordinary voiceover: “Ladies and gentlemen, the motion
picture you are about to see is called The Naked City. My name is Mark Hellinger; I was in
charge of its production. And I may as well tell you frankly that it’s a bit different from
most films you’ve ever seen...” It also makes use of a screenplay based on a range of
NYPD’s unsolved cases and police investigations which are encumbered by the
intransigence of legal authorities. In this case, the story follows the unexplained murder of
a beautiful young woman, ex-fashion model Jean Dexter, which is going to be followed up
on by veteran detective Lt. Dan Muldoon (Barry Fitzgerald) and his enthusiastic (but
callow) assistant Jimmy Halloran (Don Taylor). The two detectives eventually narrow their
search down to two suspects: one, Frank Niles (Howard Duff), who is easily handcuffed by
the police, and the other, Willie Garzah (Ted De Corsia), who panics and takes off on a
frantic race for freedom through the slums and tenement section of New York City (see fig.
50). Ultimately, the real star of the film becomes the city, with its pulsating street life, and
this urban angst is best expressed in the embittered words of Jean’s pale and exhausted
father, Mr Batory (Grover Burgess): “We’ll go home, we don’t like this place, this fine
city”.
Unlike most of Dassin’s other noir productions, such as Brute Force, Thieves’
Highway and Night and the City, The Naked City almost exclusively deals with black and
white absolute truths. Crime itself might not be the most interesting part of the film, but the
whole style and its complex voiceover narration make it stand out from other detective
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