While I haven’t seen all of the other nominees from the 1949 Academy Awards, there can be little doubt that The Naked City deserved to win its two awards, for editing and cinematography (back when there were separate awards for color and black-and-white). The stylized voiceover and gritty storyline show that the 1948 film was certainly of its time, but the composition of the photography was clearly ahead of its time. The quick cuts and fades between and within scenes must have been as innovative to the visual language of cinema as the MTV-style of editing was in the last number of years. The story is perhaps not as thrilling now as it was at the time, but the sarcasm holds up, and the performances from Barry Fitzgerald and a large host of character actors are enjoyable, if not exactly genuine by contemporary standards. More than anything, though, the city of New York, specifically the streets buzzing with people, is the star of this film. One might hear too often the comment that a place is a “character” in a particular film. In this case, it is absolutely true.
The Naked City
February 19th, 2009 · No Comments
Tags: Capsule · Crime/Noir
Here are this morning’s Oscar-nominated films, alphabetically. The nominees for foreign language film and documentary feature are compiled at the end of the list. (Short format nominees are listed in a 
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