Sure is a perfectly ordinary day, with absolutely nothing of importance happening anywhere in the world. Definitely not whistling past the graveyard here.
The Naked City is basically a police procedural movie. Starting with the murder of a woman in her apartment, then moving through the steps the police take in trying to figure things out. Determining cause of death, asking the victim's friends and family questions, trapping witnesses in lies (one guy in particular lies a lot, does it badly, and tends to double-down with new lies when the old ones are exposed.)
It's kind of like a 90 minute episode of Law & Order, although played less dramatically. The cops probably do fewer objectionable things in this movie, too, despite having fewer (theoretical) checks on them. It's not exactly a gripping movie, though. Accurate for police work I'm sure.
The only actor I recognized was Barry Fitzgerald (Michaleen Oge Flynn in The Quiet Man), who plays the lieutenant leading the investigation. he tones down the brogue a lot, but still has this sort of patient, wry amusement with everything. he's watching a witness dig a deeper hole for himself, and it's just kind of funny to him.
I could have done without the voiceover narration, performed by one of the film's producer Mark Hellinger. Sometimes it tries for deeply meaningful, like at the end when he notes that the deceased's murder only got her six days on the front page, and then everyone moved on to the next one. other times, like when it's asking the young sergeant how he's enjoying pounding that pavement, it's more like the narration on those old Disney shorts about Goofy trying to show you how to build your own patio. Just unnecessary.
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