MovieChat Forums > The Naked City (1948) Discussion > really shot ONLY on actual locations???

really shot ONLY on actual locations???

posted 17 years ago by miriamwebster
34 replies | jump to latest

Always got the impression that every scene in this movie was supposedly shot on an actual location sites--subways, apartments, stores, etc. Although many clearly were, scenes in dead girl's apartment (among others) look exactly like they were filmed on a soundstage set. Apartment is far too large for someone of victim's means, scenes don't match other newsreel style footage (which are mostly gray with far less contrast) and is far too well-lit.

Same with some of scenes in police headquarters and other sequences. When actual locations ARE used, seemed like filmmakers went out of way to show ceilings, passersbys and real traffic outside windows--none of which turns up in any of the scenes I've mentioned.

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[–] artemis1644 17 years ago

The info on movie states that all of movie shot in NYC. In those days, they did have soundstage right in NYC. Look down left hand side of main imdb page, where shot is listed.

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[–] artemis1644 17 years ago

Shooting sites:

City Morgue, New York City, New York, USA

New York City, New York, USA

Roosevelt Hospital, Manhattan, New York City, New York, USA

Roxy Theater, Manhattan, New York City, New York, USA

Stillman's Gym - 8th Avenue between 54th & 55th Streets, Manhattan, New York City, New York, USA

Universal Building - 16 West 32nd Street, Manhattan, New York City, New York, USA

Whitehall Building - 17 Battery Place, Manhattan, New York City, New York, USA

Williamsburg Bridge, New York City, New York, USA

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[–] Devans00 13 years ago

I looked up the location of the soda shop, where Det. Jimmy Halloran bought a rootbeer, on Google maps. Norfolk Street between Rivington Street and East Houston Street. The movie showed the Norfolk street sign with camera on Rivington.

The corner that can be seen out of the shop seems to still be there, but with a different name on the building. To say the whole neighborhood looks different is a massive understatement. The area seems to be more dense and compressed somehow, even though more people were out on the streets during the movie filming.

No two persons ever watch the same movie.

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[–] bear022013-588-696101 10 years ago

Yes.New York City,even after so many boys and men were sent to their deaths when America had no reason for going too War.....NONE!
But this film provides young Americans with an honest look at how family oriented N Yorkers were during that time period.
Ethnic neighborhoods where people watched for one another.Poles,Italians,Irish..everyone got along with some exceptions.
God help us look at NYC and all other cities and cry.

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[–] rmh_228 11 years ago

"In those days, they did have soundstage right in NYC."

Still do. The oldest and largest one is now called the Kaufman-Astoria Studio (http://www.kaufmanastoria.com/) in Queens. There are others (though smaller) in Manhattan. I worked on "Life on Mars" 2008-09 at K-A and was fascinated to see that it was so large that all the interior sets were on the same stage.

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[–] TheKGun 17 years ago

I also believe there was a small shoot right behind the famous "Brill Building"

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[–] mandrake62 17 years ago

I played this film for an old friend who lived in NYC in the 40s. Seeing the City as it was at that time brought back memories and tears to his eyes. Dassin made wonderful use of the city locations as he did in Night and the City and Rififi as well.

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[–] TracesOfLove 16 years ago

"I played this film for an old friend who lived in NYC in the 40s. Seeing the City as it was at that time brought back memories and tears to his eyes."

I can only imagine! Just seeing the city at that time period puts tears in my eyes as well and gives me this longing for it and a weird misplaced nostalgia for a time I never knew! Perhaps it is because I love that city from my own time there that is also gone. Maybe because I just know it was even better in the 40's and every year more and more of the original New York is lost. What a great film to capture it for us! It's just beautiful!!!

Britney Spears makes me think God must be a John Waters fan.

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[–] einsteinfile 16 years ago

So much of NYC did not change from that time, far into the 1960s. You'd be surprised how, other than the clothes and cars, so much of it, especially those areas around the Williamsburg Bridge...and Houston Street (pronounced "How-ston", of course!) still looked as it did in, say, 1966. Some of my high school classrooms, in the early 1970s, still had WWII "V for Victory" stickers on their bulletin boards...untouched. I remember that exactly as I almost got into trouble with the teacher trying to scrape one such sticker off - intact!

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[–] joeann_21 16 years ago

Being a New Yorker all more life, and my Mom also, I really enjoyed this film, mostly for seeing New York as it used to be. It certainly was a different world back then, and wish it was more like that today - it was more small home-townish, for lack of a better word, my old neighborhood, the Lower East Side.

Keeping that in mind, I especially enjoyed the last part filmed by and on the Williamsburg Bridge, my Mom had told me she had seen them filming that particular part, so that made it even more special for me to watch it.

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[–] fbm72751 12 years ago

my best friend's folks were teens back when this was filmed and it would also bring tears to their eyes when they'd watch this film. Another one was 8 years later "The Harder They Fall" which had a lot of NYC exterior shots.

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[–] NewtonFigg 12 years ago

I'm sorry to be a wet blanket but, the lower east side in the late forties was a hell hole. I can remember riding the train over the Williamsburg Bridge in the 1950s past the depressing cold water tenements along Delancey Street and hoping I would never have to take an out of town friend into Manhattan and have him see all that squalor. When they finally tore down the slums and put up the apartment buildings, that seemed a big improvement. Anybody who lived in that area got the hell out as soon as possible and made room for a new generation of poor immigrants.

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[–] nvasapper 14 years ago

Dear Traces:
What a great posting. I love it! My feelings exactly. You phrased it so incredibly well. I feel the exact same way you do about it! Exactly the same. Your words are a treasure to read.

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[–] marbleann 14 years ago

I was born in NYC and I agree with the people who stated NYC didn't change much from the 40 until the 60's. I would say probably around 68 things started to change. I remember the new Garden being built around then and things started to look a little newer. The subways were the same too. They did not change until almost the mid 70's and it was a slow gradual change. I believe the beginning of the end was the sterilization of Times Square. Something about the old smell and sleaziness that I miss.

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[–] rp69 14 years ago

I still live in Queens, I can't believe what a beautiful neighborhood Jackson Hights was back then(where the detective lived). Jackson Hights is a Hell Hole now.

"Life's tough. It's even tougher if you're stupid." John Wayne

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[–] marbleann 14 years ago

My parents grew up in Corona and my grandparents owned a lot of property around Jackson Heights and Astoria. Off of Junction. You remember that big rock near that hotel near the Airport, well all of that was my families land until they sold it back in the 60's. Both of those places can do for a face lift. But parts of Jackson Height, Corona and Astoria still have working class enclaves. I have seen a lot worse in Queens. Like South Jamaica. Long Island City use to be a pit but it looking better.

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[–] rp69 14 years ago

I don't know of any place in Jackson Hights, Elmhurst, Woodside or Corona(with the exception of 2 blocks around Lemon Ice King that Italians still own property) That look beautifully maintained like the block in the movie. Astoria for the most part is still nice. If it was filmed in Forest Hills, Rego park Briarwood, parts of Kew Gardens, Or a still very suburban looking Middle Village. Those neighborhoods have hardly changed in 60 years, and still for the most part resemble the block depicted in the movie.

"Life's tough. It's even tougher if you're stupid." John Wayne

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[–] marbleann 14 years ago

I think those neighborhoods are coming back around.. Now Forest Hills or Jamaica Estate is another story. You can't even compare Forest Hills to the traditionally lower middle class to middle class Jackson Heights, Astoria, and Middle Village. See I know you have to be younger then my grandparents who died when they were in their 90's and 101. But when they first came to those areas they were not so nice either. They actually got better during the 40's and went downhill during the 70's. But I think they are becoming nicer. The influx of Middle class West Indians have made the neighborhoods nicer.

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[–] newyorknyny 11 years ago

You marblehead are the epitome of dumb American and why this country is dying at a rapid pace and the rest of the world laughs at the US. You actually mistakenly believe you are a good person and a hero, but people like you are what is destroying this world with your mental dysfunction. You are a cancer. The more like you that die off, the better the world can become.

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[–] hodie 11 years ago

I grew up in Queens (Elmhurst) and had cousins in Jackson Heights.
Both neighborhoods have changed a lot. I was sorry to see that something killed all the beautiful maple trees in my old neighborhood.
My mom has lived in Middle Village since 1980 or so. Her neighborhood pretty much looks the same.
Manhattan started changing in the 1960s, as far as I recall. But I like the way this film captures the "feel" of the city when I was young.

Get me a bromide! And put some gin in it!

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[–] TerryThomasPhotos 16 years ago

You are right. Not all were actual locations.

For example, many of the subway scenes such as the ones of the crowded cars full of people reading the headline news were shot with a rear-projection screen showing the view "outside". That's only possible in a studio.

Also the police station offices were obvious sets because there was no "echo" during dialog. Real locations had it. (I am watching one such scene as I type.)

Terry Thomas
Character Actor and Film Unit Stills Photographer
Atlanta, Georgia USA
www.TerryThomasPhotos.com

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[–] chicago85 16 years ago

I watched two out of three movies shot in New York by Morris Engels in black and white on actual locations recently. Engels was a photographer who wanted to make films. The only professional I saw who I recognized was Vivica Lindfors.

One called "The Little Fugitive" was made in 1953 about a seven year boy who runs away from Brooklyn to Coney Island until the next day. It and the others were done on a shoe string. They were shown on either Sundance or Independent Film Channel along with a documentary. He made Little Fugitive for $30,000 and died in NYC in 2005.

This guy barely had money for film so there were no sound stages period. Almost all of the scenes were shot on the streets, trains, beaches at Coney Island, etc using hand held cameras.

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[–] pan-10 14 years ago

Little Fug. is another great one, tho not in the same league as NC.

Was the scene in the Bronx Parole office also authentic? Probably was.

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[–] kerrydragon 12 years ago

What a time capsule,and what a treat.To see NYC the way it was back in the forties was wonderful.I wish coney island was featured.

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[–] Jason_Radley 12 years ago

In colour: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2036932/New-York-City-photos-C harles-W-Cushman-reveal-1940s-life-Big-Apple.html

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[–] kerrydragon 12 years ago

Beautiful pics,NYC was a huge city even then.

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[–] cbulkin 11 years ago

Those Charles Cushman photos are outstanding. Thanks for posting that link.

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[–] DracTarashV 12 years ago

Only a few scenes looked like they might have been shot in a soundstage... ALL The NYC street scenes on the other hand, are a sight to behold.

All behold the spectacle! - Vlad Drac

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[–] rpartrid-2 11 years ago

only scene that doesn't seem to have been shot in NYC is the scene in which Barry Fitzgerald is talking to the family of the dead girl - there is no traffic on the bridge in the background and (I don't know the technical term) the background seems unreal but the NYC street scenes are a revelation - snapshot of the city in 1947-48

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[–] rollieri 11 years ago

There were plenty of huge apartments in NYC in the late forties. Even into the early sixties. Pre-War apts that were enormous before they split them up into closets. A neighborhood like the lower East Side had plenty of crumbling buildings with giant apartments. Rents were under eighty dollars a month then, too.

Howard Roller

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