Naked City - No Whit Bissell !
Naked City - No Whit Bissell !
Mark Hellinger's 1947 Production of " The Naked City " may seem like " old hat " today, but in its time it was a ground breaker. The " Law & Order, in its various guises, and CSI (a terrible group of shows ) owe their success to Jules Dassin's cop - crime thriller. I have seen " The Naked City " at least 50 times, probably many more, actually, but I do have one question. Where is that " Film Noir " stalwart Whit Bissell ?
The Naked City
If you look closely you can see Paul Ford ( Capt. Hall on the Bilko TV series ) John Randolph, Molly Picon, and James Gregory.
I found Whit...he's in Indiana.
Hello,
Last night, I watched The Desperate Hours (1955)...starring Humphrey Bogart. During the opening credit roll, I noticed Whit Bissell as a cast member. I said to my wife, "Whit Bissell". Probably because I only said the name, "Whit Bissell"...she replied, "what the heck are you talking about". I replied, "Whit Bissell"...like she should know I think Whit Bissell is a great name. Our conversation ended...we watched The Desperate Hours.
Okay, so Humphrey Bogart is a well known bad guy in The Petrified Forest (1936) and Dead End (1937) and The Return Of Doctor X (1939) and The Treasure Of The Sierra Madre (1948) and In A Lonely Place (1950), but Bogart's Glenn Griffen in The Desperate Hours may be Humphrey Bogart's most sinister character.
Rusty
Last night, I watched The Desperate Hours (1955)...starring Humphrey Bogart. During the opening credit roll, I noticed Whit Bissell as a cast member. I said to my wife, "Whit Bissell". Probably because I only said the name, "Whit Bissell"...she replied, "what the heck are you talking about". I replied, "Whit Bissell"...like she should know I think Whit Bissell is a great name. Our conversation ended...we watched The Desperate Hours.
Okay, so Humphrey Bogart is a well known bad guy in The Petrified Forest (1936) and Dead End (1937) and The Return Of Doctor X (1939) and The Treasure Of The Sierra Madre (1948) and In A Lonely Place (1950), but Bogart's Glenn Griffen in The Desperate Hours may be Humphrey Bogart's most sinister character.
Rusty
The Nekked City
I don't know what all the fuss is about with regard to this movie. I found it slowly paced, even dragging at times. Maybe it's seeing Barry Fitzgerald, with, as he says in the movie, "28 years on the force" still sounding like he just stepped off the boat from Dublin that does it in for me. I liked the way Mr Dassin opened the film with the unconventional voice-over setting the scene and also the way the film was shot entirely on location using mostly (I assume) natural lighting, but beyond that it just left me feeling cold. It really didn't move me any more than another forgettable crime drama, "Kiss Me Deadly." I'm not drawing comparisons between the two but they both carried about the same emotional and visceral impact. I think that one of the best of the genre was the recently aired "The Asphalt Jungle." Now there was a movie that was well paced, well acted and had just enough of a suspenseful edge to it to make it believable without stretching it to the point of incredulity. Any similar or divergent thoughts?
Hollis
Hollis
I always look forward to the finale of this movie since it takes place on the Williamsburg Bridge. I lived in Williamsburg, Brooklyn and when a kid use to walk over the bridge to the lower east side on Delancey St. where Universal filmed many of the scenes in he movie.
Times have changed since 1948 and the area on the bridge doesn't look like that anymore. Too bad.
This is a real original and just about everybody involved knows it. A documentary style police drama with real New York locations -- "Nothing was shot in a studio!" And it does capture New York City, circa 1947, entering a late florescent age. Many of the shots were "stolen," taken on real streets from a van with tinted windows, with only the principal actors knowing that a movie was being made.
Times have changed since 1948 and the area on the bridge doesn't look like that anymore. Too bad.
This is a real original and just about everybody involved knows it. A documentary style police drama with real New York locations -- "Nothing was shot in a studio!" And it does capture New York City, circa 1947, entering a late florescent age. Many of the shots were "stolen," taken on real streets from a van with tinted windows, with only the principal actors knowing that a movie was being made.
Joseph Goodheart
Re: The Nekked City
I like the dark, gritty look of the movie - that's how I remember a lot of NYC, especially Manhattan, in those days. Things have improved greatly since then.Hollis wrote:I don't know what all the fuss is about with regard to this movie. I found it slowly paced, even dragging at times. Maybe it's seeing Barry Fitzgerald, with, as he says in the movie, "28 years on the force" still sounding like he just stepped off the boat from Dublin that does it in for me. I liked the way Mr Dassin opened the film with the unconventional voice-over setting the scene and also the way the film was shot entirely on location using mostly (I assume) natural lighting, but beyond that it just left me feeling cold. It really didn't move me any more than another forgettable crime drama, "Kiss Me Deadly." I'm not drawing comparisons between the two but they both carried about the same emotional and visceral impact. I think that one of the best of the genre was the recently aired "The Asphalt Jungle." Now there was a movie that was well paced, well acted and had just enough of a suspenseful edge to it to make it believable without stretching it to the point of incredulity. Any similar or divergent thoughts?
Hollis
I can never get past Fitzgerald either, though, partly because when this film was made, there was a minimum height requirement for NYC male cops, and it was 5'10". Fitzgerald may have been Irish, but he wasn't like any NYC Irish cop I ever came across, then or now.