Life is full of baffling surprises and one came this morning when I opened the New York Times (no, not that one) but a small obituary to Malvin Wald, the screenwriter of the gritty 1948 police drama "The Naked City." Well, I just completed the film (in four sittings) last night and this morning I should read about the death of its pioneering writer. Malvin Wald won an Oscar for screen-writing this film and is credited for creating the "police procedural" genre that has led to many successful shows and films including Law and Order and even the super-famous CSI series.
The Naked City is a New York film about a hard-working aging police detective and it was the first of its kind in those days. It lays out an elaborate and painstaking process of police investigation in the murder of a young woman desperately trying to seek a place in the upper crust of New York society even if that meant parting ways with morality and the law.
The film starts with -- "There are 8 million people in The Naked City..." and ends with the famous rejoinder -- "There are 8 million stories in The Naked City..."
When would that statement ring truer than today when we suddenly have realized how naive we are in and around The Real, Really Naked City.
The Naked City is a New York film about a hard-working aging police detective and it was the first of its kind in those days. It lays out an elaborate and painstaking process of police investigation in the murder of a young woman desperately trying to seek a place in the upper crust of New York society even if that meant parting ways with morality and the law.
The film starts with -- "There are 8 million people in The Naked City..." and ends with the famous rejoinder -- "There are 8 million stories in The Naked City..."
When would that statement ring truer than today when we suddenly have realized how naive we are in and around The Real, Really Naked City.