Naked City (1 Viewer)

[Jack P]

Yes, I've seen some weak hour long shows that look to have been sourced from 16mm prints though I can't be specific at the moment. The transfers on the Image discs which had the original bumpers etc. (the three, three disc sets, not the single disc releases) are also much superior and I've kept those for those 36 episodes. The episodes from the Image single disc releases are the same transfers so no reason to keep any of those six if you have the full series set.

 

[Charles Smith]

I did the same, which throws my NAKED CITY shelf space out of all proportion.It's simply unconscionable that they took such a major step forward with this complete release, while taking a major step backward on those discs. What in the hell was up with that?

 

[Roy Wall]

I feel sorry for all the fans that sold their box sets before the 5 Nov 2013 release.

 

[Jack P]

I had a suspicion that those 36 episodes were not going to have the bumpers on the new release so I hedged my bets and kept those three sets. Glad I did though I'm surprised they didn't use the same transfers.

I'm still glad we have the whole series available to us and that's what counted most for me.

 

[rjd0309]

I, too, am happy to have the entire series, though I'm disappointed in the variablilty in quality across the episodes. As a fan of The Fugitive, I was hoping that Barry Morse's episode The Deadly Guinea Pig would have been presented in better quality. Oh, well.

The selection of bumpers seems almost random. Some eps have none, others have perhaps two, and still others have four or five. Comparing to my old broadcast copies, even the choice of individual bumpers is sometimes different on the dvds as compared to the broadcasts.

(To clarify, I mean the bumpers on the 3-disc sets. I haven't seen bumpers in the complete box set.)

But these are minor nitpicks. Happy to have the entire series at last.

 

[Roy Wall]

I, too, am happy to have the entire series, though I'm disappointed in the variablilty in quality across the episodes. As a fan of The Fugitive, I was hoping that Barry Morse's episode The Deadly Guinea Pig would have been presented in better quality. Oh, well.

I'm a sucker for those Nazi Payback theme shows as I've stated on here b4 that The Deadly Guinea Pig is my favorite NC...just like "Judgment Night" and "Deaths-Head Revisited" are among my fav TZs.

 

[disctrip]

Just watched "Hole in The City" last night. Is it just my disc but in the beginning of the episode is the audio not synced with the video? and when Paul Burke first speaks his lines are they speeded up?

 

[younger1968]

Hi all,

Those that have not purchased Naked City may like to know that it is on sale through amazon.ca - http://www.amazon.ca/gp/product/ref=pe_169690_124877810_pe_button/?ASIN=B00CPR3RB0

 

[HenryDuBrow]

That's a very good deal indeed, think I'll grab it now I don't have it yet. Thanks for the tip!

 

[Carabimero]

I got the series for $25 way back in the spring of last year, I think, and now I have finally had a chance to watch some episodes. I was expecting a 1 hr show so that threw me. But I love how it's shot on location. I have watched the first 5 episodes on disc one and am slowly warming up to it. "Sidewalk Fisherman" is by far my favorite of the few episodes I have watched. It was great to see Jay Novello play a sympathetic character. I'm used to seeing him play con men on shows like Gomer Pyle.

So if not for my friend Robert letting me know about the $25 sale, I would never have seen this show, what looks to be a fine series. I hope to watch it all.

 

[Wvtvguy]

I bought the 40 episode set released maybe a year before the complete series was released. I'd planned to get the full series & donate the small set to the library or something. Hearing about the shaky image quality is making me think twice on that.

 

[Jack P]

I'd still get it. I think the overall quality is okay except for a few episodes here and there the disappointment was only that those who expected to see the prints from the Image releases used for those respective episodes would be in for a letdown. If you didn't have those releases, you aren't sacrificing anything by upgrading the complete series set from the one you have because that's not the one with the prints that have bumpers etc.

 

[Pathfiner]

I LOVED 'Naked City' - and besides the famous stars, the great regular cast & the strong stories, the fascinating 'window to the past' re the vintage New York location filming makes the show an incredible 'slice of life' from a past time...


The 'Prime of Life', and 'Deadly Guniea Pig' episodes I've watched recently, they were very powerful !


'A Death of Princes', 'Hole in The City', and 'New York To L.A.' stand out as classic episodes too...


I liked old Horace MacMahon as Lt. Mike Parker & Harry Bellaver as Frank Acarro !

I am glad they have released the entire series on DVD at last, the NY locations are magnificent - wasn't the old Penn Station later demolished ?



anyone know why James Franciscus left the show after the first (earlier) season ?


and Is the 1948 film version with Barry Fitzgerald out on DVD...?




- If anyone's interested a kind of British equivalent type of Police show to 'Naked City' was 'Gideon's Way' (k/a 'Gideon... C.I.D.' in the USA) a 1965-66 series (26 episodes) that starred John Gregson as Commander George Gideon & Alex Davion as Chief Inspr David Keen - it was to London was Naked City was to NY re vintage location filming, plus featured well known British guest stars (John Hurt, Gordon Jackson, Ronald Lacey, Mike Pratt, George Baker,George Cole, etc) plus Donald Sutherland, David Baur & Lois Maxwell (Miss Moneypenny in the James Bond films)


'Gideon's Way' / 'Gideon...C.I.D' was produced by the same production team that did the Roger Moore series of 'The Saint' (Robert S.Baker and Monty Berman) - itself about to be issued as a complete set in the USA


- it was set in the early sixties 'post WW2' Britain where people were still hanged for murder !


- it featured the same kind of profiled characters & crimes as in 'Naked City' - one re a deranged 'firebug' burning down houses (who ends up riding a motorcycle around London throwing sticks of dynamite at buildings !), another was re a Holocaust survivor out to blow up the German premier during a State visit to London, another about a sex killer who keeps a lock of each victim's hair....one re a respectable housekeeper lady whose 'cares' have a habit of dying !


in another a killer GETS AWAY with it as Police can't prove he's guilty (even tho' they know it) -


in one episode a girl who 'knows too much' gets pushed out of a light plane flying over the English channel !


a murdered man's body is 'walled up' in one story, while in another a madman tries to push a guy under a London underground tube train as it pulls into a station...


while 'The 'V' Men' is about a new political party in Britain that want's to be rid of all immigrants (!)


'The Rhyme and The Reason' ends up with a girl desperately trying to escape from a knifeman killer after her in the Battersea London rail yards...


that & 'The Great Plane Robbery' - re gold bullion stolen, later were all too true (like a good number of episodes of 'Naked City' were)


it reminded me of 'Naked City' being quite hard hitting (in one episode; 'Big Fish Little Fish' re a modern day 'Fagin' who teaches children to steal from customers in busy London markets a cruel & abusive mother hits her little boy around the head and keeps him locked up in a cupboard !)

 

[Darby67]

and Is the 1948 film version with Barry Fitzgerald out on DVD...?

Criterion Collection released the 1948 film on DVD (Spine #380).

 

[Wvtvguy]

I LOVE the film!! One of my favorite film noirs.

 

[Neil Brock]

So I just finished watching the half hours and it looks like The Sandman and Turn of Events seem to be the only episodes that look really bad, like 4th generation VHS dubs. Which sucks but I'll just keep my 16mm film chain masters on those two shows. My question for those deep into the hours, are there any hours that are dodgy looking as well?

Just want to double check before I chuck out my 3/4 transfers from film that the above 2 half hour episodes are the only ones that have dodgy quality. Anyone???

 

[Flashgear]

Nice behind the scenes photo on the set of Naked City...the '61 - '62 season (second 1 Hr. season) episode "Show Me the Way to Go Home" (Nov. 22, 1961) with Lois Nettleton and Burt Brinkeroff...Directed by William Graham...here, Lois Nettleton and supporting actress Celia Adler await their cue...

Nancy Malone and Paul Burke do a scene at Washington Square...

Scene from the '62 - '63 final season, "And By the Sweat of Thy Brow" (Oct. 10, 1962) with Barbara Barrie and Richard Jordan...an effective and touching take on the "Beauty and the Beast" fable...

There are Eight Million Stories in the Naked City...

Ozark Backcountry Killers Ansel and Ora Mae (Rip Torn and Tuesday Weld) on a murderous rampage in the Naked City..."a Case Study of Two Savages" (Feb. 7, 1962)...

 

[shoeshineboy]

Great photos! Makes me real sad that I missed that sale... Thanks for sharing!

 

[jim_falconer]

just finishing up season 3. Seems the quality of the writing is going down a bit by this point. Hoping to see a rebound with the final season, which I'll be getting to very soon.

 

[Wvtvguy]

I just picked the complete set up. I discovered this show a few years ago and have watched about 10 episodes from the 40 episode set. I’d never seen the half hour episodes. I’ve only watched two so far (Meridian & Burst of Passion) and I really like the early episodes. I love the later seasons but what I’ve seen of season one has been pretty good.