Original subtitles

BERT LEONARD: Ladies and gentlemen,

you are about to see the Naked City.

I'm Bert Leonard, the producer.

As you see, we're flying over an island.

A city, a particular city.

And this is a story of a number of people,

and a story also of the city itself.

It was not photographed in a studio.

Quite the contrary.

The actors played out their roles in the corridors and wards of a great hospital,

and on Welfare Island in the East River,

and on the Queensboro Bridge at 59th Street.

Only at night, late, when the civic clang is stilled

can you truly hear the sound of a city's people.

Only then are the long rhythms that pound throughout the day at last subdued.

In this backwater of silence,

human heartbeats can be heard if you'll listen,

louder and more insistent than any riveting.

And every emotion is raw,

exposed by the surgery of night.

Fear becomes more fearsome.

Desperation even more desperate.

I'm Mrs. Halloran.

I brought my husband.

Oh, yes, we expected you hours ago.

Well I... I was hoping we'd get through the night without...

But... He seems much worse.

Oh, well don't you worry, Mrs. Halloran. We'll handle it.

Jim?

Jim?

All right, come with me.

I know you're in good hands, now.

Just be honest with the doctors, darling.

Tell them the things you...

...you can't tell me.

We'll go this way.

And when you get back, you'll be well.

I know you'll be well.

Have I done the right thing?

NURSE: The only humane thing.

I've seen hundreds of men go up those stairs,

far worse than your husband, Mrs. Halloran.

We'll get him back to you bright as a new penny. You'll see.

Even pretending is too much to ask of anyone.

This is Dr. Miller, Janet.

Mrs. Halloran...

The good doctor's superintendent for the hospital.

Outside of the police department and yourself,

he's the only one to know what we're about here.

It's worse than he told me, isn't it?

He's been committed to our disturbed ward.

These are patients who are being treated for various mental disorders.

But I'd say that they're

no more or no less violent than people on the outside.

There's no other way?

Janet,

a poor, frightened, little patient, a man named Watkins,

was strangled in that ward last week.

He was a witness we needed badly in the Tulio trial.

We tried everything short of this to find out who did it.

All the time I stood in the hospital with Jim,

I kept thinking, "It could be worse."

It could be he wasn't there just to do a job, but he was really there.

Dan, don't you think I oughta drive Mrs. Halloran home?

I'll be right back.

That's a good lad. You do that, Arcaro.

Don't worry, Janet. Dan won't be leaving Welfare Island

till he brings that boy of yours home again.

That boy makes one mistake, Lieutenant...

If anyone suspects that he's simulating an illness,

or that he's a police officer...

I know.

BERT: Now, Halloran, remember everything Dr. Miller told you.

It's harder to act insane than you think.

Can you deceive these men?

The psychotics, the paranoiacs,

the schizophrenics, the psychoneurotics?

One thing you'll know,

one of these men is as sane as you are.

Manic depressive.

Time to sleep.

So young.

He's already got a wife, peachy pie.

Would you like to try to sit down this morning, Mr. Brickwell?

You know very well I can't.

Let me help you.

Careful!

How would you like it if your legs were made of glass?

Good morning, Mr. Halloran. Did you rest well?

Mr. Morgan,

this is Mr. Halloran. Would you see that he meets the others?

Of course.

Mr. Halloran,

do you think that you belong here?

Well I...

I don't care.

Let me give you some good advice, my friend.

Humor anyone here you think is acting strangely,

just don't humor yourself.

Now there, that's Greer.

He likes to punch people.

They bring a bag in every day at 3:00, and he punches it for an hour or so.

Then there's Romaine.

He'll take the fillings out of your teeth if you don't watch him.

Pure klepto.

And Brisson.

We try to protect him from himself.

He doesn't care much for living.

And Parker.

We don't like Parker. He's a bully.

So stay away from him.

You're wondering about me.

I'm about ready to leave the hospital. I'm well again.

You see, whenever I feel myself slipping,

I simply commit myself until I'm better.

My partners carry on while I come here for help.

You see, I have a law firm.

Morning, gentlemen.

Mr. Halloran.

Halloran, come on, up.

In there.

[SIGHS]

That's like walking on hot coals out there.

DR. MILLER: Come in.

Sit down.

-Relax a minute. -[SIGHS]

Thanks.

At least we got you in here successfully.

Nobody suspects you're anything but the real thing.

Well, thank you.

Well, doctor, I've got to find out which one of those men out there has the

physical strength to have strangled Watkins.

Are you ready for that now?

Yeah, I think so.

Well, alright.

But remember,

when you go into a manic stage, that is, into a high,

you're going to be meeting the others on their own terms.

You're liable to make mistakes, so be careful.

Mmm.

Well, let's get at it.

Oh, the bed we assigned you is the same one in which Watkins was killed.

Oh, and incidentally,

uh, I'm instructing Miss Kaufman to take you off the nighttime medication.

I'll tell her we'll try you on normal sleep.

There's a man out there named Morgan.

I don't remember anything in his record about his being a lawyer.

-He's not. -Oh?

Not any more. He was once.

A brilliant defense attorney.

His wife left him for another man.

He thinks he killed her.

-Well, did he? -No.

That's not in the record either.

He imagines...

...that he strangled her.

[GROANING]

I'm the strongest man in the world. I can...

...crush steel!

I've been watching you. You're not so much.

-The strongest! -Mr. Halloran!

It would be better for all concerned if you said that you were the strongest

except for one man.

-Who? -Me!

Greer.

[COUGHING]

It's not wise to be the most of anything, Mr. Halloran.

Not the strongest,

not even the most brilliant.

A man on a summit is not something to look up to, he's something to topple.

Would you care to try, Mr. Morgan?

Everyone else has! Would you care to try, too?

NURSE: [ON PA] Dr. Nelson, 348.

Dr. Nelson, 348.

Probably in the dormitory. I'll get him.

You're Mrs. Halloran, aren't you?

You going to get him out?

Well you better. You know why?

They don't want to lose anybody.

Four dollars a day the state gives them for each man.

Four dollars a day for each one of us, and if we croak, they get everything.

You don't believe me.

Charlie, come here.

Tell her how they mistreat us.

They cheat on the food too.

-Slop! -To make a profit of $3 a day.

Four dollars!

You think we're lying? I tell you, it's the truth, that's how it is.

I'm sorry, but...

I don't know what I can do about it.

Get your man out of here, quick. Save him, before it's too late.

NURSE: Gentlemen, please!

Mrs. Halloran's here to visit our husband.

Well.

Debbie's fine.

She's been eating new vegetables.

Well I want her to be...

...strong.

You know, I'm strong.

Darling,

we're getting along fine.

You mustn't worry about us.

Have I been sick?

Yes.

How could I be sick?

I'm... I'm strong!

Now you, now, all of you.

You,

tell her how strong I am.

Now, you!

Now, you tell her how strong I am!

-NURSE: Mr. Hanson! -You mess with me once more, sonny!

You tell her how strong I am!

Say goodbye to your wife,

like a nice boy.

They won't believe me. I...

I keep telling them.

They won't believe me.

I'll see you next week.

Beats me how guys like you always get the lookers.

There oughta be a law.

It says in there, "Detective Halloran."

-Dirty cop! -Parker.

-He's mine! -No, we're all involved.

[GRUNTING]

Mr. Greer!

MORGAN: Is it true?

Is this true?

I thought you were one of us.

I tried to be kind to you.

To make you understand

how it is.

He's a spy! We'll never get out now!

-Let me have him. Let me have him! -No.

No, wait. Wait.

Wait.

You don't just push a cop around.

Not unless you want to get pushed back.

They got too many buddies.

You take this, Brickwell.

You want to know he's a cop, you know.

Me, I don't know.

-He has a right to speak. -So, why don't he speak?

Look, there was a man.

-Jeremy Watkins, you remember him? -Yes.

Well, this was his bed.

And last week he was murdered in his sleep.

Just before he was to be released, just after he'd regained his senses.

But we told them we know nothing.

Maybe you don't understand why he was put in here in the first place.

He was put in here because he'd witnessed a gang killing.

Yes, it shocked him right out of his senses.

Now, we needed him to testify.

And we're not going to have hoodlums reaching into our hospitals.

Do you understand the meaning of these words, Halloran?

Furiosus furore solum punitur.

"The madman is punished by his madness alone."

Now, by your coming here, however valid your reason,

you have brought the outside world inside.

You have accented the excruciating difference which exists between us.

Hurt and humiliated and used us.

And for this you must be punished.

ALL: Yeah.

Doesn't the law say

even the most insane man has moments of sanity?

Mr. Morgan, I accuse you of being just as sane as I am.

You've also accused me of

killing Watkins.

Well, have you ever killed anyone?

[SOBBING]

Look I'm... I'm sorry I had to do that.

How do you know about my wife?

Look, she's alive. You never killed her.

I never killed her?

Well, no.

I never killed her?

I never killed her.

[SOBBING]

I never killed her.

[MUMBLING INCOHERENTLY]

[SOBBING]

[WHIMPERING]

Kill him! Kill the spy! Kill him!

Kill him!

Kill him! Kill him!

Kill him! Kill him!

Kill him!

Stop it!

You... You did it! You killed Watkins!

Brisson saw it. He told me.

[LAUGHS] He can't talk!

You did see it, didn't you Brisson?

He came in at night when, when everyone but you was asleep.

Yes, he came in and...

And did it so it would look like, like one of you had done it.

Yeah, that's right! He never was here before Watkins was here.

How much did Tulio pay you to do the job, Hanson?

-Who are you? -Never you mind who I am.

Hey, what is this?

[GRUNTING]

Call Miller, quick!

Hello, hello? Tell Dr. Miller Detective Halloran's calling from Ward 10.

Tell him to get in here fast.

Look, Doctor, call Spring 73100.

Tell the dispatcher there to contact Lieutenant Muldoon.

Tell them the man we're after is a ward attendant named Hanson.

And tell him to block the auto bridge.

If they move fast, he'll never get off the island.

DISPATCHER: [ON RADIO] Car 536, signal 30 on Welfare Island.

Cars 221,

and 906 report to 536 on Welfare Island.

This is 536.

I only had time to give Hanson's room a quick check,

but I found enough in there to tie him up with Tulio.

-He stole my elevator. -Any other way up?

Only the freight elevator at the back.

Police officers. Take us up.

[GUNSHOT]

[GUNSHOT]

[GUNSHOT]

[WHISTLE BLOWING]

[SIREN WAILING]

[WHISTLE BLOWING]

Hold your fire!

Hanson, don't jump!

You'll kill yourself!

[GUNSHOTS]

[GRUNTING]

You know, that's strange.

I thought I saw a man fall.

Herbert, I do think we have aphids on our privet hedge.

Oh, impossible.

They can't fly this high.

And that's your Queensboro Bridge, folks.

One-thousand, one hundred and eighty-two feet across the channel span.

What they call a cantilever type.

Finished in 1909.

Nobody, not even a man like Hanson, should have to die out here

on a morning like this.

You know, sir, this may sound funny,

but down there in that ward, people stick together.

I know they're sick and need help, but,

somehow they seem to be helping each other too.

Well, I hope every one of them, Morgan, Greer, Brickwell, Crane,

yes, even Parker, I hope they,

they walk out of there someday.

Walk out free and well again.

You know what I mean, sir?

BERT: There are eight million stories in the Naked City.

This has been one of them.