Is Al Willis (Gene Barry) a humble baker or a gangland psychopath? Is Chief Inspector Joe Conroy (Sterling Hayden) condoning police brutality or is he merely doing his job? Marianna (Gloria Grahame), a girl who gets hit and might like it, will be the key to the solution.

A girl who gets hit and might like it:

Gloria Grahame’s introduction in the film, lip-synching to Jo Anne Greer’s rendition of  Cole Porter’s ‘Ace in the Hole,’ is sublime: external desirability as an evocation of sexual alienation; the body a sad, desultory last-chance exchange mechanism; each shimmy a tired indication that there really is no way out; another of the already innumerable reason why Grahame is such an essential figure in noir.

Gloria Grahame Intro

NAKED ALIBI  is beautifully lit by the great Russell Metty, so that light and its absence becomes an additional layer of signification into what the actors, dialogue and framing are already evoking; beautiful, bleak, expressive. It was partly shot in Tijuana and director Jerry Hopper intelligently weaves in the physical and metaphorical dimensions of a’ border-town’ into the story.

Russell Metty lighting:

Windows and Mirrors as Framing:

Hayden is lanky, cool, with a very expressive body but minimal facial movement, and eyes suggesting that he’s seen it all and nothing he’s seen is nice. The police ‘win’ of course, but only On the surface. This is a film where there’s a victory but one without victors: no one really wins. At the end, Joe Conroy, having already lost much, walks under a lamp-post and into a dark, dark night. Alone.

Chuck Connors, even taller than Hayden, appears in an early role:

The Indicator disk has also has a superb ten minute film demonstrating what it is a cinematographer does, featuring Karl Struss, who shot Murnau’s SUNRISE and many other films. Billy Wilder briefly appears on-set.

José Arroyo