Hands Over the City Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		5.0
Video		5.0
Audio		4.5
Extras		1.5
Overall		4.5

Hands Over the City Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Dr. Svet Atanasov April 4, 2014

Winner of the prestigious Golden Lion Award at the Venice Film Festival, Francesco Rosi's "Le mani sulla citta" a.k.a "Hands Over the City" (1963) arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of British distributors Eureka Entertainment. The only supplemental feature on the disc is an archival video program featuring French film historian and filmmaker Michel Ciment, director Francesco Rosi and author Raffaele La Capria. Also included with the release is an illustrated booklet featuring Edinburgh-based film scholar and critic Pasquale Iannone's essay "Le mani sulla citta". In Italian, with optional English subtitles for the main feature. Region-B "locked".

"Who would all this benefit, Maglione?"

A large apartment building collapses in the city of Naples and immediately damages the reputation of the area’s wealthiest land developer, Eduardo Nottola (Rod Steiger, On the Waterfront), whose company is slowly replacing the slums with attractive but expensive high-rises. Nottola is quickly approached by a few of his powerful right-wing supporters who are concerned that the incident can seriously jeopardize their party’s chances of retaining majority in the upcoming local elections. They ask Nottola to drop his bid for the commissioner's office, which they have previously promised to support, and stay out of the public eye until they work out a deal that will produce a report which will distance his company from the incident. When Nottola informs them that he isn’t willing to withdraw his bid the men panic, and then their leader, Maglione (Guido Alberti, Casanova '70, Hallucination Strip), vows to make his life so difficult that he would voluntarily step away.

Meanwhile, the Communist councilman De Vita (Carlo Fermariello) decides to prove that Nottola must be held responsible for the incident. DeVita also promises to expose Nottola’s shady business affairs with various right-wingers and active councilmen who have directly and indirectly benefited from his 'generosity'.

Soon after, an investigation committee is formed. De Vita begins asking questions in all the right places and it quickly becomes obvious that the right will have to effectively distance itself from Nottola because there is sufficient evidence proving that his son, a remarkably incompetent engineer, is directly responsible for the collapse of the apartment building. Realizing that he can no longer count on his former supporters, Nottola makes a surprising move.

This superb film directed by the great Francesco Rosi in 1963 is a powerful condemnation of a broken political system that is simply broken beyond repair. It has the raw qualities of a low-budget documentary feature in which large portions of the footage were either completely untouched or barely edited. (There is some authentic documentary footage from a communist rally used during the second half).

The intense debates between the different political groups in the city hall and the secret dealings between various high-profile political figures feature several real Naples councilmen. Rosi, who began his career as an assistant director to the great Luchino Visconti on La terra trema: Episodio del mare, also used a large number of non-professional actors during the mass scenes in downtown Naples. Unsurprisingly, the emotions on display throughout the film are just as pure as those witnessed in many of the great Italian neorealist masterpieces.

Still, the film has a core group of stars -- Steiger, Alberti, and Salvo Randone -- that give it its identity. Steiger (who is dubbed by an Italian actor) is tremendous as the ambitious developer who would do anything to become the next city commissioner. His frequent outbursts are just as intense as Gian Maria Volonte’s in Elio Petri’s equally powerful political satire Investigation of a Citizen Above Suspicion. Alberti is the leader of the right-wingers who is ready to bargain with anyone to preserve his party’s majority. Randone plays a centrist who quickly realizes that very few of the councilmen actually care about the people who sent them to represent their interests.

The film was lensed by the great cinematographer Gianni Di Venanzo, who worked with many of the greatest Italian directors from the ‘50s and ‘60s, including Francesco Maselli (Abandoned), Michelangelo Antonioni (Le Amiche, La Notte, L'Eclisse), and Federico Fellini (8½).

The edgy soundtrack for the film was created by the legendary composer Piero Piccioni ( Jean-Luc Godard’s Le mépris, Radley Metzger’s Camille 2000).

Hands Over the City Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Presented in its original aspect ratio of 1.85:1, encoded with MPEG-4 AVC and granted a 1080p transfer, Francesco Rosi's Hands Over the City arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of British distributors Eureka Entertainment.

The high-definition transfer is simply beautiful. I've done some direct comparisons with Criterion's R1 DVD release of Hands Over the City and can confirm that there are dramatic improvements in every single area of the presentation we typically address in our reviews. The various close-ups throughout the film -- and there are plenty of them -- boast outstanding depth. As a result, now it is exceptionally easy to see all sorts of tiny details that are simply missing from the standard definition presentation of the film (see screencaptures #1 and 16). Clarity is also dramatically improved and even during the documentary footage from the political rally image depth is quite impressive (see screencapture #19). Color balance and stability are excellent. The blacks are lush and solid while the variety of grays and whites are beautifully balanced. Furthermore, there are no traces of problematic degraining corrections. Compromising sharpening adjustment also have not been applied. Unsurprisingly, from start to finish the film has a very solid, enormously pleasing organic look. Finally, there are no large debris, cuts, damage marks, stains, or warps. Viewers who project their films will also be pleased to know that the film there are stability issues/edge shimmer. To sum it all up, this is the best presentation of a classic film that I have seen from Eureka Entertainment this year. Excellent work. (Note: This is a Region-B "locked" Blu-ray release. Therefore, you must have a native Region-B or Region-Free PS3 or SA in order to access its content).

Hands Over the City Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

There is only one standard audio track on this Blu-ray release: Italian LPCM 1.0. For the record, Eureka Entertainment have provided optional English subtitles for the main feature.

Clarity and depth are excellent. During the heated debates in the city hall there are some dynamic fluctuations, but they are part of the film's organic sound design. Elsewhere, the dialog is stable, clean, and very easy to follow. There are a couple of sequences where Piero Piccioni's score makes an impression, but its function in the film is primarily to enhance the existing atmosphere. (The music during the final credits is especially good). The English translation is excellent).

Hands Over the City Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Rosi, La Capria, Ciment - in this archival video program, French film historian and filmmaker Michel Ciment (Elia Kazan: An Outsider) interviews director Francesco Rosi and author Raffaele La Capria who worked with him on the script for Hand Over the City. The Italian director explains how the film came to exist, and discusses its unique themes and the political climate in Italy during the early '60s. In French, with optional English subtitles. (16 min).

• Booklet - an illustrated booklet featuring Edinburgh-based film scholar and critic Pasquale Iannone's essay "Le mani sulla citta".

Hands Over the City Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

A powerful condemnation of a broken political system, Francesco Rosi's Hands Over the City feels every bit as relevant today as it was in the early '60s. Now beautifully restored, the film looks absolutely spectacular on Blu-ray. In fact, I liked the technical presentation so much that at the moment I consider this release one of the top five to arrive on the UK market this year. Let's hope that Eureka Entertainment will also consider bringing to Blu-ray the Italian director's first feature, La Sfida. Buy with confidence, folks. VERY HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.