Rating summary

Movie		4.0
Video		4.5
Audio		4.0
Extras		2.0
Overall		4.0

The Assassin Blu-ray Movie Review

Investigation of a citizen most definitely not above suspicion.

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman April 24, 2017

Despite a long and at least relatively distinguished career, Elio Petri hasn’t really risen to the heights of international stardom afforded other Italian directors of (more or less) his generation (or who were at least churning out films as the same time as Petri was) like Federico Fellini, Michelangelo Antonioni and Vittorio de Sica. Petri’s filmography as a director isn’t huge, but at least one of his films did penetrate into the consciousness of even some casual film lovers, his Academy Award winning 1970 effort Investigation of a Citizen Above Suspicion. Kind of interestingly, Petri’s first feature film as a director, 1961’s The Assassin, plies at least some of the same territory as his later film, offering a lead character who may or may not have killed his wealthy mistress. Investigation of a Citizen Above Suspicion didn’t leave much guesswork in terms of whether or not a crime had been committed, while The Assassin (despite its evidently “give it all away” title) plays it considerably closer to its vest, detailing the initial bewilderment of an antiques dealer named Alfredo Martelli (Marcello Mastroianni) who finds himself the prime suspect in the murder of Martelli’s erstwhile girlfriend. The film has a rather interesting structure, one that’s intentionally fragmented and even prismatic, beginning with Martelli’s kinda sorta arrest and then journeying back in time to fill in some gaps to provide context and, ostensibly, some answers as to what exactly happened to bring Martelli to this anxious state of affairs.

Petri’s films often indulge in considerable if also subtle subtext, and that’s the case with The Assassin. The film would seem on its surface to be a deconstruction of a typical crime thriller, with a potent “did he or didn’t he?” current roiling beneath the police procedural waters. But at least somewhat similarly to Akira Kurosawa’s iconic Rashômon, Petri repeatedly introduces new perspectives which tend to cast doubt on the very surface story he’s presenting. Over and over in the film, Martelli’s own flashback material seems to contradict at least parts of the story he’s presenting the wily Inspector Palumbo (Salvo Randone) who is interrogating him and who is pretty much convinced that Martelli is in fact a murderer. (Is it merely chance that Inspector Palumbo is a seemingly unassuming and perhaps even addled cop who wears a trenchcoat and who arrives at his most potent questions somewhat discursively, rather presciently like the similarly named Columbo, who first showed up just a few years after this film’s release?)

While Pasquale Iannone is on hand in one of this Blu-ray’s supplements suggesting that at least some critics saw The Assassin as a forerunner to the gialli which would soon become a staple of Italian cinema, some folks with a love of European literature may in fact feel like the film is a sibling to Franz Kafka’s The Trial, since it details the travails of an innocent (?) man caught up in the cogs of a bureaucratic machinery that is more about process than actual justice. Petri’s always piquant political sensibilities are also on hand (something Iannone also touches on in his introduction to the film), and The Assassin rather deftly skewers some of the optimism many Italians were feeling in the early sixties as a result of the so-called “economic miracle” which was helping the nation raise itself, Phoenix like, from the ashes of World War II.

Because of all these elements, the actual crime at the center of The Assassin may seem almost like an after thought. Martelli’s tony mistress Adalgisa de Matteis (Micheline Presle) had been his funding source for his wobbly antiquities business, which would seem to undercut any motive he may have had for killing her, and yet the film seems to present a number of intriguing possibilities as to why he may have in fact chosen murder to further his ambitions. The Assassin repeatedly references the “changing of the guard” in Italy’s political structures, with old forms of top down management like Fascism and Communism giving way to the more freewheeling and even anarchistic tendencies of Capitalism. It’s a rather bracing way in which to frame a murder mystery, but one which Petri handles with typical finesse and even black humor at times.

The Assassin Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

The Assassin is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Arrow Academy with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.85:1. Presumably culled from the same master Arrow used for their British release, and it contains the same pre-credits text (reproduced in the typically informative insert booklet) as that mentioned by Svet in his review of the British release:

The digital restoration of L'assassino was made from the original camera negative which was missing the first and last roll, and from a first- generation interpositive. These two elements were scanned at 2K resolution for this restoration. The grading was carried out by referring to the original print version that was held by the production company Titanus in the archives of the Cineteca di Bologna. The sound was extracted from a 35mm negative and digitally remastered. The work was carried out at the L'Immagine Ritrovato laboratory in 2011.

Additionally, and kind of curiously (at least this late into the Blu-ray format), there's also this "instructive" clarification included as a supposed Projectionist's Note:

As was very common with Italian films of the period, L'Assassino was composed for the widescreen aspect ratio of 1.85:1. On a standard widescreen television, thin black bars will be visible at the top and bottom. These are perfectly normal.

Considering the fact that this was cobbled together from different source elements, there's an appealing homogenous look here, by and large, though there is a noticeable darkening and an at least somewhat grittier grain field in what was probably the final reel of the film. Restorative efforts have smoothed out any transitions between the IP and the negative, and detail levels are commendable throughout the presentation. Clarity is probably at least marginally better in the larger sections sourced from the negative, but generally speaking, this a nicely organic presentation that offers great contrast, convincing black levels and some really excellent fine detail (notice the texture of Martelli's herringbone jacket in several of the screenshots accompanying this review for just one example).

The Assassin Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

The Assassin features a nice sounding LPCM Mono track in the original Italian. The soundtrack offers some nice energy in terms of its jazz inflected score by Piero Piccioni, and a long sequence at the beach in the latter part of the film also affords some appealing ambient environmental sounds. Otherwise, this is largely a dialogue driven enterprise, one that often plays out in "two hander" scenes between Martelli and Palumbo or Martelli and Adalgisa. As such, while there's not much opportunity for a "wow" factor in the sonics, the uncompressed track offers excellent fidelity and no age related issues of any kind.

The Assassin Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Introduction by Pasquale Iannone (2014) (1080p; 9:39) is an engaging overview of Petri in general and this film in particular.


• Tonino Guerra — A Poet in the Movies (2008) (1080i; 51:15) is a long and in depth interview with the noted writer who collaborated with a who's who of Italian cinema (beyond even Petri), including Fellini, de Sica and Antonioni. The documentary is actually split into separate "chapters" dealing with these and other collaborative efforts.


• Theatrical Trailer (1080p; 3:45)

A typically well appointed insert booklet rounds out the supplements.

The Assassin Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

The Assassin deserves more recognition than it has received over the years, and this nicely done Blu-ray release by Arrow Academy will hopefully help to make that happen. Petri's always provocative tendencies toward subterfuge are clearly if subtly on display, and if the film's central "mystery" isn't ever very spine tingling, it at least provides a hook for Petri to explore some unexpected elements of Italian society in the early sixties. Technical merits are strong, and while not bounteous, the supplements are also enjoyable. Highly recommended.