7.2 | / 10 |
Users | 0.0 | |
Reviewer | 4.0 | |
Overall | 4.0 |
Wealthy antique dealer Nello Poletti is falsely accused of murdering his former mistress, who set him up in a life of luxury...
Starring: Marcello Mastroianni, Micheline Presle, Cristina Gaioni, Salvo Randone, Andrea ChecchiForeign | 100% |
Crime | Insignificant |
Thriller | Insignificant |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 1.85:1
Original aspect ratio: 1.85:1
Italian: LPCM Mono (48kHz, 24-bit)
English
Blu-ray Disc
Two-disc set (1 BD, 1 DVD)
DVD copy
Region A, B (locked)
Movie | 4.0 | |
Video | 4.5 | |
Audio | 4.0 | |
Extras | 2.0 | |
Overall | 4.0 |
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.
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 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 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.
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