The Assassin Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		4.0
Video		4.5
Audio		4.5
Extras		3.5
Overall		4.0

The Assassin Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Dr. Svet Atanasov August 5, 2014

Italian director Elio Petri's directorial debut "L'assassino" a.k.a. "The Assassin" (1961) arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of British distributors Arrow Video. The supplemental features on the disc include an original trailer for the film; the documentary film "Tonino Guerra - A Poet in the Movies" (2008), and video introduction by Pasquale Iannone. The release also arrives with a 40-page illustrated booklet featuring: "Elio Petri's L'assassino" by Camilla Zamboni (2014); contemporary reviews; "Italian Cinema: A Castrated Elephant" by Elio Petri (1957); and technical notes. In Italian, with optional English subtitles for the main feature. Region-B "locked".

"I'm scared. I'm talking. I'm saying everything. You know they interrogate you with the crossed system."

Antiques dealer Alfredo Martelli (Marcello Mastroianni, La Dolce Vita) is arrested by the authorities after the cold body of his wealthy mistress, Adalgisa De Matteis (Micheline Presle, A Lady Without Camelias, Devil in the Flesh), is discovered in her posh apartment. He is then taken to the local police department and interrogated by Inspector Palumbo (Salvo Randone, Hands Over the City, The 10th Victim), who is eager to build a case against him because he is convinced that Alfredo is the killer.

Initially Alfredo calmly answers the questions he is asked and does his best to help Palumbo and his men solve the murder case, but the more time passes by, the more frustrated he becomes. Sensing that Alfredo’s defense is about to collapse, Palumbo authorizes a series of unconventional interrogation methods to speed up the process and force him to sign a prewritten confession.

Based on a story by Tonino Guerra , Italian director Elio Petri’s directorial debut L’assassino (The Assassin) has a quasi-documentary feel that is very similar to the one present in Francesco Rosi’s early films (La Sfida, Hands Over the City). But there is also a great dose of satirical wit in that brings it very close to the films of Alberto Lattuada (Il cappotto, The Sin).

During the interrogation process scattered flashbacks reveal important bits of Alfredo’s past and repeatedly force the viewer to reevaluate his statements. Other characters are also introduced and their relationships with Alfredo and his mistress are carefully examined. As a result, for a while the viewer is led to believe that The Assassin is a complex crime thriller.

But as it is the case with director Petri’s best film, Investigation of a Citizen Above Suspicion, the murder case is used only as a pretext to critique a cruel and dangerous a political system that can easily crush those who don’t fit in it. Admittedly, in the Assassin Petri’s jabs are not as well calculated as the ones present in Investigation of a Citizen Above Suspicion, but his outrage is still very easy to detect. (See the sequence with the disillusioned homeless man on the highway who is treated like an animal by the supposedly concerned citizens. Also, pay attention to the exchanges between Alfredo and his mistress in the tunnel).

The Kafka-esque finale could not be more appropriate -- the murder case is solved and ‘order’ is restored, but nothing looks or feels right. But this is Italy during the early ‘60s, a country with a booming economy, bizarre political coalitions, and a wide variety of easily bendable rules and laws.

The cast is fantastic. Mastroianni, already a well recognized actor across Europe, is terrific as the frustrated dealer who has a terrible time convincing the authorities that he is innocent. Randone, the great Sicilian actor who appeared in many of the majority of the greatest Italian films from the '60s and '70s is equally impressive as the ambitious Inspector Palumbo. Predictably, Presle also looks appropriately elegant as Alfredo’s older mistress.

The film was lensed by cinematographer Carlo Di Palma (Pietro Germi’s Divorce Italian Style, Michelangelo Antonioni’s Blow-Up). It is complimented by a lush and very energetic jazzy soundtrack courtesy of one of the greatest Italian composers from the last century, Piero Piccioni (Lina Wertmüller’s All Screwed Up, The Witches).

The Assassin Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Presented in an aspect ratio of 1.85:1, encoded with MPEG-4 AVC and granted a 1080p transfer, Elio Petri's The Assassin arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of British distributors Arrow Video.

The following text precedes the film's opening credits:

"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."

As the quoted text above confirms, the release uses as a foundation the same 2K restoration of The Assassin which was initially brought to Blu-ray by French label Carlotta Films (see our listing of this release here) -- and this is certainly very good news. Excluding some extremely small sharpness fluctuations early into the film, close-ups convey very good depth and clarity (see screencaptures #1 and 3). The wider panoramic shots also impress with good clarity. Contrast levels remain stable throughout the entire film. Color saturation is very good. The darker sequences in particular look very well balanced -- the blacks are solid and stable and there is a wide range of very healthy grays. There are no traces of problematic degraining corrections, though in select parts of the film grain can be slightly better exposed. This should not be surprising, however, considering the fact that different elements were scanned for the 2K restoration of the film. Edge-enhancement is not an issue of concern. Finally, there are no serious transition issues or other basic stability issues to report in this review. Debris, cuts, scratches, stains, and warps have been carefully removed as well. All in all, this is a wonderful restoration and presentation of Elio Petri's directorial debut which is guaranteed to please fans of classic Italian cinema. (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).

The Assassin Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

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

The jazzy soundtrack by legendary Italian composer Piero Piccioni (Hands Over the City, Camille 2000) benefits the most from the lossless treatment -- the sax and piano solos sound absolutely fantastic -- but some random sounds and noises also make an impression (listen to the multiple door knocks before Alfredo's interrogation). The dialog is crisp, stable, clean, and easy to follow. There are no pops, cracks, problematic background hiss, audio dropouts, or distortions to report in this review. The English translation is excellent.

The Assassin Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Elio Petri and L'assassino - a new video introduction by Pasquale Iannone. In English, not subtitled. (10 min)

• Tonino Guerra - A Poet in the Movies - this documentary, produced by Surf Film in 2008, film focuses on the life of Italian writer Tonino Guerra, who collaborated with some of the greatest Italian and international directors between the early '50s and late '90s, such as Michelangelo Antonioni (L'Avventura, L'Eclisse), Vittorio De Sica (Marriage Italian Style), Francesco Rosi (More than a Miracle), Alberto Lattuada (The Sin), the Taviani brothers (The Night of the Shooting Stars, Kaos), Federico Fellini (Amarcord), Theo Angelopoulos (Landscape in the Mist, Ulysses' Gaze), and Andrey Tarkovsky (Nostalghia), amongst others. The documentary features clips from archival interviews with Tonino Guerra in which he talks about his family and discusses his relationships with directors Giuseppe De Santis (Bitter Rice) and Elio Petri who helped him survive in Rome in the early '60s, his friendship with Cesare Zavattini (another great Italian writer who scripted Shoeshine, Bicycle Thieves, and Umberto D.), his love for Russia (where he married his second wife), his collaborations with Michelangelo Antonioni (with some wonderful comments about the final sequence in Blow-Up), his passion for painting, etc. Also included in the documentary are various clips from classic Italian films. In Italian, with printed English subtitles. (52 min).

• Trailer - original trailer for The Assassin. In Italian, with optional English subtitles. (4 min).

• Booklet - 40-page illustrated booklet featuring: "Elio Petri's L'assassino" by Camilla Zamboni (2014); contemporary reviews; "Italian Cinema: A Castrated Elephant" by Elio Petri (1957); and technical notes.

The Assassin Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

This very beautiful Blu-ray release of the great Italian director Elio Petri's first feature film, The Assassin, sums up perfectly everything that makes Arrow Video such a special label -- it offers English speakers the opportunity to discover a fantastic but virtually unknown film which no other label would have bothered to release in an English-speaking territory. A great, great release which will appear on my Top 10 list at the end of the year. Let's hope that the folks at Arrow Video will also consider similar releases of films by Pietro Germi, Mauro Bolognini, Salvatore Samperi, and Alberto Lattuada. VERY HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.