Una donna ha ucciso

Based on a murder case that became a cause célèbre in Italy during WW II, this "woman's picture" begins on a train with a gun accidentally falling out of a gal's purse and the old lady in the compartment with her tells her not to do anything rash until she hears the sorry saga of a friend -a teenager who loved not wisely but too well and ended up shooting her worthless soldier lover (a Brit in the movie, an American GI in real life) with his own gun during the war. After hearing the old woman's cautionary tale, the young one gets off the train and throws her gun away -on the tracks for anyone to find, including a child. Now how stupid is that -and while I'm at it, how could a scenario so rife with melodramatic potential be so damned dull? A pair of singularly uncharismatic stars (Frank Latimore & Lianella Carell) didn't help, either, although I did like the musical number -Ricky Ricardo's "Babalu" of all things. Peplum director Vittorio Cottafavi made a series of "feminist" soapers in the early '50s but if A WOMAN HAS KILLED is any indication, it's a good thing he turned to togas.