The Facts of Murder

Gadda's masterpiece is a blend of philosophical novel with mystery and murder, a baroque, caustic and ultimately poignant work exploring the myriad of interactive lives' endless and kaleidoscopic complexities - in other words, causes often interrelated that converge to the production of each individual effect. The book was rather flatenned here, but still it's Germi's most lasting and currently estimable movie, even better than The Road to Hope and Seduced and Abandoned.

Un maledetto imbroglio (1959) is a very good movie, it tells us about a country -Italy- still far from the wealth of the sixties, where low class people struggled to make a decent living, and illiteracy was still spread ... Higher class people could threaten poor peoples lives for trivial reasons and meantime humiliate them with their unjustified wealth ... Of course the Germi's task was simplified by the great book it started with, still the Director has his merits: the irony to start with. I basically agree with other opinions. if a catch can be found, I'd say acting is a little bit much too heavy. A kind of "Venus's strabismus"... Some of the actors (Eleonora Rossi Drago, Nino Castelnuovo and at times also Germi himself)overdo - overindulge in - their roles ... They fall into unnecessary theatrical poses. to my opinion the drama is in the facts being narrated and need not much emphasizing by the actors.

very good by all means, but just a bit overacted, to my modest opinion.

pion

This is a good crime/thriller movie. Anyone who likes similar movies, with police investigations/whodunnit as a plot, will like this as well. It's not a masterpiece and the conclusion feels a bit rushed and not too clever, but it's enjoyable overall, without plot holes and somewhat unpredictable. I didn't guess who the culprit is, so this movie is successful in my books. Don't expect mindblowing twists/action/car chases etc. Biggest quality here is the verisimilitude and the acting. Germi is excellent, his character is magnetic and charismatic, i 'd say even that his character is ahead of his time. Of course it's a bit outdated but this is totally norma for a 1959 movie. This is a 2 hours/B&W 1958 movie and it never got boring. Every fan of this genre will enjoy it.

I've always felt that the post-war period of Italian and Japanese films contains the highest concentration of quality films, and I continue to discover new gems. Having finally recently seen Germi's 'Seduced and Abandoned', I've begun digging deeper into his filmography, and was not disappointed with 'Un Maledetto Imbroglio' ('The Facts of Murder').

At its heart 'The Facts of Murder' is a pretty straightforward police procedural, albeit a fairly complex and convoluted one for 1959. A break-in investigation soon becomes much more complicated and Inspector Ciccio Ingravallo, played perfectly by Germi himself, must dig through a series of shady, duplicitous characters to uncover the truth.

While it may not have the suspense or surprises of a Hitchcock or a giallo, what this film has is pure watchability, thanks to the attention to detail of a master director at the top of his game.

The casting is superb, with a slew of credible characters, including the great Saro Urzì as the cheeky Marshal Saro and Claudio Gora as the slimy, sweaty Remo Banducci. The acting is superb, particularly Germi, who is easily one of the best actors I've seen, just super-interesting and an absolute joy to watch. The camera work effortlessly carries us through the story, never bringing attention to itself. The script is utterly believable, real-life quirky dialogue peppered with lovely comic moments.

I mean, the level of craft in this film is astounding, and even though it wasn't the most original plot, I just loved every moment of this film. I'll be watching it again at some point, just to catch some of the brilliant quips and perfectly acted moments.

Well worth seeing for many reasons: for the complex plot with many connections among those involved in a theft and a seemingly unrelated murder; for a look at Italy in 1959; for the good acting and fast cutting; and for the humor in the script.