☆ ☆ ☆ ½
Illustrious Corpses (1976) – F. Rosi
I’ve been delighted to discover that there are
seemingly endless choices of films starring Lino Ventura as a weary police inspector
(competing with his portrayals of gangsters under stress). So, when I heard about this Italian offering
from director Francesco Rosi, I tracked it down but could not find a matching
subtitle file (and instead watched it with subtitles trailing the spoken word
by about 90 seconds – adding considerable confusion). The plot sees Ventura investigating the murder
of an Italian High Court judge which quickly turns into a series of murders of
judges on the bench. The clues start to
lead into a political direction at which point Ventura gets cautioned by his
superiors – you know the drill. However,
you might not expect where the film goes next and I won’t spoil the rather
downbeat conclusion. Suffice it to say
that the ending makes the film, although everything looks quite beautiful in
Italy as shot by Pasqualino De Santis.
Even with (or especially with) problematic subtitles, I still can’t get
over the Italian habit of post-synched sound though… but I guess it solves the
problem of having Max von Sydow feature as the Chief Justice of the High Court
(unless he speaks Italian).
No comments:
Post a Comment