Ai margini della metropoli (1952)

User Rating:

5.5/10   

Directors:

Carlo Lizzani
Massimo Mida (co-director)

Writers:

Angelo D'Alessandro (screenplay)
Angelo D'Alessandro (story)

Release Date:

23 June 1956 (East Germany)

Genre:

Crime | Drama

Cast

Massimo Girotti	...	Avv. Roberto Martini
Marina Berti	...	Luisa
Giulietta Masina	...	Gina Ilari
Michel Jourdan	...	Mario Ilari
Lucien Gallas	...	Avv. di P.C. (as Lucien Galas)
Rossana Martini	...	Elena
Adriana Sivieri	...	Greta
Patrizia Lari	...	Betty
Paola Borboni	...	Madre di Luisa
Giulio Calì	...	Calì
Amilcare Fabrizio	...	Fabrizio
Antonio Nicotra
Benedetta Rutili
Cesare Fantoni
Carlo d'Elia

Runtime:

West Germany:96 min

Country:

Italy

Language:

Italian

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

West Germany:12

Company:

Elios Film

I didn't do it!

*** This comment may contain spoilers ***

(Some spoilers) This atmospheric piece has all the hallmarks of a neorealist film within the conventions of a crime story. It is about one Mario Hari (Michel Jourdan) an unemployed worker who is wrongly accused of murdering a woman and who is defended by lawyer Roberto Martini (Massimo Girotti), who doesn't believe, for much of the film at least, that his client is innocent. The hapless man has a girl, Gina, and a child by her. The long-suffering woman (played by the marvelous Giulietta Masina before her great films with Fellini) and her hapless man get married while he is being detained in prison awaiting trial. She is the only one who truly believes in his innocence. Martini had been asked by a friend of Gina, Lucia (Marina Bertini), to take the case, which he does with reluctance. As a by-product Marina and the lawyer fall in love.

During the course of the movie, events come to light pointing to the man's being a victim of circumstance with no direct links to the murder, and, of course ultimately the true culprit is found when he kills someone else. We have fairly standard stuff here, even tedious and predictable. What gives the film a nice edge is the use of the many gritty location settings, the interesting secondary characters such as the old Neapolitan vagabond Cali', who asserts he saw Mario near the scene of the crime at the time it occurred. And of course the presence of Giulietta Masina is a great asset.

Director Carlo Lizzani was closely aligned with the Italian neorealist cinema at its start. He began as a film critic, wrote a history of the Italian cinema, was assistant to Roberto Rossellini on GERMANY YEAR ZERO and assistant to other directors until he made his first film as director, ACHTUNG! BANDITI, in 1951. The photography was by Gianni Di Venanzo, who would go on to shoot Antonioni's LA NOTTE and L'ECLISSE as well as Fellini's 8 ½.