Un comisar acuza (1975)

The Iron Guard, also known as Legion of Archangel Michael, was a Romanian nationalist and patriotic movement of extreme right; as such, after it rose to power, it supported Nazi Germany and... See full summary »

Director:

Sergiu Nicolaescu

Writers:

Eugen Burada, Vintilä Corbul,

Stars:

Mihai Adrian, Manea Alexandru, Nita Anastase

Cast

Credited cast:
Mihai Adrian
Manea Alexandru
Nita Anastase	...	Alexe
Mircea Anghelescu	...	Procurorul Varlungä
Ion Apahideanu
Valeriu Arnautu	...	Locotenentul Cristescu
Constantin Baltaretu	...	Medicul legist
Ion Barbu
Ion Besoiu	...	Visan Nävodeanu
Andrei Bursaci
Ion Bîrloiu
Benone Carmazan
Ioana Ciomârtan	...	Mama lui Moldovan
Jean Constantin	...	Limba
Dumitru Craciun

Storyline

The Iron Guard, also known as Legion of Archangel Michael, was a Romanian nationalist and patriotic movement of extreme right; as such, after it rose to power, it supported Nazi Germany and started a fierce campaign of retaliation against its political enemies. As such, in the night of November 26-27, 1940, the Death Teams executed forty political prisoners in the Jilava prison (in the movie, named "Viraga"), and next day, other two Teams arrested and shot the former minister Virgil Madgearu and the world famous historian Nicolae Iorga (in the movie: Costin Märgeanu and Nicolae Jugu). To squash down the political outcry, the Police Prefect Stefan Zävoianu (Visan Nävodeanu) conveniently assigns the cases to a commissioner from the "Morals Division" (prostitution, thieves), Tudor Moldovan, hoping that he will fail to get to the bottom of the case. However, Moldovan has communist sympathies, so he quickly comes under the influence of the Bolshevik Pîrvu, who had escaped during the Viraga...

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Plot Keywords:

1940s | chase | politics

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Genres:

Action | Crime | Drama | Thriller

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Details

Country:

Romania

Language:

Romanian

Release Date:

21 August 1975 (Hungary)

Also Known As:

A Police Inspector Calls

Filming Locations:

Bucharest, Romania

Company Credits

Production Co:

Romania Film

Technical Specs

Runtime:

114 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color (Eastmancolor)

Did You Know?

Goofs

During the Viraga massacre, the character Tänäsescu (Mircea Pascu) is seen together with other two guys of Paraipan's team, shooting on and on, with a fanatic expression; a few shots later, he appears alone in a doorway, calmly shooting; yet again, we return then to the previous group of three, with him fanatically shooting on and on.

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Quotes

Zavoianu: Dincä what shall we do? Vicsoreanu turns me crazy, and Panaitescu ruthlessly warned me: if anything leaks out, he'll hang us...
Alexandru Dincä: I have the solution in my pocket. We assign a smart inspector, liked by the people and not being an Iron Guard. This way, we put everybody's worries to sleep, and we follow with our plan.
Zavoianu: We don't need a too smart one. We risk that he turns all our plans upside down.
Alexandru Dincä: I'll handle the details. The investigation will conclude that the massacre at Viraga was the work of ...
[...]

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Connections

Followed by Revansa (1980)

User Reviews

Nicolaescu during the good old days...

I've seen the unique series of romanian action movies, directed in a great manner by expert romanian director Sergiu Nicolaescu many times. The story of this movie is about the investigation run by police inspector Tudor Moldovan (played by Sergiu Nicolaescu), in the case of the murders committed at a prison in Bucharest by the fascist movement in Romania , during the 1940's. The story was somewhat discussed by the communist regime that ruled Romania, when the movie was made, who imposed Nicolaescu to show the communist movement that appears in the movie in a good light, giving it an overated role during the events that took place during the 1940's. However, the main character, Tudor Moldovan, keeps a neutral political line, which is a strong point of the movie. Built up using the Hollywood hero type, Tudor Moldovan is intelligent, brave, intuitive and ofcourse, a heart-breaker. However, Nicolaescu , being the man of action, hasn't insisted too much on the sentimental part so we won't see women almost at all in the entire movie. Moldovan has to put up with his rival: the professional assasin, "Paraipan", excellent played by Gheorghe Dinica. Also, other characters like Limba, played by Jean Constantin, the small time punk that helps Moldovan in his investigation, gives the movie a wonderful comedy taste. The end of the movie, is made in Nicolaescu's typical manner: after making justice among the bad guys, Tudor Moldovan is also shot in a heroic battle. This leaves you with quite a bitter taste exactly in the end and shows you that Nicolaescu doesn't like happy endings.. Nicolaescu is a master in the work of a camera. This can be seen in all of his movies, here as well. Overall, young Nicolaescu looks good, as a director as well as the main character in the movie. So: good acting, performed by many great romanian actors, good directing, Nicolaescu style, nice story. A great movie that you should see. 9/10