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7/10
Dramatic Spanish/Italian Noir Film with a baroque intrigue , plot twists and fine performance
ma-cortes21 June 2021
After years with no seeing , two old University mates find at a typical Madrid Tasca . Nowadays , Martin : Raf Vallone is a perfume salesman , a surly man who was expelled from Law School , while Roberto : Julio Peña is a wealthy lawyer at Law . After a violent fight , they reconcile and both of whom go home and Martin accompanies him , then he meets his wife Berta : Elena Varzi and falls for her . And later on , the sulky Martín schemes the perfect crime .

A decent Film noir with a complex plot and lots of twists and turns , being written by prestigious Carlos Blanco , though including some improbable events . Along the way, there is a story of the Police procedure carried out by the veteran Felix Defauce as a cunning Inspector and his underling sub-inspector , the likeable Fernando Fernan Gómez. Here stands out the excellent plethora of actors , however , most of them were dubbed , as usual at the time . Being a Spanish/Italian co-production appears the popular Latin Lover Raf Vallone who gives nice acting as the angry and revengeful ex-solicitor , Julio Peña as the unfortunate victim , Elena Varzi -Vallone's wife in real life- as his spouse and a very young , beautiful Emma Penella . Accompanying them , brief interpretations from prestigious Spanish secondaries as Anibal Vela , Fernando Sancho , Beni Deus Francisco Bernal and Antonio Riquelme.

It contains atmospheric cinematography by Manuel Berenguer , including sightseeing from Madrid , El Retiro , Puerta Del Sol , Palace El Pardo , typical streets , alongside El Escorial and Toledo . Equally , evocative musical score by Manuel Parada , adding some songs sung by Emma Penella who plays a jealous chorist . The motion picture was professionally directed by Jose Luis Saez de Heredia and it was successful enough as Spain as Italy . Heredia was a notorious writer and filmmaker , being a controversial figure because of his unbashed and strong support of dictator Francisco Franco . His best period was in the 40s and 50s when he made important dramas as El Escándalo, Raza , Bambú, Mariona Rebull , Mies Es Mucha , Aguas Bajan Negras , Don Juan , among others .
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9/10
Excellent Spanish Italian noir
manuel-pestalozzi18 February 2009
Warning: Spoilers
The storyline and the style of this movie make this a full fledged entry in the genre of film noir. The cinematography, especially in the many scenes shot at night, is superb. Raf Vallone and Elena Varzi (both Italians and a married couple in real life) star. They are really good.

Short synopsis (SPOILERS)

It is about a man who stopped his studies in law to become an itinerant salesman for perfumes, a very bitter character in a Humphrey Bogart raincoat who sees himself as victim (seems to be just a state of mind). A friend from university who „got it made" runs into him in a restaurant, and to say that the salesman is displeased with the encounter is a gross understatement. The friend is so drunk that the salesman grudgingly agrees to his pleading to take him home. There he meets the friend's trophy wife which instantly triggers an erotically charged love-hate relationship. The friend has trouble with his mistress and knocks a competitor down a flight of stairs, thinking he killed him. This he tells the salesman asking him to procure an alibi for him. The salesman sees his chance to get rid of the man and get the wife for himself. He convinces the man to fake a suicide in a public place and then exchanges the pistol loaded with blanks with one that has real bullets. The man kills himself, and there are many spectators around to prove it. His widowed wife smells foul-play and enters a relationship with the salesman in order to get to the bottom of it while the police also try to „nail the guy". There is a good surprise ending in the hunting lodge of the woman, a master hunter, with all her trophies hanging on the wall.

Being interested in Spanish cinema, I recently also purchased the better known „Muerte di un ciclista" of 1955, the storyline of which has some similarity. I frankly thought this one was superior, although maybe not as „politically pure" as the former. According to IMDb this movie was filmed in the Cinecittà studios in Rome, there are also quite a few daylight shots of Madrid and el Escurial. In my opinion this is a quality picture.
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