Un comisar acuzã (1974)

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:

Amza Pellea, Gheorghe Dinica, Ion Besoiu

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Amza Pellea	...	Pirvu
Gheorghe Dinica	...	Paraipan
Ion Besoiu	...	Visan Nävodeanu
Jean Constantin	...	Limba
Emmerich Schäffer	...	Stan Naumescu
Sergiu Nicolaescu	...	Tudor Moldovan
Stefan Mihailescu-Braila	...	Nea Costache
Alexandru Dobrescu	...	Avocatul Marin
Marin Moraru	...	Ghitä Petrescu
Vasile Nitulescu	...	Ilarie Bucur
Jean Lorin Florescu	...	Alexandru Dincä
Ion Apahideanu
Mircea Pascu	...	Tänäsescu
Corneliu Gîrbea	...	Chirvase (as Cornel Gîrbea)
Pierre Gherase

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 | politics | chase | 

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Genres:

Action | Crime | Drama | Thriller

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Details

Country:

Romania

Language:

Romanian

Release Date:

1 April 1974 (Romania)

Also Known As:

A Police Inspector Calls

Filming Locations:

Romania

Company Credits

Production Co:

Romania Film

Technical Specs

Runtime:

114 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color (Eastmancolor)

Did You Know?

Goofs

When Ilarie Bucur (Vasile Nitulescu) calls Moldovan from Constanta, he greets him with: "Hello, Petre? This is me, Ilarie..." Later, Paraipan (Gh. Dinicä) inquires at a hotel's desk: "This is police, did you see commissioner Tudor Moldovan?"

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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

Follows Ultimul cartus (1973)

User Reviews

A surprisingly good action movie.

For the time when it was shot, "Un comisar acuzä" was surprisingly well done, catchy and fast paced. Unfortunately, it was also paying tribute to the communist propaganda, depicting the Iron Guards as gorilla-type hoodlums, when everyone in Romania knows they were ascetic and cultured looking intellectuals and students, with a touch of religious and nationalist fanaticism (a bit closer to the truth are the portrayals in "Actorul si sälbaticii", although that's also a history-misshaping movie). In the same vein, Tudor Moldovan remains a cardboard character, with poorly disguised communist sympathies - and worse, the director's conformism becomes obvious in the useless scenes showing the communist illegal printing presses and leaflets, closed with the slogan: "Let's unite our forces around the Romanian Communist Party!" But, after all, who needs historical truth and political honesty in a James Bond-type movie about a super-commissioner? True to himself, Sergiu Nicolaescu brings again on screen ancient cars that crash all together, fly over each other like Baudelaire's Albatross and explode like as many fireworks... Gunshots galore, bullet-impact effects all over the cast, stunt-men, extras and sets, slow-motion shots with a touch of poetic sarcasm (by the way, the hotel stairway scene is a faithful copy-paste from John Milius' "Dillinger", with just two additions: two victims instead of one, and slow-motion). Kudos for the photography of Nicolae Girardi (uncredited; it was signed only by Alexandru David), for the nervous editing of Dan Naum, and mainly for the thrilling score by Richard Oschanitzky. All in all, a delicious piece of entertaining adventure.