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.
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.