Under smooth skin

Movie
German title	Under smooth skin
Original title	Un maledetto imbroglio
Country of production	Italy
original language	Italian
Publishing year	1959
length	105 minutes
Age rating	FSK 16
Rod
Director	Pietro Germi
script	Alfredo Gianetti Ennio De Concini Pietro Germi
production	Giuseppe Amato
music	Carlo Rustichelli
camera	Leonida Barboni
cut	Roberto Cinquini
occupation
Pietro Germi : Commissario Ingravallo Claudia Cardinale : Assuntina, the maid Franco Fabrizi : Massimo Valdarena Cristina Gaioni : Virginia Claudio Gora : Remo Banducci Eleonora Rossi Drago : Liliana Banducci, Assuntina's boss Saro Urzì : Maresciallo Saro Nino Castelnuovo : Diomede Ildebrando Santafe : Anzaloni Peppino De Martino : Dr. Fumi Silla Bettini : Brigadiers Oreste Loretta Capitoli : Camilla Nanda De Santis : Zamira Gianni Musy : Retalli, first thief Toni Ucci : Er Patata, second thief Vincenzo Tocci : Filone, third thief Antonio Acqua : General Pomilia Maria Saccenti : his wife April Hennessy : the American Antonio Gradoli : Maresciallo Mariano

Under Smooth Skin is an Italian crime drama from 1959 by and with Pietro Germi in the lead role of an investigative, Roman police commissioner. The socially critical story is based on a novel by Carlo Emilio Gadda .

action

The wealthy bachelor Anzaloni is broken into. The masked thief flees with some valuables and is not recognized. One suspects Diomede, the fiancé of the maid Assuntina, who is employed in the neighboring apartment. When he sees the police questioning his bride, he immediately begins to pile up. But he has an alibi, an American. A little later, the maid's boss, Signora Banducci, is found murdered. Her body is discovered on the floor by her cousin Massimo Valdarena, who was about to pay her a visit. The police are investigating in the form of Commissario Ingravallo, a connection between the two acts cannot be ruled out.

Ingravallo proceeds with great doggedness and secures the few remaining traces. He notices that the masked thief discovered the stolen valuables surprisingly easily and quickly. In addition, Valdarena removed a letter addressed to himself from the apartment. Remo Banducci, who was outside Rome at the time of the crime, is astonished that his wife recently changed her will to his disadvantage. In the course of the investigation, more and more inconsistencies and lies become apparent, the neatly maintained facades of those involved crumble, and abysses peel off behind their supposed decency. Soon there are findings that show both cases in a completely different light. The thief is finally caught, but the murder remains unsolved for the time being. But suddenly there is a new lead with which you can finally find the perpetrator,

Production notes

Under Smooth Skin was premiered in Turin on November 11, 1959. In the Federal Republic of Germany the film opened on March 31, 1961, in the GDR on February 3 of the same year.

Awards

• The script and Claudio Gora in the best supporting role were awarded the Nastro d'Argento in 1960 .
• Also in 1960 Unter smooth skin received the Globo d'oro in the category "Best Film"
• At the film festival of the Argentine Mar del Plata in 1960 director Germi was awarded.
• In 1961 the film was given the title “valuable” in Germany.
• In 1962, the Sant Jordi Film Prize also went to Germi, but this time in the “Best Foreign Actor” category.

criticism

Bucher's encyclopedia of the film called Unter smooth Haut "a gripping, socially critical crime film."

"A formally unbalanced and psychologically not entirely credible, yet captivating crime film with clear moral accents."

- Lexicon of International Films

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Bucher's Encyclopedia of Films, Verlag CJ Bucher, Lucerne and Frankfurt / M. 1977, p. 293.
2. ^ Under Smooth Skin in the Lexicon of International Films

Web links

• Under smooth skin in the Internet Movie Database (English)