Directed by star Pietro Germi and written by Ennio De Concini based on That Awful Mess on Via Merulana by Carlo Emilio Gadda, The Facts of Murder starts with a mystery. How did someone have time to find the valuable jewelry in Commendatore Anzaloni’s apartment and get away so quickly? The police, led by Inspector Ciccio Ingravallo (Germi) start to follow Assuntina (Claudia Cardinale), the maid of next-door neighbor Liliana Banducci (Eleonora Rossi Drago), but soon Liliana’s body is found by her cousin Dr. Valdarena (Franco Fabrizi). He removes a letter before the police arrive and hey, why did Liliana change her will last week?

This appears as part of Radiance’s World Noir, along with Witness In the City and  I Am Waiting. It’s intriguing to see noir from a country that usually gives his giallo, so this was a great watch.

The Radiance Films blu ray release of The Facts of Murder has a new 4K restoration of the film by L’Immagine Ritrovata at the Cineteca di Bologna, plus a new interview with Pietro Germi expert Mario Sesti, a documentary about Pietro Germi, and a visual essay by Paul A. J. Lewis on the presence of noir trends in Italian cinema and the evolution of the genre. You can get the film from MVD.