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L'assassino

Posted: Wed Feb 19, 2014 9:06 am
by TonyleStephanois
Image

Arrow Academy is proud to present L’Assassino, the debut feature of the late Italian director Elio Petri, a man whose films have often been unjustly overlooked in favour of other more heralded filmmakers.

L’Assassino tells the story of 30-something antiques dealer Alfredo Martelli (Marcello Mastroianni) who, at the film’s outset, finds himself under suspicion for murdering his wealthy older lover. As the investigation presses on, a series of flashbacks gives us an insight into Alfredo’s character and the nature of his relationship with his now deceased lover Adalgisa (Micheline Presle).

With its Kafkaesque mood and distincly political bent, Petri’s first film bears many of the hallmarks of his later work. In the director’s own words, “L’Assassino reflected the changes wrought by the early 60s. [What it was about] was a new generation of upstarts who lacked any kind of moral scruple.”

SPECIAL FEATURES:
- New 2K digital restoration from the Cineteca di Bologna
- Newly created exclusive content
- Reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork
- Collector’s booklet featuring new writing on the film, archive content and more!
- More to be announced closer to the release date

Re: L'Assassino

Posted: Wed Feb 19, 2014 12:42 pm
by ellipsis7
Great news... I picked up the Italian windowboxed DVD, which is so-so, and had been looking at the French Blu Ray, so this is more than an answer to my prayers...

Re: L'Assassino

Posted: Wed Feb 19, 2014 12:52 pm
by Drucker
I too am excited for this release, after discovering Petri through Investigation of a Citizen last year.

Re: L'Assassino

Posted: Wed Feb 19, 2014 5:01 pm
by criterion10
Excellent news. I've been meaning to check out other films by Elio Petri after having discovered Investigation of a Citizen Above Suspicion a few months ago. I will be importing this pronto, and I believe that The 10th Victim is also receiving a UK Blu-Ray release soon, which may be worthwhile if it improves upon the supposedly lackluster Blue Underground release.

Re: L'Assassino

Posted: Thu May 15, 2014 11:11 am
by Finch
Pushed back to July.

Re: L'Assassino

Posted: Thu May 15, 2014 11:26 am
by ellipsis7
Yes.I was wondering where my Arrow pre-order had got to... Is there an exact new date yet?...

UPDATE: Actually now I see it's 21st July....

Re: L'Assassino

Posted: Thu May 22, 2014 4:43 am
by MichaelB
THE LADYKILLER OF ROME

Released within months of Fellini’s La Dolce Vita and Antonioni’s La Notte, Elio Petri’s dazzling first feature L’Assassino also stars Marcello Mastroianni, this time as dandyish thirtysomething antiques dealer Alfredo Martelli, arrested on suspicion of murdering his older, far wealthier lover Adalgisa (Micheline Presle). But as the increasingly Kafkaesque police investigation proceeds, it becomes less and less important whether Martelli actually committed the crime as his entire lifestyle is effectively put on trial.

Best known for Investigation of a Citizen Above Suspicion and The Tenth Victim, Petri was one of the finest and yet most underrated Italian directors of the 1960s and 70s. Highly acclaimed on its original UK release but unjustly neglected since, L’Assassino is a remarkably assured debut from one of the cinema’s sharpest chroniclers of Italian social and political realities. Petri said that he wanted to reflect the changes wrought by the early sixties, and to examine “a new generation of upstarts who lacked any kind of moral scruple”.

Arrow Academy is proud to present the first ever UK video release of L’Assassino in a gorgeous high-definition restoration created by the Cineteca di Bologna.


SPECIAL FEATURES:
New 2K digital restoration from the Cineteca di Bologna

Uncompressed Mono 2.0 PCM Audio

Elio Petri and L’Assassino, an introduction by Italian cinema expert Pasquale Iannone

Tonino Guerra: A Poet in the Movies: Nicola Tranquillino’s documentary about the great Italian screenwriter

Theatrical Trailer

Reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Jay Shaw

Booklet featuring new writing on the film by Elio Petri expert Camilla Zamboni, plus a selection of contemporary reviews

Re: L'Assassino

Posted: Thu May 22, 2014 7:08 am
by ellipsis7
The Tonino Guerra doc is a valuable addition...

Re: L'Assassino

Posted: Thu May 22, 2014 7:20 am
by MichaelB
ellipsis7 wrote:The Tonino Guerra doc is a valuable addition...
Yes, I spent ages trying to justify it because he says very little about Petri or L'Assassino - but it's such a lovely little film in its own right and it's by no means obvious which film it should ideally accompany (since it's primarily about Guerra himself: his vast filmography is incidental) that we thought we'd go for it.

I also didn't want to duplicate any of the extras on Criterion's Investigation of a Citizen Above Suspicion, since I imagine there'd be a fair overlap between purchasers of these discs - and had a very limited budget, so could only really afford one homegrown and one bought-in piece. And since both Pasquale Iannone (on video) and Camilla Zamboni (in the booklet) cover Petri in detail, it made sense to deal with the film's other great creative contributor. Of course, Marcello Mastroianni was the other person I could have focused on, but he's also pretty well documented elsewhere.

Re: L'Assassino

Posted: Thu May 22, 2014 10:24 am
by FerdinandGriffon
Arrow wrote:With its Kafkaesque mood and distincly political bent, Petri’s first film bears many of the hallmarks of his later work.
Arrow wrote:But as the increasingly Kafkaesque police investigation proceeds, it becomes less and less important whether Martelli actually committed the crime as his entire lifestyle is effectively put on trial.
Cripes. The worm can is opened once again (by a Petri film!). Kafka revisionists, have at it.

Re: L'Assassino

Posted: Sun Jun 01, 2014 3:41 am
by ellipsis7
And isn't this a thing of absolute beauty?... More nice work, Michael...

Image

Re: L'Assassino

Posted: Sun Jun 01, 2014 3:46 am
by MichaelB
I'm very very happy with the artwork - Jay Shaw did an absolutely blinding job (as ever - he was also responsible for the recent covers for The Long Goodbye and Sullivan's Travels), and designer Emily Fordham has threaded his visual ideas throughout the booklet.

(The latter now has, in addition to Petri expert Camilla Zamboni's 4,000-word analysis of the film, a translation of Petri's own 3,000-word manifesto for Italian cinema from 1957: 'Italian Cinema: A Castrated Elephant'.)

Re: L'Assassino

Posted: Sun Jun 01, 2014 3:56 am
by ellipsis7
MichaelB wrote:(The latter now has, in addition to Petri expert Camilla Zamboni's 4,000-word analysis of the film, a translation of Petri's own 3,000-word manifesto for Italian cinema from 1957: 'Italian Cinema: A Castrated Elephant'.)
Wonderful... What a release this is turning out to be!...

L'Assassino

Posted: Sun Jun 01, 2014 5:15 am
by MichaelB
I'm delighted with the way it's turning out. At present, sadly, it's the only Petri feature where both the rights and a decent HD master are available to independent UK labels, so I was determined to do as good a job as I could.

The only other Petri feature currently available in the UK is Shameless's The Tenth Victim, and my understanding is that that's it for now - in all other cases, there either isn't a decent master (or at least not one suitable for Blu-ray), or the rights are held by someone like Sony UK (Investigation of a Citizen Above Suspicion), which doesn't currently sub-licence its back catalogue.

Re: L'Assassino

Posted: Sun Jun 01, 2014 7:52 am
by Finch
I hate to be the dissenting voice but I liked the temporary cover better. Is that going to be available as a reversible sleeve?

Re: L'Assassino

Posted: Sun Jun 01, 2014 9:36 am
by chatterjees
Finch wrote:I hate to be the dissenting voice but I liked the temporary cover better. Is that going to be available as a reversible sleeve?
You just stole my words. I loved that temporary cover too. I do hope they can use it as a reversible cover. I also like the French BD cover a lot. Let's see what we end up with. It feels like we are waiting for a long time.

Re: L'Assassino

Posted: Sun Jun 01, 2014 11:15 am
by MichaelB
It is indeed the reversible sleeve, so it's entirely your choice.

Re: L'Assassino

Posted: Sun Jun 01, 2014 11:27 am
by perkypat
I notice there's a Petri retrospective at Karlovy Vary FF. Don't know if this means there are more films going to become available. Good to see him getting wider recognition anyway.

Re: L'Assassino

Posted: Thu Jul 03, 2014 8:57 am
by MichaelB
Final copies have just arrived at Arrow, and I think it's turned out rather well:

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Re: L'Assassino

Posted: Thu Jul 03, 2014 12:50 pm
by antnield
More packaging pics on the Arrow Tumblr.

Re: L'Assassino

Posted: Mon Jul 07, 2014 1:00 pm
by What A Disgrace
I just got a shipping notification for this.

Re: L'Assassino

Posted: Tue Jul 15, 2014 5:45 pm
by Palander
Watched this the other night and really enjoyed it. A great, Kafkaesque film. Great acting and a fantastic jazzy score by Piero Piccioni which shone on the HD audio track. Video quality was superb too reminding me of Rififi at times. My first Elio Petri film, nice discovering great directors later in life. Looking forward to A Citizen Above Suspicion next. All in all, another nicely produced work by Arrow. Great booklet produced by Michael B too. Keep 'em coming.

Re: L'Assassino

Posted: Sat Jul 19, 2014 4:56 pm
by MichaelB
The Least Picture Show - the first review I've seen by someone who's watched the extras as well.

Re: L'Assassino

Posted: Thu Jul 24, 2014 5:07 am
by MichaelB
Surprisingly, given the lack of splattering gore and insanity, L'Assassino has gone down very well at Stigmatophilia's gore splattered corner of insanity - this is one of the more detailed reviews it's had to date.

Re: L'Assassino

Posted: Sat Jul 26, 2014 3:15 am
by ellipsis7
A lovely release this, with the Tonino Guerra docu a real treasure!...