Una donna ha ucciso

Based on a murder case that became a cause célèbre in Italy during WW II, this "woman's picture" begins on a train with a gun accidentally falling out of a gal's purse and the old lady in the compartment with her tells her not to do anything rash until she hears the sorry saga of a friend -a teenager who loved not wisely but too well and ended up shooting her worthless soldier lover (a Brit in the movie, an American GI in real life) with his own gun during the war. After hearing the old woman's cautionary tale, the young one gets off the train and throws her gun away -on the tracks for anyone to find, including a child. Now how stupid is that -and while I'm at it, how could a scenario so rife with melodramatic potential be so damned dull? A pair of singularly uncharismatic stars (Frank Latimore & Lianella Carell) didn't help, either, although I did like the musical number -Ricky Ricardo's "Babalu" of all things. Peplum director Vittorio Cottafavi made a series of "feminist" soapers in the early '50s but if A WOMAN HAS KILLED is any indication, it's a good thing he turned to togas.

The movie is a long flashback:in the train ,it seems that a desperate woman is about to commit suicide;to comfort her,and to dissuade her from doing so,a woman begins to tell her the story of one of her friends (or maybe it's her own story).

This is the classic story of an Italian romantic girl who falls for an American buck just after WW2.She thinks she will live her love forever but forever always ends.Besides,the officer is not romantic at all (he learns to be with one of his pals and he just pretends) ,selfish and it won't be long till he finds another squeeze .

The best moment is when the boor is on the phone,despising the girl and putting her down while she's behind him and hearing it all .When he notices her presence ,he does not even bother to stop his odious verbiage ."I am cynical" he said to the person he was calling.

This is a rather stodgy melodrama ,often boring ,with OK performances .Besides ,all the Americans speak Italian,even between them,they even write their notes in this language ;not a single English word in the whole movie!the only sentence which is not in Italian is in French!