Ai margini della metropoli

It's not a masterpiece, it's just a simple melodrama. But, there are in the cast, very young here, an actress and an actor I saw in some real masterpieces: Giulietta Masina from two super masterpieces by Federico Fellini, "La Strada" and "Nights of Cabiria", and Massimo Girotti from another super masterpiece, "Last Tango in Paris" by Bernardo Bertolucci. The beautiful Marina Berti plays a convincing role. But the one that shines from the entire cast is Giulietta Masina.

All the newspapers claim that Michel Jourdan killed his ex-lover, and his lawyer, Massimo Girotti tries to build his case on asking for clemency. Jourdan insists he is innocent, so Girotti does what investigating he can, with contact with witnesses forbidden him. Despite his fiancee being miffed because he seems to think an accused murderer's life is more important that me time, he and his typist, Marina Berti speak with Giulietta Masina, the mother of his child, and try to track down a mysterious woman called Greta. But they encounter suspicion in the collection of shacks and sheds where the witnesses live. After Girotti demolishes one of the witnesses, Giulio Calì, in court, Calì tells the men with his dog that he is, indeed, a wretch and hangs himself. Girotti doesn't understand. Signorina Berti shouts at him.

It all ends up with Girotti giving a great and passionate closing speech in court, arguing prejudice against the underclass and what in America would be called reasonable doubt. We never get to see the effects of this speech on the court, but in this obvious mix of neo-realism and a detective story, it doesn't really matter. The upper classes have wealth, position and certainty, while the poor hope in vain for enough work to sustain life.

This film reminds me of many British films showing the seamy side of life, with insecurities, poverty and being disadvantaged all leading to some inevitable tragedy. Most actors are solid here, except for a miscast Marina Berti. The story, however, is with a bit of gaping holes that the screenplay does nothing to cover up. All that said, there's a tinge of horror to the film just because of the camerawork and the shooting locales and sets. That the horror of a crime engendered because of poverty can weigh so heavy on the viewer is a feat achieved by only a very few director-cameraperson combos.

I picked this movie because I wanted to see Giulietta Masina outside a Fellini film. It was a good choice, even though the role of Giulietta is not a major one, but the movie convinces as a film noir with elements of neorealismo.

Should not there be an antihero in a film noir, you may want to ask. Well, what about the main protagonist, the lawyer Roberto Marini, who may not be the classical cynical antihero, but his motives to take over the case are not really noble ones and on top he starts from being convinced of the poor being guilty and untruthful just because of their living conditions.

Unlike Masina's flawless performance Massimo Girotti's acting as Roberte Marini often appeared a bit stiff to me but being a former sport star he was often casted primarily because of his good looks. The lovely Marina Berti as his assistant, however, makes up ground in the acting respect.

I also liked the good illustration of the suburbia lifes of the poor, which is the neorealismo part of the movie. Especially the scenes next to the river with the 3 homeless men (one of them being a suspect) are quite memorable.

Overall, I do recommend the movie, but it should be obvious that a film from the 50's is in black and white and that the quality of picture and sound are not today's state of the art.

A woman is murdered in the outskirts of the city among hovels and provisional building sites, where vagabonds live, and one of them has seen something. A man who was seen on the location is arrested, and there is a mass of circumstantial evidence pointing against him, while he insists he is innocent. Only his young wife (Giulietta Masina) with a baby believes and knows he is innocent. The attorney who is assigned his case can't believe he is innocent, but a friend of the young wife comes to terms with the attorney and gradually changes his mind. There are some terrific scenes, at the stadium when the police chases the escaped suspect, and in the later half in the shanty town with lots of spectators present for the final settlement, it is not a great film but very predictable, but it is worth watching for these scenes and for Giulietta Masina. The court proceedings are tedious, there is no real suspense, the action is rather commonplace, but the atmosphere and the environment settings are hauntingly fascinating, especially for the sake of the old tramp who plays on a saw, who actually becomes crucial for the drama.