Released in the United States in 1952 to benefit from the moderate success of IL MULATTO (ANGELO), this movie operates in a very different mode. IL MULATTO was a sentimental drama about a boy who was the son of a married Italian girl and a black American G.I. who had seduced her, and the problems the child incurs when the husband of his mother rejects him after her death. ANGELO IN THE CROWD, on the other hand, is a taut little melodrama about an orphan boy who witnesses a brutal murder, gets lost in the city of Rome, is almost strangled by the killer until the police intervene. Angelo Maggio, the appealing little boy who plays in both films, does a great job here as well. Shown in Italy from time to time on TV, the movie remains very difficult to see in the U.S. It was also known as STRANGE WITNESS.
