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Released by: Sazuma
Released on: 9/12/2006
Director: Sergio Martino
Cast: Claudio Cassinelli, Gianfranco Barra
Year: 1975
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The Movie:
When the film begins, Marisa is hanging out at a dance where she meets Detective Paolo Germi (Martino regular Claudio Cassinelli of Island Of The Fishmen and The Great Alligator). She's not nearly as interested in him as he is in her but she pretends to be so that she can escape from the man in the mirrored sunglasses who is chasing her. She escapes but later that night he meets her at her apartment and slits her throat.
From there, an investigation is soon underway with Germi fast teaming himself up with a petty thief named Teti (Gianfranco Barra of Steno's excellent Execution Squad) and through a series of undercover cons they discover a prostitution racket specializing in younger, underage girls. While this is going on, a local politician's son is kidnapped - it seems that things are getting out of hand and quickly. Germi and Teti start using whatever means they deem necessary to try and crack the prostitution ring open, even if it means pissing off their boss (played by Mel Ferrer of Umberto Lenzi's Eaten Alive). The closer they get to figuring out who is behind it all the more dangerous things get for the unlikely duo.
So what exactly is this? Is it a giallo? The opening throat slashing scene and a couple of other grisly murder set pieces would seem to confirm this. But there's a lot of police work and a couple of chase sequences here too, indicating that maybe this was meant to be an Italian crime film. Adding to the confusion are a few scenes that were obviously intended for comedic relief, such as much of the interaction between Germi and Teti as well as a few odd moments of physical comedy like the scene where a car whips around the corner and sends a pedestrian into a headspin that would make Turbo and Boogaloo Shrimp green with envy. Is Martino playing this straight or is he poking fun at the two genres for which he's best known? There's a scene in the film where the investigation leads our two heroes to a theater where the patrons are watching Your Vice Is A Locked Door But Only I Have The Key - one of Martino's best known giallos - what makes this interesting is that no one in the theater really seems to be paying attention to the movie, they're more interested in making out in the dark. Whatever Martino's intentions were, there's no doubt that here, along with regular co-writer Ernesto Gastaldi, he has crafted a truly odd little film.
Despite the erratic nature of the story and the execution, however, The Suspected Death Of A Minor works fairly well. The comedic bits haven't aged so well and many of them feel corny but the murders are handled with a nice sense of malicious style and the car chase scenes are exciting and fast paced. Cassinelli makes for a suave lead despite the arrogance that his character exudes and he's perfectly capable of carrying the film. Ferrer's supporting role is also fun and the girls who make up many of the supporting characters are not only fun to look at but they also seem to fit the parts they play quite well. The weak link in the chain is Barra, but again, it's not so much his fault as it is the fault of the dated comedy in the film. When it's time for the action and suspense scenes he actually fares quite well.
In the end, The Suspected Death Of A Minor is a strange mish-mash of genres that falls into a few different catagories of Italian exploitation without confining itself to one specific genre. It's got style, tension, gratuitous nudity and J&B bottles, and a few nice murders - that should be enough to satiate most fans.
Video/Audio/Extras:
The 2.35.1 anamorphic transfer shows a little bit of wear and tear during the opening scene but soon fixes itself and remains clean and clear for the duration. The colors look nice and lifelike without any bleeing and the black levels stay strong and solid. Some mild grain is present throughout but it's never overpowering and fine detail is strong in both the foreground and the background of the image.
The film is presented in Italian with optional subtitles available in English, German and Dutch. While the range is limited and this does sound like an older mono mix, the track is pretty stable with only one or two scenes containing any audible hiss. For the most part, things are clean and clear and problem free.
The main extra feature on this release a twenty-six minute interview with Sergio Martino entitled Crime Scene Milan, conducted in Italian with optional German and English subtitles. In this interview, Martino talks about the political climate that was affecting Italy around the time that this movie was made, how he came to work with his brother on the project and what it was like shooting certain location scenes. Martino seems to remember the film pretty fondly and his memory is quite sharp as he covers the production in a fair bit of detail.
There's also a commentary track here with German film critics Christian Kessler and Robert Zion which has optional English subtitles. These two do an excellent job of examining the film and detailing where it fits in with Martino's other films and other giallos and polizia movies of the same era. They cover the cast and provide some interesting biographical information on them and they point out some smaller details that you might not notice as the film plays out. It's a pretty interesting disucssion and even if a track with those actually involved in making the film would have been preferable, this is a decent, informative and well thought out commentary.
Aside from that, Sazuma has included the original theatrical trailer for the film which plays in Italian only with no subtitle options, and a still gallery. Animated menus are included in both English and German language options. Inside the ultraslick gatefold packaging is a nice booklet containing liner notes, again in German and English, that explain the origins of the film and which contain some nice artwork and pictures from the movie.
The Final Word:
A rather elusive and completley off the wall Giallo/Polizia hybrid, The Suspected Death Of A Minor gets its DVD debut in grand style thanks to Sazuma who have awarded the film an excellent transfer and some very nice extra features as well.