The Police Accuse... The Secret Service Kills (1975) aka Silent Action
The actual outline of this film is fairly straightforward. As soon as the opening credits have rolled three high ranking military officials seemingly commit suicide (Although it's clear to the viewer they are murdered). The press report the suicides but Luc Merrenda's police inspector isn't convinced and begins a murder investigation.
Co-starring Mel Ferrer and Tomas Milian, this is a classy thriller from the prolific Sergio Martino. Like many of these Poliziotteschi thrillers the plot twists and turns and we don't really know who the protagonists are until the big reveal although in truth it's not difficult to guess. Where Silent Action stood out for me from the others in the genre i've seen were the action set pieces, especially a police assault from the skies on a mountaintop paramilitary camp which is particularly thrilling and especially epic.
The remainder of the film is an absorbing procedural thriller as the terrific Merrenda uncovers the clues to the murders - one of which is particularly nasty and beautifully staged - and begins to uncover corruption at the highest levels.
The 2K restoration released by new UK label Fractured Visions has had a bit of flak from those with too much time on their hands regarding it's image quality but i thought it looked fantastic for a rather obscure Italian film from nigh on fifty years ago. Certainly at times it doesn't look like the latest Disney blockbuster but that's to be expected, isn't it. Given it's lack of home disc releases it's difficult to actually compare what it may have once looked like anyway.
I haven't watched any of the extras yet but looked at their run times and found there to be well over three hours of documentaries and interviews including two fifty odd minute features in The Age of Lead: Italy in the Seventies Between Fact and Fiction and The Milian Connection, which i'll get stuck into this week.
One final mention for the soundtrack by Luciano Michelini, it's one that genuinely stands out whilst watching the movie and i'll be delighted to listen to the 57minute cd that comes with this great Blu-ray package.
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