Letter written by to the film critic Morando Morandini. Coll. MNC

CINETECA DI BOLOGNA Via Riva di Reno 72, 40122 Bologna - Italia Tel. +39 051 2194.820 - Fax +39 051 2194.821 A RESTORATION FOR CANNES CLASSICS 2011 www.cinetecadibologna.it by

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Design: www.desilvaassociati.com www.museocinema.it Courtesy by Titanus L’ASSASSINO (THE ASSASSIN) In order to regain its original splendour, a digital grading was carried out using a contemporary positive print as a reference, preserved by the production company Titanus in Bologna’s Cineteca film archive. The original sound was digitally restored starting from the 35 mm optical negative, used to print a positive sound- track. Once this element was created, it was possible to digitally clean it and reduce background noise caused by The film wear and tear. The restoration produced an archive duplicate and a new negative soundtrack. Moreover, a complete The Assassin, Elio Petri’s first feature film, highlights right from the start some of the characteristics which would back-up of all files created by the digital restoration was done on various different kinds of digital media. prove to be peculiarities of this Roman film director’s intense and varied work. All the characters are viewed from The work was carried out by the L’Immagine Ritrovata laboratory in 2011. the point of view of a disenchanted analysis of people who find themselves in the alienating environment of modern life and the relationship between the individual and hierarchies of power. Elio Petri Alfredo Martelli is a young antiques dealer who doesn’t have too many qualms when it comes to getting ahead in life: he sells for a fortune objects that he himself acquired for a few pence, he deals in fake paintings, he ruins his Elio Petri (Rome, 29 January 1929 - 10 November 1982) competitors by spreading libellous rumours about them, he betrays the trust of his friend Morello, becoming his Born into a family of craftsmen, Petri began working as a film critic on “L’Unità”, before debuting in the wife Adalgisa’s lover. One morning he is stopped by the flying squad and is taken to the police station. While he world of film as a screenwriter and director’s assistant on Giuseppe De Santis’s Rome 11:00. After having is waiting to talk to police chief Palumbo, he thinks that his slightly unorthodox behaviour is the reason for his directed a few short films, he debuted in 1961 with The Assassin, followed by I giorni contati (1962). After arrest. However Palumbo reveals that Adalgisa, who by now has become Alfredo’s ex-lover, has been found mur- a few films where he attempted to complete a personal analysis of Italian society, poised between tradition dered. Everyone is convinced that Martelli is the murderer, except for his former cleaner Rosetta, who even goes and modernity, he pursued the path of political film in an increasingly lucid fashion: this path would lead so far as to confess to the murder herself. While questioning other witnesses, the police manage to shed some to films of hard-hitting social denunciation, such as Investigation of a Citizen Above Suspicion (1970, which light on the crime and Alfredo is cleared. But the long hours spent in the police station have not changed this man’s won an Oscar for best foreign film and the Grand Prize at the Cannes Film Festival) and The Working Class existence, and he goes back to his old ways. Goes to Heaven (1971, Palme d’Or at the Cannes Film Festival, alongside ’s The Mattei Affair). Alfredo Martelli’s story is that of a mediocre man who finds himself trapped by a powerful, probing police force whose His often merciless portraits of Italian society were completed by Property is no longer a theft (1973), a bitter methods he doesn’t understand, because power - by its very nature - tends to hide and disguise its methods, when it doesn’t reflection on the role of money and (1976), which reflected the decline of the Christian Democratic try to distort them altogether. Thanks to its significant importance as a political and social analysis, The Assassin had party, a film which was removed from cinemas only a month after its release. His film career ended with Le mani several problems with censorship, especially because it showed the Italian police using unorthodox methods. sporche (1978) - a version of Jean-Paul Sartre’s Les Mains Sales, produced for Rai television - and Good News (1979), produced by the film director with Giancarlo Giannini. «I had just made Giorni d’amore () with Giuseppe De Santis and there was his assistant and screenwriter In 2007, Paola Pegoraro Petri, Elio Petri’s wife, donated the director’s entire archive - consisting of docu- Elio Petri. We hit it off from the start. One day Elio brought me this script, which I found very clever and unusual and ments, screenplays, photographs, notes and letters - to the National Cinema Museum of Turin. This Fund is I said that we would certainly make it. The Assassin was a delightful film. I found a poster of it in Martin Scorsese’s also the source of all the photographs and letters published in these pages. Below: home in Hollywood, the rooms are full of Italian film posters, and this moved me and filled me with pride.» Franco Ressel (from behind) and in Marcello Mastroianni L’Assassino (The Assassin, 1961). Photo by Giovan Battista L’assassino Poletto. Coll. MNC «Elio Petri and I imposed a completely different tempo on the film compared with the usual and we adopted a Director: Elio Petri; Story: Elio Petri, ; Screenplay: Elio Petri, Tonino Guerra, Pasquale Festa Toni Ucci, Marcello Mastroianni and Paolo Panelli in L’Assassino completely new technique to edit The Assassin, at the same time that Godard was doing the same with A bout de Campanile, Massimo Franciosa; Assistant director: Giuliano Montaldo; Directors’ assistants: Giorgio Trentin, (The Assassin, 1961). Photo by Giovan Battista Poletto. Coll. MNC souffle. However we hadn’t seen his film.» Adolfo Cagnacci; Director of photography: Carlo Di Palma; Cameraman: Dario Di Palma; Editor: Ruggero Ruggero Mastroianni Mastroianni; Music: Piero Piccioni, directed by the composer; Music published by: Titanus; The cast: Marcello

Above: Mastroianni (Alfredo Martelli), Micheline Presle (Adalgisa De Matteis), Cristina Gaioni (Nicoletta Nogara), Salvo Elio Petri on the set of La classe operaia va in paradiso (The Jean Gili: «We already find, in The Assassin, a policeman who uses ‘illegal’ methods». Randone (police chief Palumbo), Marco Mariani (police chief Margiotta), Franco Ressel (Dr. Francesconi), Working Class Goes to Heaven, 1971). Photo by Sergio Elio Petri: «It is, I believe, in Italy and everywhere, the methods of the police: That’s to say creating a charge by Giovanna Gagliardo (Rosetta, housemaid), Paolo Panelli (Paolo, prisoner), Toni Ucci (Toni, prisoner); Production: Strizzi. Coll. MNC whatever means, abstractly. From the moment that you are face to face with the authorities, you are guilty. Franco Cristaldi for Vides, Titanus, S.G.C. (Paris); Country: Italy; Length: c. 95’; Year: 1961. Marcello Mastroianni in L’Assassino (The Assassin, 1961). Naturally, for this film, I was subjected to appalling censorship attacks. I was forced to make ninety modifications. Photo by Giovan Battista Poletto. Coll. MNC For example the informers, before we had a better understanding that they were informers; and yet, I had to Filmography darken a portion of the film stock. That is one of the most serious ones, but there were really stupid things; for example the policeman spoke with a strong Sicilian accent: I had to redo the dubbing because the censorship 1954 Nasce un campione (short film) judged it to be offensive. I was younger, I wrote letters in the newspapers, but… The producer had obligated me 1957 I sette contadini (short film) to make changes and I was not able to find the strength to rebel, to say: «No, I am not doing them; let’s see what 1961 L’Assassino (The Assassin) there is deep down, what are their objectives?... ». The relations with the censorship were similar to those of 1962 I giorni contati Mastroianni with the policeman; since they did not give any written statement; they sent a middleman who said: 1963 Il maestro di Vigevano (The Teacher from Vigevano) «Here… here… here». The censorship did not use strong arm tactics, but there was still this threat of not 1964 Peccato nel pomeriggio (episode from the film Alta infedeltà, or ) releasing the film. Overall, there were ninety modifications…». 1965 La decima vittima () 1967 A ciascuno il suo (We Still Kill the Old Way) Jean A. Gili (by), Elio Petri, Faculty of Arts and Human Sciences, Nice 1974, p. 31 1968 Un tranquillo posto di campagna (A Quiet Place in the Country) 1970 Indagine su un cittadino al di sopra di ogni sospetto (Investigation of a Citizen Above Suspicion) 1971 La classe operaia va in paradiso (The Working Class Goes to Heaven) The restoration 1973 La proprietà non è più un furto (Property is no longer a theft) The digital restoration of The Assassin was done by starting with the original camera negative and, for the first and 1976 Todo Modo last reel, using a contemporary lavender print because the original negative in the archive had gaps. The two ele- 1978 Le mani sporche (film made for TV) ments were scanned at a resolution of 2K. 1979 Buone notizie ovvero la personalità della vittima (Good News) After scanning, the images were digitally stabilised and cleaned, removing dots, lines and visible joins.