"Il giorno della civetta" ("Day of the owl") is based on a novel by Leonardo Sciascia, a writer who is quite famous in Italy. The novel itself is a classic in Italy and is actually great, I had the pleasure to read it multiple times. He also wrote some other classics such as "Una storia semplice", "A ciascuno il suo" and "Todo Modo", which were all brought to the big screen (the latter two by the great Elio Petri)
these damiani political / mafia dramas seem to fit a different genre to action police dramas from the likes of lenzi; i can't see that they're as easy to identify. there's an anti-establishment, social / political, dialogue-heavy aspect that sets them apart. petri seems similar. any tips or pointers for others?
@@yobgol I think the main difference is the type of crime these novels/movies focus on. Lenzi, Martino, Tarantini, Dallamano, Massi usually focused on "city crime". Their movies are usually set in the same city and the lead character tries to take down a local crime organisation. It may be of the organized type (mafiosa), but still local. Politics are always involved, but on a less official scale. These so called "B movies" have plenty of action and less profound scripts that sometimes keep the real message kind of hidden. The critique to a corrupt system is often explicit and violent. On the other hand, novels like "The day of the owl" take a deep dive into the issues that society has to face and to live with when it comes to the real deal, the crime organizations that were able to permeate politics and society to a different level. We are talking about the whole country as an institution, not local or city crime. The critique here is more refined and intellectual, it's there, you feel it but you don't really see it. It's hard to explain, living in Italy and having been exposed to the subject my entire life obviously helps me quite a bit in undestanding the whole thing. I think the main difference between the two types of movies you were refferring to, at least to an italian, is that the violent action/crime ones feel like they are movies, while the others are the scariest and most disturbing because they feel like the reality of things. Things that could happen and probably have. To answer your question I'd suggest to check out some movies by Petri, Rosi (and even Squitieri to some extent) and the novels of Sciascia.
I totally agree!! The three films are all compelling, and really highlight Nero's acting skill. The set itself is impeccably made, looks gorgeous and has a whopping book that contains some great and fascinating reading. An all-round stonker of a set! 😊 On a further note, despite being a totally different genre (and one which I was not familiar with at all I might add) having recently watched the 3 films in the Commedia All'Italiana set, I think it's pretty safe to say that the next Radiance box set is going to be equally as impressive and as enjoyable! Best wishes to you and thanks for a fine review 👍
Radiance does a fantastic Job! Poliziottesco is such a underrated genre. I watched Confessions of a Police Captain, Street Law, Milano Caliber 9 and Almost Human... and they are all minimum very good. Radiance is using the still existing gaps of great Films nobody knows. 😍 I hope Radiance gets an eye on East European Cinema soon, there are so many unknown great Directors! The Georgian Cinema for example! Askoldov, Shengelaia... or some czech Masters... Kachyna for example, or Komissar (1967) from Russia with the tragic Story of the Director Askoldov and so on....
I definitely contemplated this set. I think I'll have to stream one of them before committing to it as I'm not sure if they'll be for me. I will however be ordering the Dino Risi boxset which I am very excited for. Also keen on their Messiah of Evil and I was going to get their Piotr Szulkin polish film boxset but ultimately went for the Vinegar Syndrome release as it has an extra film - although I think that original Polish artwork on the Radiance release looks a lot nicer - I love Polish movie posters.
Elliot, I just heard that Day of the Owl from this set is missing a minute of the subtitles, but I cannot find out where this is supposed to be. Do you know? I bought mine through Amazon, so I don't know if I would need to go through them for the replacement disc or not. Thanks.
