…And Suddenly It’s Murder! (Crimen)
Directed by Mario Camerini
Written by Luciano Vincenzoni et al
1960/Italy/France
Dino de Laurentiis Cinematografica/Orsay Films
First viewing/Amazon Instant

[box] You may have the universe if I may have Italy. Giuseppe Verdi [/box]

This probably would have been about 100 times funnier in the original Italian.

Three couples meet by chance on a train.  One of them is traveling to collect a reward for returning a wealthy woman’s dog to her.  When they go to the woman’s mansion, they find her corpse.  Naturally, they become the prime suspects.  Gradually, the other couples become involved in the murder investigation as well.  Mayhem ensures.

The film has an all-star Italian cast including Vittorio Gassman, Nino Manfredi, Alberto Sordi, and Silvana Magnano.  The great French actor Bernard Blier plays the police inspector.  If these people had been allowed to use their own voices, I have no doubt that there would have been several laugh out loud moments.  As it was, the version on Amazon Instant is dubbed, I have a cold, and the whole thing fell flat.

Trailer – no subtitles