Passport for a Corpse

aka Lasciapassare per il morto
Original release date: 28/05/1962
Original running time: 93 mins
An Aldo Calosso production for Antonelliana Cinematografica (Turin)
Director: Mario Gariazzo
Story: Mario Gariazzo
Screenplay: Germano Arendo, Carlo Ferrero, Mario Gariazzo
Cinematography: Claudio Racca
Music: Marcello Giombini
Editor: Otello Colangeli
Art director: Enrico Tovaglieri
Cast: Alberto Lupo, Hélène Chanel, Linda Christian, Erno Crisa, Piero Lulli, Paul Muller, Nando Angelini, Claudio De Rossi, Guido De Salvi, Carlo Ferrero, Romano Ghini, Janine Hendy, Cesare Zanone

Plot: Alberto Lupo plays a criminal who, with a partner, attacks a van loaded with bank notes. During a shootout with the guards, his partner is killed, and Lupo tries to make it over the French border by hiding in a coffin. Unexpectedly, he ends up being trapped in an icy cold morgue. This film has some powerful moments, and really displays Lupo’s acting talents. I never thought Lupo was a very good actor until I saw this film, which showed me that I had been wrong. As well, this is a wonderful debut for director Mario Gariazzo. With an almost non-existent cast, Gariazzo concentrates almost entirely on Lupo’s predicament, and we feel his desperation as the tension builds to a climax. The English-language print of this film is supposed to be cut pretty deeply, but the version I saw was the uncut Italian release. (IMDB)

Comment: Here’s an interesting, obscure one, directed by Mario Gariazzo, who’d later make the excellent The Bloody Hands of the Law. It sounds a little like Regnoli’s I’ll See You in Hell, which has a similar ‘robbery goes wrong and survivors stumble into further misadventures’ type plot. I know there is an English language copy floating around, but haven’t seen it myself…

About Matt Blake 890 Articles
The WildEye is a blog dedicated to the wild world of Italian cinema (and, ok, sometimes I digress into discussing films from other countries as well). Peplums, comedies, dramas, spaghetti westerns... they're all covered here.

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