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This special limited edition spot gloss slipcover (designed by Robert Sammelin) is limited to 3,000 units and is only available on our website and at select indie retailers. Absolutely no major retailers will be stocking them.
Welcome Vinegar Syndrome Labs (VSL) to the VS Sub-Label family! As with each of our sub-labels we are hoping to expand and defy expectations with the diversity of films we restore and release. As the name implies, VSL will serve as a kind of testing area for releasing genres and eras of film that one might not immediately expect to come from VS. The ultimate objective of VSL will be to see if these types of films will find an audience, and if so, pursue and release more of them…and even if not, still serve as a means of restoring more of the weird, rare, and unusual movies you might not expect from Vinegar Syndrome.
The fashionable and affluent in the French Riviera city of Nice now have a baffling new problem: random assassination. While the Mystery Object television show is in town, being shot in a public square, a shocking mystery unfolds at the feet of the irascible, steely Inspector Carella. As general panic mounts and national attention focuses in, someone with a high-powered rifle keeps deftly executing seemingly unconnected people in broad daylight. Ignoring the meddling of his superiors, Carella desperately pushes his team harder, despite some of Nice's most formidable citizens flatly refusing to talk. Something has to connect the victims, but what could it be?
A hybrid of the giallo and the French policier, Without Apparent Motive (Sans mobile apparent) adapted the novel Ten Plus One by famed American author Evan Hunter (under the pen name Ed McBain), while also featuring several notable Italian cast and crew members. The film's French leads, Jean-Louis Trintignant (The Great Silence) and Dominique Sanda (The Conformist), are complemented by Italian actors Laura Antonelli (Malicious) and Carla Gravina (Tony Arzenta), and a score by the legendary Ennio Morricone (The Stendhal Syndrome). Director Philippe Labro (The Hunter Will Get You) helms this procedural, set against a gruesome reality contrasted with a lush, stylish city. Vinegar Syndrome Labs is excited to uncover this Euro-thriller for its US disc premiere.
directed by: Philippe Labro
starring: Jean-Louis Trintignant, Dominique Sanda, Paul Crauchet, Carla Gravina, Jean-Pierre Marielle, Laura Antonelli
1971 / 101 min / 1.66:1 / French Mono
Additional info:
Overall rating: 4.65625 / 5 from 32 reviews.
Review topics: [packaging, transfer, thriller, release, movie, film, restoration, pacing, gem, giallo].
"It’s based in a novel and you can tell. Unrelated murders aren’t necessarily so. This is just straight up a good film. A nice surprise that I knew nothing about. Thw clapping of thw hand to thw forehead when shot in thw head seems likw something odd that wouldn’t happen but adds to the fun."
"Based on a novel by Ed McBain was all I had to hear. Not expecting a French adaptation, but I have long been a big fan of his novels. This one is very well made and moves along at a good pace. The detective finds what all the victims had in common and puts together the motive to find the killer. Only unrealistic moment is when he manages to wing the killer with a pistol from about 150 yards away. Beautiful scenery and good performances. Not a masterpiece and would have liked an English dub, but a nice little movie."
"The movie was very interested and an engaging watch throughout! The peerless VS restoration process was on full display with stellar sound and picture! Thank you, VS, for continuing to lovingly restore and release so many wonderful films from every conceivable genre! You are keeping physical media alive in this streaming world we now live in! Highly recommended!"
"I hadn’t heard of the film before this Bluray release so I look forward to watching it as I love 1970s political thrillers. Cool reversible litho with the French title."
"Very happily surprised when this was released, it's a good one! Top packaging too."
"Philippe Labro directs with a reassuring confidence, keeping the investigation moving while using the sunlit streets of Nice as a striking counterpoint to the violence. Jean-Louis Trintignant is the film's real anchor, playing Inspector Carella not as a glamorous detective but as a weary, taciturn professional carrying a quiet melancholy. The mystery may become easier to solve than the film initially suggests, but the combination of Trintignant's performance, Morricone's score, and Labro's clean, elegant storytelling makes it a very satisfying piece of Euro-crime cinema."
"Classic French crime thriller that's been on my wants list for ages, now I can toss that bootleg. Nice transfer and packaging. Highly recommended, along with Ennio Morricone' great score."
"Another solid release. Ill take everything Italian please. The art is killer on this one"
"Between this and the Eurocrime/French collections from last month, VSL is on a roll! Kind of a giallo that moves at a nice pace!"
"Fascinating from start to finish. VSL is on a roll!"
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