| The Facts of Murder | |
| Director: | Pietro Germi |
| Producer: | Giuseppe Amato Mario Silvestri |
| Based On: | That Awful Mess on Via Merulana by Carlo Emilio Gadda |
| Starring: | Pietro Germi Claudia Cardinale Franco Fabrizi |
| Music: | Carlo Rustichelli |
| Cinematography: | Leonida Barboni |
| Editing: | Roberto Cinquini |
| Studio: | Riama Film |
| Distributor: | Cineriz |
| Runtime: | 115 minutes |
| Country: | Italy |
| Language: | Italian |
The Facts of Murder (Italian: Un maledetto imbroglio) is a 1959 Italian crime film mystery directed by and starring Pietro Germi with Claudia Cardinale.[1] The film is based on the 1957 novel That Awful Mess on Via Merulana by Carlo Emilio Gadda. The sets were designed by the art director Carlo Egidi.
It was restored and re-released in 1999 both in Italy and the United States.
A disguised bandit steals valuable jewellery from Commendatore Anzaloni's apartment and flees, leaving Anzaloni unharmed. Inspector Ingravallo investigates and finds that the robbery is suspicious in that the robber was able to find valuables too quickly. A neighbour, Liliana Banducci, employs a servant girl, Assuntina. Her fiancé, Diomede, tries to escape when he sees police tailing Assuntina. But Diomede has an alibi. Liliana's cousin, Dr. Valdarena, pays her a visit, only to find her corpse on the floor. But before calling police, Valdarena removes an envelope addressed to him from the sideboard. Liliana's husband Remo was away from Rome at the time of the murder, but he is very surprised to hear that Liliana had changed her will only one week earlier.[2]