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The Janus-headed The Facts of Murder looks back to the earlier neorealist docudramas of director, co-writer, and star Pietro Germi, while also presaging the sharply observed satirical outlook of films like Divorce Italian Style and Seduced and Abandoned. In the film, the comedic elements are mostly limited to the broad, almost caricatural handling of bumbling secondary characters. The primary storyline, involving an investigation into two ostensibly related crimes, is handled more like a police procedural along the lines of Jules Dassin’s The Naked City, albeit without that film’s authoritative narration.

The Facts of Murder’s central location is an apartment block. Quickly sketching in a number of characters and their relationships in the aftermath of the opening burglary, the film codes the victim, Commendatore Anzaloni (Ildebrando Santafe), as gay, and it’s suggested that the criminal might’ve been one of his pickups. But the focus of...

Claudia Squitieri with Manuel Maria Perrone at the Italian Cultural Institute book launch for Claudia Cardinale. L’indomabile. The Indomitable (Cinecittà and Electa Editore) Photo: Anne-Katrin Titze

Luigi Comencini's La Ragazza Di Bube opened Cinecittà and the Museum of Modern Art’s retrospective celebrating Claudia Cardinale on Friday. Pietro Germi’s Un Maledetto Imbroglio; Mauro Bolognini’s Il Bell’Antonio, La Viaccia, and Senilità; Valerio Zurlini’s La Ragazza Con La Valigia; Luchino Visconti’s Rocco E I Suoi Fratelli, Il Gattopardo Sandra (1965); Federico Fellini’s Otto E Mezzo; Sergio Leone’s Once Upon A Time In The West (1968); Marco Bellocchio’s Enrico IV; Pasquale Squitieri’s Atto Di Dolore (1990), and Manoel de Oliveira’s O Gebo E A Sombra are some of the many highlights.

Claudia Squitieri with Anne-Katrin Titze on Claudia Cardinale shooting The Leopard and 81/2 at the same time: “Visconti wanted her hair very dark and not...