They Call Him Veritas / Lo chiamavano Verità (Luigi Perelli, 1972)

[Mickey13]

Copied from the Spagvemberfest 2023 thread:

@Mickey13

I have found the movie to be largely acceptable, though I cannot put my finger on why exactly, since there is nothing really special about it and given that the camerawork turns out patricularly crude and unrefined, I should have taken exception to it, but did not; there is no denying this is one unremarkable comedy with a cheap look and a stupid storyline, but for some reason, at no point did I feel particularly distressed or wearied by it. On the contrary, it kept my attention throughout and in spite of the expected inanities, there was nothing particularly offensive about the development of the concept. My guess is that the reason why it proves mostly agreeable and does not chafe the way most of these flicks do is because it deftly balances between the two extremes, neither devolving into the orgy of slapstick nor getting enmeshed in its plot points to an excessive degree.

I had also approached this thing with zero expectations whatsoever, anticipating utter dross, but I suppose it was not so bad in the end; while the storyline may very well exhibit ephemerality in the manner in which it proceeds from one scene to another, without ever dwelling on any of the details of its trite story for too long, this is a pleasing factor in that the film seems to display some self-awareness and instead of pluming itself on its ineptitude, simply sticks to the central characters and relates the tale in a very straightforward fashion which greatly aids the narrative flow. Needless to say, it is a very cheapjack production with little in the way of actual novelty or fresh ideas, but considering how awful the rest of the field is, it could have turned out a lot worse; some of the jokes made me chuckle on a couple of occasions and the final revelation is genuinely solid, so I guess not all of it is so bad.