After the body of a young nurse is discovered in a forest on the fringes of the close-knit village of Drahovice, suspicions and unease return and begin to mount. The case is disturbingly similar to an unsolved murder here just a few months back. Detectives from the city arrive, at first the deaths seem obviously related but an autopsy on the latest victim questions this line of thinking.
"The Man Who Hides His Face" is a very enthralling police procedural, an entertaining who done it ? In charge no nonsense veteran senior detective Kalas (Rudolf Hrusínský). he leads a wonderful cast with an outstanding performance. As the investigation unravels the suspects/motives multiply, twists and turns steer the directions as the police probe pieces together clues extracted from the guarded locals. Beautifully filmed b&w on location in and around the rustic village, a wonderfully atmospheric setting, crosscutting throughout a jarring discordant soundtrack to keep you on edge,..Highly Recommended
2 Reviews
"I think that divorce is divorce,right? And to get ahead of yourself like this is fraud."
morrison-dylan-fan25 June 2019
Warning: Spoilers
Whilst tracking down IMDb user "Delon" detailed post on the great film H-8... (1958-also reviewed) I found a review by fellow IMDber manfromplanetx of a Czech Film Noir. Having recently seen two fantastic Czech New Wave titles recommended by manfromplanetx, I got set to catch the murderer revealing his face.
View on the film:
Crawling the camera across the face of a murder victim as Pavel Blatny's brooding score stings, co-writer/(with Lubomir Mozny) director Petr Schulhoff & cinematographer Jiri Vojta plough an incredibly eerie rural Film Noir atmosphere of long,winding wide-shots catching the locals search for victims, whilst also keeping one eye on outsider detective Kalas. Attempting to sand down the stone walls of local life, Schulhoff blocks Kalsa with stylish, restrained panning shots in the cramped houses of suspects, reflecting Kalsa and Varga being squeezed out getting a full picture of the locals.
The second in a 4 film series, the screenplay by Schulhoff and Mozny keep Kalsa and Varga as the lone links to the first, as they take him deep to the heart of rural Film Noir, where excellent dialogue cracks open the suspicion that the cops are held in,as "help" from the locals is pinned with threats over being not from these parts, and the locals wanting to keep things out of mind and out of sight, especially when it is outsiders trying to dig a hole into their town. Cutting the blades of grass down by at first appearing to be a search for a single missing person/murder victim, the writers brilliantly entwine the vines of mutterings and whispers from the locals into pulling Kalsa and Varga into cutting down the lies and half-truths the locals try to cover their eyes with. Receiving a less than warm local welcome, Rudolf Hrusinsky and Radoslav Brzobohaty give wonderfully calculating, hard-nosed turns as Varga and Kalas, both determined to find the killer who is hiding his face.
View on the film:
Crawling the camera across the face of a murder victim as Pavel Blatny's brooding score stings, co-writer/(with Lubomir Mozny) director Petr Schulhoff & cinematographer Jiri Vojta plough an incredibly eerie rural Film Noir atmosphere of long,winding wide-shots catching the locals search for victims, whilst also keeping one eye on outsider detective Kalas. Attempting to sand down the stone walls of local life, Schulhoff blocks Kalsa with stylish, restrained panning shots in the cramped houses of suspects, reflecting Kalsa and Varga being squeezed out getting a full picture of the locals.
The second in a 4 film series, the screenplay by Schulhoff and Mozny keep Kalsa and Varga as the lone links to the first, as they take him deep to the heart of rural Film Noir, where excellent dialogue cracks open the suspicion that the cops are held in,as "help" from the locals is pinned with threats over being not from these parts, and the locals wanting to keep things out of mind and out of sight, especially when it is outsiders trying to dig a hole into their town. Cutting the blades of grass down by at first appearing to be a search for a single missing person/murder victim, the writers brilliantly entwine the vines of mutterings and whispers from the locals into pulling Kalsa and Varga into cutting down the lies and half-truths the locals try to cover their eyes with. Receiving a less than warm local welcome, Rudolf Hrusinsky and Radoslav Brzobohaty give wonderfully calculating, hard-nosed turns as Varga and Kalas, both determined to find the killer who is hiding his face.
See also
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