Without Apparent Motive LE (Blu-ray)

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 Oneby 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:

• Region A Blu-ray
  
• Newly restored by Vinegar Syndrome from a studio-supplied master
• Archival interview with director Philippe Labro from 2018 (51 min)
• "The Uncredited Rémoleux" (38 min) - film historian Christophe Bier on the prolific career of uncredited actor Jean-Claude Rémoleux
• Reversible sleeve artwork
• Newly translated English subtitles