Alberto is a shy fisherman who lives with his stepmother Rosa and stepbrother Paolo. When Muollo, the local crime boss, orders Paolo to do some shady after-hours smuggling Alberto refuses and they end up brawling on the beach. Soon after, Muollo is found dead and Alberto becomes the prime suspect.

Fotobusta

Solitudine disappeared after its initial theatrical run in 1961 – and judging by the scarce publicity material it’s possible it had a very limited release at the time. Thankfully Minerva have managed to dig this one out of their archives and posted it on their YouTube channel (link below)

There are some interesting elements that tie it to the Italian crime genre, such as Alfredo defying the local crime boss, or a smuggling subplot which turns up in a number of early thrillers like Francois the Smuggler, I Contrabbandieri del Mare/Smugglers of the Seas and Manu the Smuggler. This same backdrop would reappear in the 1970s in Mafia, Una Legge Che Non Perdona and in the 1980s, in the more well-known The Naples Connection/Luca il Contrabbandiere – director Lucio Fulci’s sole entry in the Eurocrime genre.

Available to watch online courtesy of the Films&Clips (Minerva) YouTube channel

(English subtitles by Ray Reardon available here)