In THE 10TH VICTIM, the great Italian director Elio Petri sets his characteristic socio-political critique amid sci-fi thrills and an explosion of mid-sixties glamour—courtesy of production designer Piero Poletto and iconic stars Ursula Andress and Marcello Mastroianni.
The populace of Rome, ensconced in an Op-art wonderland, compete for televised fame and fortune in a legal game of hunter and hunted—themes borrowed by The Hunger Games nearly half a century later.
Gianni Di Venanzo—who, like Poletto, worked with Antonioni—was the film’s cinematographer. Tonino Guerra, Giorgio Salvioni, and Ennio Flaiano wrote the screenplay with Petri, and Piero Piccioni composed the propulsive score.
This weekend, the American Cinematheque, the Art Directors Guild Film Society, and The Hollywood Reporter present a rare local screening of THE 10TH VICTIM, followed by a panel discussion with Frances Anderton—host of KCRW‘s DnA: Design and Architecture—USC professor Nicholas J. Cull, and production designers Guy Hendrix Dyas and John Muto.
Sunday, May 19, at 5:30 pm.
Egyptian Theatre
6712 Hollywood Boulevard, Los Angeles.
Ursula Andress and Marcello Mastroianni in The 10th Victim (1965), directed by Elio Petri, production design by Piero Poletto. Elsa Martinelli on phone (fourth from top).
