Murder Backstage (1960)

A rare jewel for Greek cinema. This is one of a few Greek noir films and in my opinion the best.

A crime is committed in a theater. The leading lady of a play is murdered in her dressing room, and (the famous) police inspector Bekas (Titos Vandis) will investigate the case. His friend Makris (Alekos Alexandrakis), a newspaper editor, will help him solve it.

Eglima sta paraskinia (I could translate it as Backstage crime), is a highly artistic and a rather suspenseful whodunit movie, written by a master of the genre, Yannis Maris. The acting is great, especially by the two protagonists. Vandis nails the role of Bekas and should have reprised it in another movie. Alexandrakis is full of grace as usual, in a role that suites him well. The rest of the cast give great performances as well.

The movie may be the first Dinos Katsouridis directs, but because of his previous experience as an editor and cinematographer, he does it superbly. Also Aristeidis Karydis-Fuchs is responsible for the artistic cinematography, which won the first prize at Thessaloniki Film Festival that year. Finally, Mimis Plessas composed the music which greatly fits the ambiance of the movie.

I can imagine that it would be difficult for a non-Greek to discover that film but I definitely recommend it to everyone, especially to film noir lovers.