Il marchio di Kriminal
A bandit hunts map fragments hidden in porcelain statuettes.
Il marchio di Kriminal (lit. The Mark of Kriminal) is a 1967 Italian film. It is the follow-up to the 1966 film Kriminal. The film continues the adventures of the bandit Kriminal as he searches for hidden paintings.
Quick Facts
- Director
- Fernando Cerchio
- Starring
- Roel Bos / Helga Liné / Andrea Bosic
- Distributor
- <!-- or
- Released
- 1967 · Italy
Facts from the source article.
Lore & Background
The bandit Kriminal accidentally discovers a fragment of a map inside an ancient porcelain statuette. The map relates to the hiding place of two precious canvases left by a famous outlaw before his execution. Kriminal begins searching for three other statuettes containing the remaining map fragments. He successfully recovers all but one, which is in the possession of two adventurers, Mara and Robson. They try to snatch Kriminal's fragments, but eventually agree to join forces and share the proceeds equally. The trio travels to Beirut and finds the paintings in an archaeological area. Kriminal eliminates his partners after they attempt to take the entire booty. As he tries to return to his base, Inspector Milton, who has been on his trail, arrives unexpectedly. In an attempt to escape capture, Kriminal crashes his car into a ravine.
Reader's Guide
Il marchio di Kriminal is significant as the sequel to the 1966 film Kriminal, continuing the adaptation of Magnus & Bunker's comic book. The film was shot in Rome and on a cruise between Genoa and Beirut, with locations including Baalbeck, Byblos, and Madrid. The score was credited to Manuel Parada but was actually composed by Piero Umiliani. The film's reception includes a contemporary review from La Stampa that gave a brief plot summary, stating that the summary alone indicates the quality of the film. In a retrospective review, Italian film critic and historian Roberto Curti noted that despite a disappointing second half that becomes a banal travelogue adventure, the film is ultimately more successful than its predecessors in conveying the grimly ironic feeling of the original comic book.
The Comic Book Foundation
The fumetti neri series known as Kriminal first hit Italian newsstands in August 1964, giving readers a serial villain whose stories wove together seduction, sexual provocation, and graphic violence. The title character was a figure who would lure scantily clad women into his orbit before strangling or stabbing them to hide his true identity. Creator Luciano Secchi built this world with a deliberately provocative edge that pushed boundaries in Italian comics. When director Umberto Lenzi eventually adapted the character for the screen, he clashed with Secchi over how much to alter the persona, later describing the comic-book Kriminal as a bit Nazi-skin fascist and insisting the film team had simply made a fun film. Lenzi deliberately stripped away the combination of sex and gore that defined the printed pages, opting instead for a lighter, more playful register. This tonal recalibration established the template that the 1967 sequel, Il marchio di Kriminal, would inherit as it continued the story of the escaped criminal and the inspector determined to bring him down.
From Lenzi's Vision to Cerchio's Sequel
Umberto Lenzi's original plan for a comic-book adaptation was far from straightforward. He first sought the rights to Diabolik, one of the most iconic fumetti neri characters, only to discover that Dino De Laurentiis had already secured them. A second attempt to adapt Satanik also fell through, leaving Lenzi to settle on Kriminal as his vehicle. The resulting 1966 film, which followed a prison-escaping thief and murderer pursued by Inspector Milton, earned what film historian Roberto Curti characterized as moderate success. That box-office performance proved sufficient to greenlight a follow-up. However, the sequel, Il marchio di Kriminal, did not return to Lenzi's directorial chair. Instead, Fernando Cerchio took the helm for the 1967 continuation. This change in creative leadership marked a significant shift in how the Kriminal franchise would be handled on screen, moving the property from Lenzi's particular sensibility into new hands while retaining the core premise of the criminal and his relentless pursuer.
The Criminal World on Screen
The 1966 Kriminal brought together an ensemble cast that would define the character for audiences. Dutch actor Roel Bos, performing under the stage name Glenn Saxson, took on the lead after a screen test in which Lenzi specifically sought a younger physical presence than the fumetti original suggested. Bos had already carved out a reputation in Spaghetti Westerns, including Go with God and Gringo. Andrea Bosic brought authority as Inspector Milton, while Helga Liné, Esmeralda Ruspoli, Mary Arden, and Ivano Staccioli rounded out the supporting company as Inge-Trude, Lady Gold, Gloria Farr, and Alex Lafont respectively. Production stretched across roughly two months of shooting, with interior scenes captured in Rome and exterior sequences spanning Madrid, Istanbul, the Black Sea coast, and London. Most physical stunts were handled by Bos's double Attilio Serverini, though Bos himself performed one particularly hazardous bit involving running atop a speeding train. This international, action-oriented framework set the visual and narrative stage that the sequel would build upon.
Critical Reception and Aftermath
Film historian Roberto Curti offered a mixed but ultimately positive retrospective on Kriminal, calling it fast, fun, and entertaining overall while simultaneously noting it was disappointingly tame. He felt the film lacked the tongue-in-cheek irreverence and political uncorrectness that characterized the source comics, and observed that much of it resembled the travelogue-style Bond imitations flooding Italian screens at the time. Lenzi himself, upon rewatching the film on television years later, expressed a surprising shift in perspective. He admitted that in 1966 he had felt somewhat perplexed by his own work, but in hindsight he came to appreciate an element of irony he had not consciously intended, contrasting it favorably with what he called the vulgar, horrible nature of the original strips. Despite this critical engagement, the film's availability remained limited; as of 2016, no official English-language DVD had been issued. The Spanish market received the film in April 1969 under the title La máscara de Kriminal, while the sequel cemented the franchise's brief but notable place in mid-1960s Italian genre cinema.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is Il marchio di Kriminal about?
It is a 1967 Italian adventure film in which the bandit Kriminal pursues a trail of hidden paintings, with the key map fragments cleverly concealed inside porcelain statuettes.
Who directed Il marchio di Kriminal?
Fernando Cerchio holds the official director credit, though fans and scholars have long debated that Nando Cicero likely contributed behind the scenes without receiving acknowledgment.
How does Il marchio di Kriminal relate to the original 1966 Kriminal film?
It serves as the direct sequel, picking up Kriminal's story where the first movie left off and sending him on a fresh hunt for concealed artworks.
Who actually composed the score for Il marchio di Kriminal?
Manuel Parada is listed in the credits, but the music was in fact written by Piero Umiliani, a fact that has been a point of contention among Italian cinema enthusiasts.
What is Kriminal's specific mission in this sequel?
He is tracking down scattered map fragments that have been tucked inside porcelain statuettes, each piece pointing him toward a different hidden painting.
More in Italian superhero films 1-24
Spotted an error? Know more?
Reader corrections go straight into our review queue. Suggest an edit · How this site is sourced