this movie be a ripoff of james cain novel and the postman always ring twice . apparently and the director and producer never bother to pay for right to this story perhaps the fact that we be in the middle of fight the italian in wwii might account for their forgetting to consider royalty . despite this and the movie isn not really just an italian version of the hollywood movie . in some way it a lot well and in other way and it be definitely not . the three central character in this movie be really pretty ugly people . in fact and the male and female lover be a bit icky look . the male lead be pretty ordinary except for his profuse body hair ( particularly on the back and shoulder ) and his lady love be and to put it frankly and unattractive . they be a very and very far cry from lana turner and john garfield in the hollywood version . and the ill fat husband be really and really obese and love to walk around shirtless and his counterpart in the american film and cecil kellaway be definitely well look ( and probably well look than the other two italian lead and actually ) . and this unattractiveness be generally a reason i actually prefer the italian film since i just could not imagine a finely coiffed dish like lana turner in the middle of nowhere marry to kellaway i be 100 % sure she would have have dozen of good offer . whereas and the italian wife frankly might not have be able to do much good and this make the marriage actually believable . part of the italian film believability come from the blunt way it handle sex . the sanitized american film try to make you believe that although turner and garfield kill kellaway and they never actually get around to sex . this be pretty silly and totally unrealistic . in addition to the casual sexuality of the film and it also pretty casual in show the seamy side of life with lot of sweaty people and a fly strip hanging over the kitchen table and everyone appear to need a bath . the movie be also pretty fast paced compare to the over long american film . and what you get due to brevity isn not all good . the film lack a lot of the style and polish of the american film with grainy footage and relatively poor orchestration and set . it sure ain not a pretty film and but the neo realistic like style make the film seem more realistic . but it can not make up for the short cut in the plot . many of the plot element in the late american version be either miss entirely or gloss over . and the end seem a lot less interesting than the american film and miss the entire human nature dilemma when turner and garfield turn on each other like rat ( the best part of the american film ) . so which be the good film . well and a lot of this probably depend on you . a for me and the warner brother film be simply too polished and too unrealistic ( though many like this style and may dislike watch film with subtitle ) but it pack a great end . and the italian film be much and much more realistic until the crappy end that seem too rush . so neither film be exactly great and but i would give my nod to the italian one be a bit well . it too bad they couldn not have combine the best element of both film into one exceptional film .