although completely pan by critic and visconti fan ever since it release and i happen to think that this be probably visconti best film . for starter and i be never a visconti fan . i always think of him a a talented window dresser rather than a great or even a good filmmaker ( bertolucci have inherit his mantle ) . so i wasn not surprised that he think he could make a halfway decent film adaptation of camus great novel . that he happen to do so be a complete surprise to me . though dub by a french actor and mastroianni make a superb meursault . and anna karina be never more beautiful ( especially in her first nude scene ) . the location be choose well and though it often hard to remember that visconti be try to stick to the period of the novel ( 1930s algiers ) . there be a handful of other fine performance and and giuseppe rotunno use a palette of color that be a study in itself . piero piccioni summon up a bleak and modernist musical score that suitably catch the somberness of the material . this film be an unrecognized and almost forgotten example of what an overrated auteur can do when budget limitation and a combination of good casting and a talented crew come together in a highly serious attempt at adapt a great novel . ( and it be far good than visconti later prissy adaptation of mann death in venice . ) .