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(1956, Upgrade 3/21/21) Dinos Iliopoulos, Margarita Papageorgiou, Marika Lekaki, Giannis Argyris. This is a brilliant piece of Greek filmmaking, filled with wonderful performances and perfectly written pieces of dialogue. A peaceful, frightened little man is mistakenly identified as "the dragon", a notorious criminal at large and known womanizer. He briefly and somewhat reluctantly rules the local underworld until they realize the crazy mistake they have made. The scenes between the Dragon and the beautiful young nightclub dancer who has fallen for him (partly because of his bogus reputation) will tear at your heart—the pathos is so thick you can cut it with a knife. The scene where the local crime boss is lamenting the loss of his love is a great moment in a great film—you don’t know whether to laugh out loud or cry. The Dragon’s “arrest” is another amazing moment, filled with tense emotion, yet laced with a feeling of latent satire. Some reviewers have called this one of the best films to ever come out of Greece—we can certainly see why. This film noir gem is embellished by a great, off-beat music score that gives the entire film a strong “earthy” feel. DON’T miss this classic. An 8.0 rating on IMDB. In Greek with English subtitles. From 35mm.
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