<p> On a simple level, <em>Delitto d'Amore</em> (<em>Crime of Passion</em>), the 1974 film by Italian director Luigi Comencini, is a romantic comedy of lovers from different worlds with a tragic conclusion. Nullo is a Communist union leader in the bleak northern city of Milan and Camille is a highly traditional Sicilian migrant co-worker in his factory. The cold rationality of the northern Italy and the rich folkways of the country's south, not to mention Marxism and Catholicism, mix as well as oil in water. Yet, somehow the pull of their attraction is set in motion against the joyless parade of the assembly line, the relentless repetition of piecework and the rhythmic, metallic clank of the machinery. The factory casts a smoky gray pall over the city and is the setting for the film's underlying but ultimately superceding theme of the inhumanity of industrialization and its propensity for polluting the world. </p> <p><em>Delitto d'Amore</em> steps lightly but assuredly through a man's world where women are inevitably the object of leering stares, the regional prejudices within Italian society, the clash of ideology and religion and the comforts both afford, environmental degradation and the economic forces that destroy traditional cultures. Although it made little mark at the time of its release, <em>Delitto d'Amore </em>has worn well with time. It has been issued on DVD in a handsome package with an informative booklet. </p>
