To the extent that the Soviet Union film industry produced thrillers during the classic era, they had focused almost exclusively on espionage. In the late 1950’s, however, a new genre of Soviet detective film was born, often involving young military men assigned to a local criminal investigation unit, as in Vladimir Gerasimov‘s Ispytatelnyy srok (1960) and this film, Delo Pyostrykh (US: The Variegateds Case). With a script co-written by Arkadi Adamov based on his novel, Nikolay Dostal directs a mature, stylish crime film that not only delivers a highly entertaining, layered police procedural with a seemingly never-ending cast of characters but also explores the collision of Soviet communism with postwar modernity and the new forms of crime it spawned. Vsevolod Safonov stars as Sergey Korshunov, a young military intelligence officer sent to work on criminal investigations much to the displeasure of his girlfriend Lena (Natalya Fateeva). His first case, a young girl murdered in her bedroom, rapidly immerses him in the psychological machinations involved in detection and interrogation while leading him and his colleagues (Andrei Abrikosov, Vladmir Koenigson, Evgeniy Matveyev) on a hunt through shady restaurants, secret meeting places, dance parties, a corrupt drama school, a speeding train, knife fights, gun fights, and a car chase climax in the snow. Dostal and cinematographer Slabnevich’s roving camera serve up a wide variety of visual inventions, using deep focus, shadowy frames, animated wipes, composites, and plenty of extreme close-ups, and Chulaki’s novel score begins mournfully but begins pounding with rhythm and gusto as the action intensifies.