The Law (1959 film)

The Law
The Law
	Film poster
Directed by	Jules Dassin
Written by	Diego Fabbri; Françoise Giroud; Jules Dassin
Based on	La Loi; (1957 novel); by Roger Vailland
Produced by	Jacques Bar; Maleno Malenotti
Starring	Gina Lollobrigida; Yves Montand; Pierre Brasseur; Marcello Mastroianni
Cinematography	Otello Martelli
Edited by	Roger Dwyre; Mario Serandrei
Music by	Roman Vlad
Production; companies	Le Groupe des Quatre; Cité Films; Titanus; G.E.S.I. Cinematografica
Distributed by	MGM (USA, theatrical, 1960)
Release date	25 January 1959;
Running time	126 minutes
Countries	Italy; France
Languages	English; French; Italian
Budget	FRF 450,000,000 (estimated)
Box office	$1,075,000

The Law (Italian: La legge, French: La Loi and originally released in America as Where the Hot Wind Blows) is a 1959 French-Italian film directed by Jules Dassin.^[2]

Plot

Beautiful Marietta (Gina Lollobrigida) is a small-town girl who lives in southern Italian fishing village of Porto Manacore, a corrupt village ruled by a petty crook Matteo Brigante (Yves Montand). An engineer, Enrico Tosso (Marcello Mastroianni) comes into town to drain the marshes, and helps the villagers to take back their town.

Cast

Gina Lollobrigida - Marietta
Pierre Brasseur - Don Cesare
Marcello Mastroianni - Enrico Tosso, the Engineer
Melina Mercouri - Donna Lucrezia
Yves Montand - Matteo Brigante
Raf Mattioli - Francesco Brigante
Vittorio Caprioli - Attilio, the Inspector
Lidia Alfonsi - Giuseppina
Gianrico Tedeschi - First Loafer
Nino Vingelli - Pizzaccio
Bruno Carotenuto - Balbo
Luisa Rivelli - Elvira
Anna Maria Bottini - Maria
Anna Arena - Anna, Attilio's wife
Edda Soligo - Giulia
Joe Dassin - Nico

Production

The shooting took place in particular in the Gargano: precisely in Carpino, while some scenes were shot in Rodi Garganico, Ischitella, Peschici and San Menaio. The locality "Baia di Manacore" really exists a short distance from Peschici. It is one of the first films shot on the Gargano promontory. If in the novel and in the French version the story is set in the Gargano, in the Italian version the setting of the story is moved to Corsica.^[3]

Box office

According to MGM records the film earned $750,000 in the US and Canada and $325,000 elsewhere, resulting in a net loss to the studio of $39,000.^[1]

References

^ ^a ^b The Eddie Mannix Ledger, Los Angeles: Margaret Herrick Library, Center for Motion Picture Study.
^ Eleanor Mannikka (2008). "NY Times: The Law". Movies & TV Dept. The New York Times. Archived from the original on 6 April 2008. Retrieved 22 March 2009.
^ "Baia di Manacore, Peschici sul Gargano, Peschici Puglia". www.peschici.it. Retrieved 29 March 2022.

External links

The Law at IMDb
The Law at AllMovie
The Law at the TCM Movie Database
The Law at the AFI Catalog of Feature Films

[Mannix-1] The Eddie Mannix Ledger, Los Angeles: Margaret Herrick Library, Center for Motion Picture Study.

[NY_Times.com-2] Eleanor Mannikka (2008). "NY Times: The Law". Movies & TV Dept. The New York Times. Archived from the original on 6 April 2008. Retrieved 22 March 2009.

[3] "Baia di Manacore, Peschici sul Gargano, Peschici Puglia". www.peschici.it. Retrieved 29 March 2022.

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