The Law (1959 film)

1959 film

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| Les Films Corona

Release date

* 25 January 1959 (1959-01-25)

Running time

| 126 minutes
Countries| Italy
France
Languages| English
French
Italian
Budget| FRF 450,000,000 (estimated)
Box office| $1,075,000[1]

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

[edit]

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

[edit]

* 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

[edit]

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

[edit]

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

[edit]

1. ^ a b The Eddie Mannix Ledger, Los Angeles: Margaret Herrick Library, Center for Motion Picture Study.
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.

## External links

[edit]

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

* v
* t
* e

Jules Dassin

Films|

| Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer|

* The Tell-Tale Heart (1941)
* Nazi Agent (1942)
* The Affairs of Martha (1942)
* Reunion in France (1942)
* Young Ideas (1943)
* The Canterville Ghost (1944)
* A Letter for Evie (1945)
* Two Smart People (1946)

|

Mark Hellinger Productions|

* Brute Force (1947)
* The Naked City (1948)

20th Century-Fox Film|

* Thieves' Highway (1949)
* Night and the City (1950)

Independent|

* Rififi (1955)
* He Who Must Die (1957)
* The Law (1959)
* Never on Sunday (1960)
* Phaedra (1962)
* Topkapi (1964)
* 10:30 P.M. Summer (1966)
* Hamilchama al hashalom (1968)
* Uptight (1968)
* Promise at Dawn (1970)
* The Rehearsal (1974)
* A Dream of Passion (1978)
* Circle of Two (1980)

Related|

* Joe Dassin

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