The Law (1959 film)

The Law
Film poster
Directed byJules Dassin
Written byDiego Fabbri
Françoise Giroud
Jules Dassin
Based onLa Loi
(1957 novel)
by Roger Vailland
Produced byJacques Bar
Maleno Malenotti
StarringGina Lollobrigida
Yves Montand
Pierre Brasseur
Marcello Mastroianni
CinematographyOtello Martelli
Edited byRoger Dwyre
Mario Serandrei
Music byRoman Vlad
Production
companies
Le Groupe des Quatre
Cité Films
Titanus
G.E.S.I. Cinematografica
Distributed byMGM (USA, theatrical, 1960)
Release date
  • 25 January 1959 (1959-01-25)
Running time
126 minutes
CountriesItaly
France
LanguagesEnglish
French
Italian
BudgetFRF 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

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

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

  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.