The Law Is the Law (1958)
"La legge è legge" (original title)

Assola is an imaginary village on the border between Italy and France and the borderline crosses the village itself. The French customs agent Ferdinand is always trying to catch the Italian... See full summary »

Director:

Christian-Jaque

Writers:

Christian-Jaque, Jacques Emmanuel,

Stars:

Fernandel, Totò, René Génin

1 nomination.

Cast

Complete credited cast:
Fernandel	...	Ferdinand Pastorelli
Totò	...	Giuseppe La Paglia
René Génin	...	Donadieu
Henri Arius	...	Le maire
Albert Dinan	...	Le brigadier-chef des douanes
Nathalie Nerval	...	Hélène Pastorelli
Jean Brochard	...	Le député
Nino Besozzi	...	Le maréchal des carabiniers / Il Maresciallo
Leda Gloria	...	Antonietta
Anna Maria Luciani	...	Marisa (as A. M. Luciani)
Luciano Marin	...	Mario
Henri Crémieux	...	Bourride
Noël Roquevert	...	Le gendarme Malandain

Storyline

Assola is an imaginary village on the border between Italy and France and the borderline crosses the village itself. The French customs agent Ferdinand is always trying to catch the Italian smuggler Giuseppe. Giuseppe discovers that Ferdinand was actually born in Italy and therefore he can't be a French customs agent.

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Plot Keywords:

french | italy | prison | carabinieri | 1950s

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Genres:

Comedy

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Details

Country:

Italy France

Language:

French Italian

Release Date:

17 September 1958 (France)

Also Known As:

The Law Is the Law

Filming Locations:

Venafro, Isernia, Molise, Italy

Company Credits

Production Co:

Filmsonor, France Cinéma Productions, Les Films Ariane

Technical Specs

Runtime:

95 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Black and White

User Reviews

Dura lex sed lex

The "imagine there's no countries/it's not hard to do" "frontiers are absurd" concept was much better applied on Christian-Jaque's "Si Tous Les Gars Du Monde " (1956).This Italian-French production is rather ponderous.Both Fernandel (who had seen better days with Christian-Jaque in the thirties with "Ernest le Rebelle" "Un De La Legion" or "François Premier" )and his Italian counterpart Toto overact as if the director had left them to their own devices.

The screenplay was delirious though:whatever he says or does,Fernandel finds himself back against the law,a law which is his reason to live.In turn,an alien in his homeland,a deserter ,a bigamist,you name it.It would have taken an Italian director such as Dino Risi or Luigi Comencini to treat this story successfully.

Probably made to capitalize on the success of Duvivier's "Don Camillo" series.