The Law(1960). Directed by Jules Dassin. Cast: Gina Lollobrigida, Pierre Brasseur, Marcello Mastroianni.
The trouble begins, when engineer Enrico, who works for the government, is sent to small a village to drain the swamps, to stop the spread of malaria. Cesare, is worried because he believes that the swamps hold the Grecian sculpture, but.. Enrico, continues on with his work and wants a girl named Marietta to work for him. Marietta's mother and sisters, who all work for Cesare, think that Marietta should take the job. When, Marietta meets Enrico she tells him that she will "be his wife not his slave". Which causes complications for everyone.
This gorgeous film is set in Sicily and all about power and sex. I wanted to watch this film because of, Gina Lollobrigida. I thought her performance was very.. well um.. sophisticated. I probably will never watch it again, because I never got into the story. The title of the film The Law, comes from a game that the men in the small village play.
Melina Mercouri(18 October 1920, Athens, Greece – 6 March 1994). Her first movie was the Greek language film, Stella (1955). The film received praise at the 1956 Cannes Film Festival, where she met the American film director Jules Dassin, with whom she married in 1966. The next year she starred in, He Who Must Die and other films by Dassin such as, The Law (1959).
She became well-known to international audiences when she starred in, Never on Sunday (1960). For this film, Mercouri received the Best Actress Award at the 1960 Cannes Film Festival and was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actress and the BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role.
After her first major international success, she went on to star in Phaedra (1962), for which she was nominated again for the BAFTA Award and the Golden Globe Award for Best Actress in Motion Picture Drama. Her role in, Topkapi (1964)landed her one more nomination, this time for the Golden Globe Award for Best Actress in Motion Picture Musical or Comedy. Mercouri worked with other famous directors as well, such as Joseph Losey, Vittorio De Sica, Ronald Neame, Carl Foreman, Norman Jewison, and starred in film, The Uninhibited. She continued her stage career in the Greek production of, Sweet Bird of Youth (1960). In 1967, she played the leading role in Illya Darling (from 11 April 1967 to 13 January 1968) at Broadway, for which she was nominated for the Tony Award for Best Performance by a Leading Actress in a Musical, while her performance in, Promise at Dawn (1970) gave her another Golden Globe Award nomination.
She retired from film acting in 1978, when she played in her last film, A Dream of Passion, directed by her husband Jules Dassin.
Gina Lollobrigida, born 4 July (1927), was one of the most popular European actresses of the 1950s and early 1960s. She started out modelling, and around this time, she also began performing in Italian films. In 1950, Howard Hughes wanted her to perform in Hollywood films, but she refused, wanting to stay in Europe. She then performed in the Italian films: Bread, Love and Dreams, Woman of Rome and French films: Fanfan la Tulipe, Beauties of the Night, which brought her to the attention of Hollywood where she made her first American film, Beat the Devil(1953) with Humphrey Bogart and Jennifer Jones directed by John Huston.
A movie about a group of international crooks, who find themselves stranded in Italy while their boat is being repaired. With them are the Dannreuthers. All are headed for Africa, to sell vacuum cleaners, but really planning on buying land supposedly sprinkled with uranium. It is amazing is how well she plays her part, considering that her English was limited.
Lollobrigida, made another well known performance in the circus drama, Trapeze(1956) directed by Carol Reed with Burt Lancaster and Tony Curtis. The story begins when Mike Ribble, was once a great trapeze artist and the only person to have completed a triple somersault .. before his accident. Tino joins the circus, and Mike teaches him the 'triple somersault'. Lola, a tumbler, also wants to get in the act. This is maybe Lollobrigida's best dramatic role.
Next she went on to perform in the film, The Hunchback of Notre Dame(1956) with Anthony Quinn. The story begins in Paris, 1482, during the festival of the fools, taking place in the square outside Cathedral Notre Dame. Among the entertainers, is the gypsy Esmeralda, who performs a beautiful dance.
From up in a tower of the cathedral, Frollo, watches her. Later, Frollo orders Quasimodo, the deformed bell ringer, to kidnap Esmeralda. But.. he is touched by her beauty...The Italian actress Gina Lollobrigida, ones called "the Most Beautiful Woman in the World", plays the more mature and sensual Esmeralda, and she makes it very clear why half of Paris loves her.
Later, She co-starred with Frank Sinatra in the film, Never So Few (1959). The story begins when, Captain Tom Reynolds, and his men travel to Burma to train with the Kachin natives to learn modern warfare. But jungle combat, is harder than Reynolds had first thought, after Chinese rebels murder American soldiers, Reynolds wants revenge. Lollabrigida's, performance may have "bombed" in this war film. ;)
Also, she performed with Yul Brynner in the film, Solomon and Sheba. The story begins, before the death of King David, who has a vision which tells him that his younger son Solomon should become king. His other son Adonijah , also wants the throne. Egyptian Pharoah, agrees to give up a Red Sea port to the Queen of Sheba, she wants to find a way to get rid of Solomon, whose she sees as a threat. Sheba, Pharoah, Adonijah, the leaders of the Twelve Tribes and his own God make life difficult for Solomon who is tempted by Sheba to stray. Lollabrigida, may have delivered her lines perfectly, but there was really no chemistry between her and Brynner, so that the love scenes came across as a little dull.
In 1961 she made one of my favorite Lollobrigida films, Come September, with Rock Hudson, Sandra Dee and Bobby Darin. The story begins, when millionaire Robert Talbot, plans on spending September with his 1-month-a-year mistress, Lisa Fellini, at his villa in Portofino. This year he arrives unannounced in July, and finds that his friend, Maurice, has been making money 11 months of the year by turning the villa into the grand hotel.. La Dolce Vista.
Robert demands that the guests, six American teen aged girls and their chaperon leave. Unfortunately, the chaperon injures her back and before he knows it.. four American college boys pitch their tent outside on the villa lawn and begin chasing after the girls. Robert, decides to chaperon the girls keeping Tony, from seducing young Sandy Stevens. When Lisa learns that Robert has warned Sandy that men don't marry girls who "give away free samples," heartbroken she returns to Rome. Robert follows but, he is unable to stop Lisa. Will Lisa have a change of heart and go back to Robert?
This movie has beautiful Italian scenery and wonderful chemistry between the actors. Darin, sings one of his own songs. The electricity between Darin and Dee is so strong you can see why they married soon after filming. You will also enjoy the hilarious lines.
The same year she performed with Ernest Borgnine and Anthony Franciosa in, Go Naked in the World. Which is the basic story of a young man falling in love with a prostitute, only to have his father intervene.
In 1962 she was directed by Jean Delannoy again in, Venere Imperiale. Story about the life of Pauline Bonaparte, the sister of Napoleon.
In 1964 she co-starred with Sean Connery in the thriller, Woman of Straw. Connery's character Anthony Richmond schemes to get the fortune of his rich uncle Charles Richmond, by persuading his nurse Maria, to marry him. After his uncle's death Anthony becomes a murder suspect.
She co-starred with Rock Hudson again in, 1965's Strange Bedfellows. A film about a wealthy American and a bohemian Italian woman meet in London and marry. Then finding they have nothing in common and go their separate ways. Seven years later, just days before the divorce is to be finalised, they meet again and fall in love .. once again.
She also performed with Alec Guinness in ,1966's Hotel Paradiso. A story about a playwright, who gathers info about the goings-on of various characters who live in a run-down Parisian hotel.
In 1968 she performed in, Buona Sera, with Shelley Winters, Phil Silvers, and Telly Savalas, the plot of which is the basis for the stage musical Mamma Mia!.
Lollobrigida co-starred with Bob Hope in the comedy, The Private Navy of Sgt. O'Farrell and also traveled with Hope to visit military troops overseas. By the 1970s her film career had begun to fade. She performed in only a few movies in the early part of the decade. In the mid 80s, she starred in the television series Falcon Crest as Francesca Gioberti, a role originally written for Sophia Loren who turned it down. She also had a supporting role in the 1985 TV mini series Deceptions, co-starring with Stephanie Powers.
By the end of the 1970s she began a successful career as a photographic journalist. She photographed: Paul Newman, Salvador Dalí, David Cassidy, Audrey Hepburn, Ella Fitzgerald and the German national football team and scooped the world's press by obtaining an exclusive interview with Fidel Castro. In 1973 a collection of her work was published, Italia Mia.
She also focused on sculpting and it was 1984 before she returned to American television screens with a part in Falcon Crest. She showed her sculptures in Italy, France, Spain, Russia, United States, Qatar. She was also a corporate executive for fashion and cosmetics companies.
Beat the Devil (1953) film directed by John Huston Cast: Humphrey Bogart, Jennifer Jones, Gina Lollobrigida, Robert Morley and Peter Lorre. . It was co-authored by Huston and Truman Capote, loosely based on a novel of the same name by British journalist Claud Cockburn. This movie was supposed to be a spoof of The Maltese Falcon.
In a Italian port, four crooks, Petersen, Julius O'Hara, Maj. Jack Ross and Ravello, who Billy Dannreuther had been helping them to purchase uranium-rich land in British East Africa, are arrested by police.
Six months earlier, Billy, an American, his Italian wife Maria and his partners are traveling a steamer to Africa. The ship, develops engine trouble and their trip is delayed. Billy meets a wealthy English couple, Harry and Gwendolen Chelm, who are traveling on the same ship to take over a coffee plantation they have inherited.
Billy meets with Petersen, they start to wonder that Billy's friend may make another deal if they do not arrive on time. After accusing Ross of the murder of a British Colonial officer, Billy promises his friend will not turn on them.
After hearing Gwendolen tell Billy that the plantation Harry is inheriting is rich in uranium, O'Hara tells the others. O'Hara, is concerned that Billy will double cross them. Petersen thinks it is best that they both fly to Africa. Trying to change Peterson's mind about going, Billy says that their early arrival will be suspicious, Petersen does not agree and he and Billy leave for the nearest airport. On their way to the airport, the taxi breaks down, and they accidentally push it over a cliff into the sea. Thinking Billy and Petersen died in the accident, Harry breaks the news to Maria and Gwendolen. To every ones surprise, Billy and Petersen are alive. When the ship is ready to sail, Petersen receives a cable from London that claims that the Chelm's are not rich, as they claimed to be. While on the ship the engine breaks down and Harry, an ex-Royal Marines officer, tries to fix it but, after the engine explodes, the captain takes Harry prisoner. Billy, worries that the other men will kill Harry to keep him quiet.
Will this interesting group of character's escape with their lives?
What I enjoyed about this movie besides the wonderful cast of characters, is the several surprising twists and turns with a little comic suspense mixed in.
Fun Fact:
This was the fifth and last movie that Humphrey Bogart made with Peter Lorre. The other four were, The Maltese Falcon (1941), Casablanca (1942), All through the Night (1942) and Passage to Marseille (1944).
In 1950 Howard Hughes invited Lollobrigida to make Hollywood films, but she refused, preferring to work in Europe. Despite this, her performance in Italian films: Bread, Love and Dreams and Woman of Rome, and in French films: Fanfan la Tulipe and Beauties of the Night, brought her to the attention of Hollywood. She made her first American film, Beat the Devil, in 1953 with Humphrey Bogart and Jennifer Jones.
Lollobrigida, performed in The World's Most Beautiful Woman(1955). She also performed in the circus drama, Trapeze(1956) with Burt Lancaster and Tony Curtis, The Hunchback of Notre Dame with Anthony Quinn. In 1959 she co-starred with Frank Sinatra in Never So Few and with Yul Brynner in Solomon and Sheba.
She performed in the romantic comedy Come September(1961), with Rock Hudson, Sandra Dee and Bobby Darin. The same year she performed with Ernest Borgnine and Anthony Franciosa in the drama, Go Naked in the World. In 1964 she co-starred with Sean Connery in the thriller, Woman of Straw. She co-starred with Rock Hudson again in 1965's Strange Bedfellows and appeared alongside Alec Guinness in 1966's Hotel Paradiso. In 1968 she starred in Buona Sera, Mrs. Campbell with Shelley Winters, Phil Silvers, and Telly Savalas. Lollobrigida co-starred with Bob Hope in the comedy The Private Navy of Sgt. O'Farrell.
