The Law Is the Law (1958)

Don't listen to the negative reviews

Awesome Movie

The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

It is a whirlwind of delight --- attractive actors, stunning couture, spectacular sets and outrageous parties. It's a feast for the eyes. But what really makes this dramedy work is the acting.

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.

This is one of Italian comic Toto''s more notable outings since it pairs him with French star Fernandel and is directed by a well-known film-maker. Still, it's not much better than his typical vehicle - but the plot is interesting, though it eventually becomes repetitive: the two men live in a small town through which passes the borderline that separates Italy from France; Fernandel is a customs officer, while Toto' is a smuggler (who happens to be married to the former's first wife!). The narrative begins with Fernandel catching Toto' on the Italian side of the town but he still takes him over to the French side to be arrested; however, it transpires that Fernandel was born in the town kitchen (which is on the Italian side) of an Italian mother and unknown father¡Kwhich legally makes him an Italian and, consequently, his life is turned upside down - he's forced to become an Italian citizen (thus making his presence on the French side undesirable), his second marriage is declared null and is therefore a bigamist, he's branded a deserter by the Italians because he fought on the French side (and was decorated for it!), etc. The complications, all based on what is decreed by law (hence the title), are many and amusing...but, personally, I found Toto''s broad gestures and general mischief more gratifying than Fernandel's understated performance and his rather sentimental antics (though that may be because I've watched far more of the former's films, in fact some 50 titles over the course of the last 2 years!).

Hilarious movie based on the friendship/antagonism of Totó and Fernandel's characters. In a small village which is located right in middle of the border of France and Italy (therefore half its inhabitants is French and the other half is Italian), the law-abiding French custom officer Ferdinand (Fernandel) keeps trying to arrest the Italian smuggler Giuseppe over and over. Otherwise than that they have an almost friendship relation. Ferdinand was born in a house that is located on the borderline, but he always believed that it was on the French side. Giuseppe finds out that it was on the Italian side and, as an Italian can't be a French custom officer, he tells it to everybody. But Giuseppe's plan backfires miserably when his wife is forced to live with Ferdinand (she was Ferdinand's wife but they divorced, as the divorce didn't existed in Italy in 1958, they are still married by the Italian law). And Ferdinand legal ordeal is only in the beginning. After all, he was a perfect citizen in France, but never did anything in Italy, and this soon send him into a lot of problems. Now it's up to Giuseppe finds a way to undo everything that happened due to his bigmouth strategy before the maddened Ferdinand hurt someone or himself. Funny, irreverent and very critic. Unfortunately, Totó and Fernandel never repeated this partnership.

Fernandel gives a memorably hilarious performance as a policemen in a French/Italian border town. The border line happens to go right through the middle of the house, where the protagonist was born. The complications arise, when he suddenly finds out that he was actually born on the Italian side and, therefore, is legally Italian. If you like French comedies and Fernandel, this one is a must.