The Law Is the Law

The Law Is the Law (French: La loi, c'est la loi, Italian: La legge è legge) is a 1958 French-Italian comedy film directed by Christian-Jaque. It was entered into the 8th Berlin International Film Festival.

Plot

In the village of Assola, divided in half by the French-Italian border, the smuggler living Neapolitan Giuseppe La Paglia (Toto) and the French customs officer Ferdinand Pastorelli (Fernandel). On the feast day of the town on the French side, Ferdinand Joseph stopped arriving late to the traditional parade that was to bring the French flag, and during the following reception of the hotel two borders, which is divided in half by the border, Joseph discovered that Ferdinand was born Italian mother and an unknown father in the kitchen of the restaurant which is located in the Italian part of the hotel, for which, though recorded at the French Ministry, the customs officer, is actually Italian and is not entitled to exercise the profession. A subsequent audit at the municipality of Assola, Ferdinand discovers that those who recorded the birth years before, Gaspar Donnadiè, owner of the two borders, failed to register there, while it was the Italian municipality. The same Donaddiè tells Ferdinand that he went to the town hall French because it was raining that day and it was closer than the Italian one.