''His Last Twelve Hours'' (French: ''Pour l'amour du ciel'', Italian: ''È più facile che un cammello...'') is a 1951 French-Italian

drama film In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. Drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular super-g ...

directed by

Luigi Zampa Luigi Zampa (2 January 1905 – 16 August 1991) was an Italian film director. Biography Son of a worker, Zampa studied filmmaking from 1932 to 1937 at the Italian film school Centro sperimentale di cinematografia in Rome. He directed several ...

and starring

Jean Gabin Jean Gabin (; 17 May 190415 November 1976) was a French actor and singer. Considered a key figure in French cinema, he starred in several classic films including ''Pépé le Moko'' (1937), ''La grande illusion'' (1937), ''Le Quai des brumes'' ( ...

Mariella Lotti Maria Camilla Pianotti (17 November 1919 – 18 December 2004), known by the stage name Mariella Lotti, was an Italian film actress. Lotti made her film debut in 1939, and played leading ladies in a number of Fascist era and post-war films. She ...

and

Elli Parvo Elli Parvo (17 October 1915 – 19 February 2010) was an Italian film actress, born in Milan as Elvira Gobbo. She appeared in more than 50 films between 1934 and 1960. Selected filmography * ''Loyalty of Love'' (1934) as La nobildonna al b ...

. The film's sets were designed by the

art director Art director is the title for a variety of similar job functions in theater, advertising, marketing, publishing, fashion, film industry, film and television, the Internet, and video games. It is the charge of a sole art director to supervise and ...

Gastone Medin Gastone Medin (1905–1973) was an Italian art director.Anile p.132 He worked on more than a hundred and fifty films during his career. Selected filmography * ''Figaro and His Great Day'' (1931) * '' Lowered Sails'' (1931) * ''The Table of the P ...

. It was shot at the

Centro Sperimentale di Cinematografia The Centro sperimentale di cinematografia (Experimental Film Centre or Italian National film school) was established in 1935 in Italy and aims to promote the art and technique of cinematography and film. The centre is the oldest film school in ...

near

Cinecittà Cinecittà Studios (; Italian for Cinema City Studios), is a large film studio in Rome, Italy. With an area of 400,000 square metres (99 acres), it is the largest film studio in Europe, and is considered the hub of Italian cinema. The studios we ...

Rome , established_title = Founded , established_date = 753 BC , founder = King Romulus (legendary) , image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg , map_caption ...

.Chiti & Poppi p.139

Plot

Died in a car accident, the wealthy footwear industrialist Carlo Bacchi finds himself in the afterlife, where he is condemned to hell for having committed evil when he was alive. Defending himself from the accusation in a passionate harangue, however, he manages to get back to earth for a few hours, in order to repair the evil committed and above all the bad deed that caused Amedeo Santini's attempted suicide.

Cast

as Carlo Bacchi *

as Margot, Bacchi's wife *

Julien Carette Julien Henri Carette (23 December 1897 – 20 July 1966) was a French film actor. He appeared in more than 120 films between 1931 and 1964. Selected filmography * '' American Love'' (1931) * ''George and Georgette'' (1934) * ''My Heart Is ...

as Amedeo Santini *

as Lidia Guidi, Bacchi's friend *

Antonella Lualdi Antonella Lualdi ( gr, Αντονέλλα Λουάλντι, born Antonietta de Pascale; 6 July 1931) is an Italian actress and singer. She appeared in many Italian and French films in the 1950s and 1960s, notably in Claude Autant-Lara's film '' ...

as Maria * Antonietta Pietrosi as Anna, Carlo Bacchi's daughter *

Paola Borboni Paola Borboni (1 January 1900 – 9 April 1995) was an Italian stage and film actress whose career spanned nine decades of cinema. Early life Borboni was born on 1 January 1900 in Parma, Italy. Career Borboni made her stage debut in 19 ...

as Luisa *

Carlo Sposito Carlo Sposito (1 May 1924 – 9 September 1984) was an Italian character actor, sometimes credited as Carletto Sposito. Born in Palermo, he was among the most active actors in the post-war Italian genre cinema. He was also pretty active on stag ...

as The Duke Sorino *

Marga Cella Marga may refer to: People *Marga (Batak), a family name in Batak society *Marga Barbu (1929–2009), Romanian actress *Marga Boodts (1895–1976), woman claimed to be Grand Duchess Olga Nikolaevna of Russia *Marga Gomez (born 1960), Puerto Rican ...

as Mrs. Gigliosi *

Fausto Guerzoni Fausto Guerzoni (1904–1967) was an Italian film actor.Freire-Medeiros p.193 A character actor, he appeared in Italian films in supporting roles from the mid-1930s. Selected filmography * ''Cavalry'' (1936) * '' The Former Mattia Pascal'' (1937) ...

as A worker *

Piero Pastore Pietro Mario Pastore, also known as Piero Pastore (3 April 1908, in Padua – 8 January 1968, in Rome) was an Italian professional footballer who played as a striker; he later became an actor. Football career Pastore was the youngest ever playe ...

as A working trade unionist *

Dante Maggio Dante Maggio (2 March 1909 – 3 March 1992) was an Italian film actor. He appeared in 115 films between 1940 and 1975. Born in Naples into a family of actors, Maggio had a turbulent adolescence that led his father to send him in an institu ...

as The cobbler *

Enrico Luzi Enrico Luzi (27 September 1919 – 18 October 2011) was an Italian actor. He appeared in more than sixty films from 1941 to 1980. Selected filmography References External links * 1919 births 2011 deaths Italian male film actors ...

as Witness of the accident *

Dino Raffaelli Dino may refer to: Prefix * dino-, a common prefix in taxonomy, meaning "terrible", "formidable" **Dinosaur People * Dino (given name), a masculine given name and a nickname * Dino (surname), a surname found in Albania and Turkey * Diño, a surn ...

as Giuseppe *

Bella Starace Sainati Bella Starace Sainati (June 2, 1878 – August 4, 1958) was an Italian stage and film actress.Goble p.190 Selected filmography * '' The Two Mothers'' (1938) * ''Naples Will Never Die'' (1939) * '' Goodbye Youth'' (1940) * ''Inspector Vargas'' ...

as Luisa, Bacchi's aunt *

Bice Valori Maria Bice Valori (13 May 1927 – 17 March 1980) was an Italian actress, comedian and television and radio personality. Life and career Born in Rome, Valori studied at the Silvio d’Amico Academy of Dramatic Arts, graduating in 1948. The same ...

as Witness of the accident

References

Bibliography

* Chiti, Roberto & Poppi, Roberto. ''Dizionario del cinema italiano: Dal 1945 al 1959''. Gremese Editore, 1991.

External links

* 1951 films 1951 drama films French drama films Films scored by Nino Rota 1950s Italian-language films Italian black-and-white films Films directed by Luigi Zampa Films with screenplays by Suso Cecchi d'Amico Films with screenplays by Cesare Zavattini Italian drama films Pathé films 1950s Italian films 1950s French films {{1950s-drama-film-stub