''His Last Twelve Hours'' (, ) 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. The drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular ...

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 in Rome. He directed several Italian neorealism films in the 1940 ...

and starring

Jean Gabin Jean Gabin Alexis Moncorgé (born Jean-Alexis Moncorgé), known as 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 ...

, Mariella Lotti and Elli Parvo. The film's sets were designed by the

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

Gastone Medin Gastone Medin (1905–1973) was a Dalmatian 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 Tab ...

. It was shot at the

Centro Sperimentale di Cinematografia The (; CSC), also referred to as the (), is an Italian national film school headquartered in Rome, with satellite educational hubs in five other Italian regions. It was established in 1935 and aims to promote the art and technique of cinemat ...

near

Cinecittà Cinecittà Studios (; Italian for Cinema City) 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 were constru ...

Rome Rome (Italian language, Italian and , ) is the capital city and most populated (municipality) of Italy. It is also the administrative centre of the Lazio Regions of Italy, region and of the Metropolitan City of Rome. A special named with 2, ...

.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 * Mariella Lotti 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) - Lepape * ''Seul'' (1932) - Michel * '' Fun in the Ba ...

as Amedeo Santini * Elli Parvo as Lidia Guidi, Bacchi's friend *

Antonella Lualdi Antonella Lualdi (born Antonietta de Pascale, 6 July 1931 – 10 August 2023) was 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 ''The Red and the Black'' ...

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 nearly eight decades of cinema. Early life Borboni was born on 1 January 1900 in Parma, Italy. Career Borboni made her stage deb ...

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 sta ...

as The Duke Sorino * Marga Cella as Mrs. Gigliosi *

Fausto Guerzoni Fausto Guerzoni (1904–1967) was an Italian actor.Freire-Medeiros p.193 A character actor, he appeared in Italian films in supporting roles from the mid-1930s. Selected filmography * '' I'll Give a Million'' (1935) - (uncredited) * ''Ballerine ...

as A worker *

Piero Pastore Pietro Mario Pastore, also known as Piero Pastore (3 April 1903 – 8 January 1968) was an Italian professional footballer who played as a striker; he later became an actor. Football career Pastore was the youngest ever player to play for Juve ...

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 institute f ...

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 Ma ...

as Witness of the accident * Dino Raffaelli as Giuseppe * Bella Starace Sainati as Luisa, Bacchi's aunt *

Bice Valori Maria Beatrice "Bice" Valori (; 13 May 1927 – 17 March 1980) was an Italian actress, comedian and television and radio personality. Early life and career Born in Rome, Valori studied at the Silvio d'Amico Academy of Dramatic Arts, graduating ...

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