CELEBRATING 70 YEARS! : LA CONGIUNTURA .. COLUMBIA .. ITALY .. 1965 ..

 COLUMBIA PICTURES

Presents
A Royal Films International Presentation

LA CONGIUNTURA 

Starring
VITTORIO GASSMAN as Prince Giulliano

JOAN COLLINS as Jane

JACQUES BERGERAC as Sandro
HILDA BARRY as Dana

PIPPO STARNAZZA as Francesco
DINO CURCIO as Salerno
ALDO DE CARELLIS as Eduardo
PAOLO BONACELLI as Zenone
ADOLFO ELBENSTEIN as Enrico
MARINO MASE as Angelo
RENATO MONTALBANO as Dino
HALINA ZALEWSKA as Luisetta

Assistant Director - Dino De Palma & Guglielmo Ambrosi  Director of Photography - Sandro D'eva A.I.C
          Music by Luis Enriquez Bacalov     Screenplay by Ruggero Maccari & Ettore Scola  
                            Edited by Marcello Malvestiti    Produced by Mario Cecchi Gori
                                                            Directed by Ettore Scola

AKA :  "ONE MILLION DOLLARS" (Europe) ...  "HARD TIMES FOR PRINCES" ( USA)

(c) 1964  ..  Columbia .. 102 Mins ..

When a Roman Prince becomes attracted to a pretty English girl, he gets more than he bargained for. Jane has a vested interest in the Prince, not to mention his car! As they both tour Switzerland, Jane's criminal boyfriend are hot on their trail. But has he still got the hot's for her, or could it be the one million she is smuggling, the proceeds of a recent robbery? Cross and doublecross, with the Prince and his moll! Will he get the girl and the million dollars? On a rocky road .. It's Hard Times For Princes!!

Joan with Vittoria Gassman

This was Joan's first film in two years, although she had filmed an episode of the British TV series "The Human Jungle", before this film. After she made her previous film "The Road To Hong Kong", Joan married Anthony Newley and became pregnant with her first child, Tara. She had been offered the role
of Rina Marlowe in the big screen version of Harold Robbins best seller "The Carpetbaggers". But as much as she would have loved the role, her pregnancy took a priority. The role was eventually played by Carroll Baker and looking at the film today, a pregnant Joan swinging from a chandelier would not have been advisable! Joan left Newley in London to go on location for eleven weeks to shoot "La Congiuntra", taking infant Tara with her. The film was shot in various hotspots including Rome, Portofino and Switzerland. Joan had just moved into a new house with Newley in Elstree and spent her time between filming, looking for furniture and knick-knacks for their new home.

 

Joan loved Italy and really enjoyed the relaxed way the Italian film makers honed their craft. It was such a change from the stuffiness of the Fox film sets. She was also delighted to be making a comedy, as she always thought she was more than suited to the genre. The film eventually went on to be a big box office hit in Europe. Joan however was disappointed that the film only got a limited release in the UK and in America. The film is seldom seen today, although a DVD is available in Europe, but in an Italian language version only. 

'La Congiuntura' is a hard film to find in its' english language version 'Hard Times For Princes' & 'One Million Dollars'.. However an Italian language dvd was released in 2006 by CG Entertainment.. You can still order this edition here!

ORDER LA CONGIUNTURA ITALIAN DVD

 HERE!