| Police Python 357 | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Directed by | Alain Corneau |
| Screenplay by |
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| Story by |
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| Based on | |
| Produced by | Albina du Boisrouvray |
| Starring | |
| Cinematography | Étienne Becker[1] |
| Edited by | Marie-Josèphe Yoyotte[1] |
| Music by | Georges Delerue[1] |
Production companies |
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| Distributed by | Les Films La Boëtie |
Release dates |
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Running time | 125 minutes[1] |
| Countries |
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| Language | French |
Police Python 357 (also known as The Case Against Ferro) is a 1976 French crime-thriller film written and directed by Alain Corneau.[2][3] It is partially an adaptation of the storyline of Kenneth Fearing's 1946 novel, The Big Clock, along with childhood experiences by Corneau.
Plot
1975 , Marc Ferrot Police Officer in Orléans ,France is nearing retirement age. He has an affair with the younger woman Sylvia. Sylvia does not tell that she has an affair with some one else :Ganay Sylvia gets killed By Ganay.
Ganay tells his wife who is bedridden that he killed Sylvia. His wife who knows that he has an affair with Sylvia ( for a long time) tells him not to tell the police.
Marc Ferrot gets the murder case by his superior who is Ganay. Neither knows of each others involvement in Sylvia.
Cast
- Yves Montand as Inspector Marc Ferrot
- Simone Signoret as Thérèse Ganay
- François Périer as Police Commissioner Ganay
- Mathieu Carrière as Inspector Ménard
- Stefania Sandrelli as Sylvia Leopardi
- Vadim Glowna as Inspector Acadie
- Claude Bertrand as Merchant of Pigs
- Serge Marquand as "The Red"
Production
For his second film after France société anonyme , which a commercially unsuccessful, director Alain Corneau said to himself that he had to ask "What is that [I] really like about cinema?" and said that he loved film noir by Fritz Lang, Don Siegel and American b-movies and wanted to make a detective film.[1] Corneau submitted his idea to producer Albina de Boisrouvray that was part based on a personal memory of his youth and part on Kenneth Fearing's novel The Big Clock. The producer suggested he teamup with playight and poet Daniel Boulganger.[1] The film was shot and set in Orléans.[4]
Police Python 357 was a international co-production between France and West Germany. It was 70% funded by the Paris based Albina Productions and 30% funded by the Munich based TIT Film-produktion.[5][1]
Release
Police Python 357 was released in France on March 31, 1976.[1] The authors of French Thrillers of the 1970s: Volume I, Crime Films (2026) described it as being successful at the French box office, with over 1,464,000 spectators in France.[6]
It was released in West Germany on September 9, 1976 as Im tödlichen Kreis.[1] It was released in Los Angeles' international film festival; the Filmex Film Festival; as Police Python 357 on March 19, 1977.[1][7] It was released in Santa Cruz on December 21, 1978 as Police Python while in Miami in December 21, 1979, it was re-titled The Case Against Ferro.[1]
Reception
Police Python 357 won a César Award for Best Editing.[7]
References
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Curti & Lafond 2026, p. 278.
- ^ Paolo Mereghetti. Il Mereghetti. B.C. Dalai Editore, 2010. ISBN 8860736269.
- ^ Alison Smith (22 July 2005). French Cinema in the 1970s: The Echoes of May. Manchester University Press, 2005. ISBN 0719063418.
- ^ Curti & Lafond 2026, p. 279.
- ^ Curti & Lafond 2026, pp. 278–279.
- ^ Curti & Lafond 2026, pp. 281–282.
- ^ a b Curti & Lafond 2026, p. 282.
Sources
- Curti, Roberto; Lafond, Frank (2026). French Thrillers of the 1970s: Volume I, Crime Films. Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland & Company. ISBN 978-1-4766-8681-3. LCCN 2025048366.
External links
- Police Python 357 at IMDb
- Police Python 357 at the TCM Movie Database (archived)
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