Original release date: 15.01.58
- Country: Italy
- Director: Giuseppe Bennati
- Certification number / date: 25862 on 19.12.57
- Production companies: Maxima Film – Compagnia Cinematografica / Lux Film / Aspa Films, Madrid (Spagna).
- Alternative titles (+ dates and running times): Spain – Esta chica es para mi (Madrid, 22.09.58 – 90′); International – The Mine
- Cast: Antonio Cifariello, Elsa Martinelli, Felix Acaso, Luis Peña, Giancarlo Zarfati, Luis Induni, Aldo Pini
Sorry – here’s one that slipped through the net… La mina was the first Italian release of 1958, coming out in the traditionally barren January, a time when very few domestic films were introduced into the cinemas. It was actually certified the month before, but the premier was delayed until after the Christmas / New Year period.
According to Hal Erickson in the All Movie Guide:
Elsa Martinelli plays a resident of a seaside village who falls in love with rootless stranger Antonio Ciffariello. The stranger soon learns that he’ll have to fight over Elsa’s affections with hotheaded villager Luis Pena. Meanwhile, a fisherman who illegally uses dynamite nearly causes tragedy to the entire community. How these two plot strands are woven together is the dramatic crux of the film’s final reel. Despite its melodramatic trappings, La Mina unfolds in a leisurely, unforced fashion. The worldwide popularity of Elsa Martinelli enabled the film to attain good bookings outside of Spain and Italy.
Having said this, there appears to be little evidence that La mina had an international release in 1958, and although Ms Martinelli was known at the time, she wasn’t yet the star she would go on to become (in fact, minor lead Antonio Cifariello is the real star). Still, sounds like an interesting late-period melodrama.