Against the Law Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		3.5
Video		4.0
Audio		3.0
Extras		2.0
Overall		3.5

Against the Law Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman August 24, 2026

Note: This film is available on Blu-ray as part of the World Noir Vol. 5 set from Radiance Films.

Radiance Films is back with another volume in its continuing World Noir series. This edition features three Italian films that forge a bridge between American noir sensibilities and Neorealism. There are some interesting names associated with the three films in this set, with relatively early performances from future icons like Anna Magnani, Marcello Mastroianni and Gina Lollobrigida, and with the Lollobrigida film also boasting a Federico Fellini writing credit, and with the Magnani film bearing the imprimatur of producer Dino De Laurentiis.

While not all of the following were sent for review purposes, for those interested in having a "complete collection", links to the previous volumes can be found below:

World Noir Vol. 1

World Noir Vol. 2

World Noir Vol. 3

World Noir Vol. 4

While seeing Marcello Mastroianni in one of his first major screen appearances is probably the "marquee attraction" for Against the Law, the film is also a fascinating companion piece to a number of Hitchcock outings, including several Hitch films where someone is wrongly accused of having done something they didn't. While the appropriately titled The Wrong Man will probably spring most instantly to mind, Hitch (and his writers) used the same basic underpinning recurrently in everything from The 39 Steps to North by Northwest. Kind of interestingly, if admittedly tangentially, there are a couple of vignettes in Against the Law that may recall an also admittedly tangential vignette in Hitch's 1956 version of The Man Who Knew Too Much involving birds.

The really interesting thing about the whole "wrongly accused" aspect of Against the Law, though, is the fact that, unlike the many heroes of the aforementioned Hitchcock films, Mastroianni portrays Marcello Curti who is not exactly a man of honorable intentions. That gives the entire plot conceit in this outing a bit more of an edge in a way, since there are more subtle moral shades of gray than in a typical Hitch film where it's understood the wrongly accused character is more or less beyond reproach. The plot also features the required love interest for Marcello in the form of Maria (Fulvia Mammi), as well as a perhaps expectation defying Inspector (Tino Buazzelli) who actually (ultimately) believes Marcello is innocent of the crime he's been accused of committing.

Against the Law Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Against the Law is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Radiance Films with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.33:1. Radiance sent check discs for purposes of this review and so I'm not privy to any verbiage in an insert booklet, but their website states the set features "4K restorations of all three films from the original camera negatives", and there's further information courtesy of a maybe just slightly ESL prefatory text card before the main feature:

The restoration of Contro la legge has been made from the 35mm original image and sound negatives stored at Cineteca Italiana (Milan), the restoration started in 2024 for the celebration of the centenary of Marcello Mastroianni's birth and completed in 2025.

Film preparation was carried out at Picture & Sound (Rome) which also handled the transfer, A/D conversion and sampling of the soundtrack at 24 bit 48 Khz mono.

4K scanning and digital restoration was done at Video Master Digital (Rome) which also done grading and finalization. Film conforming was managed at Picture & Sound.

Sound restoration and mastering were carried out by Fabio Venturi at Touch Entertainment Production Ltd. (London).

While certainly nothing less than watchable and at times rather impressive looking, this transfer is arguably a bit less consistent looking than the others in this set, though some of that seems to be due to perhaps on the fly filming conditions where things like focus pulling can frankly not always be "on target" (pay attention to cutaways of the police in the Curti home early on for some examples of variances in focus sharpness). While occasional interstitial moments can be on the fuzzy side, a lot of this presentation boasts secure clarity and nice detail levels on admittedly everyday items and pretty normal, workaday outfits worn by the characters. Contrast is also secure, and grain resolves without any issues.

Against the Law Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Against the Law features an LPCM Mono track in the original Italian which probably shows its age a bit more than the video side of things. There's some noticeable crackling and distortion in the underscore accompanying the opening credits, but other cues escape those issues. That said, the underscore is very odd at times (pay attention, for example, to the weirdly sweet and romantic string writing under the scene showing the police photographing a corpse). The post looping is actually fairly effective, and there's also at least passing attention paid to ambient environmental sounds, as in the rustling breezes in the opening scene. There is recurrent if slight background noise that becomes more evident during quieter moments. Dialogue is presented without any major issues, though slight crackling and distortion can accompany higher amplitudes moments here as well. Optional English subtitles are available.

Against the Law Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Stephen Gundle (HD; 19:42) offers his thoughts on the film.


• Manuela Lazic (HD; 20:49) offers the critic profiling Marcello Mastroianni.

Against the Law Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

In a way, Against the Law is actually the most traditional narrative of the bunch in World Noir Volume 5, and that may not always redound to the film's benefit in terms of impact. Mastroianni is already a "presence" and helps to carry the film, which may be too sanguine for either typical noir or typical Neorealism. Technical merits have a few hiccups (notably audio), but are generally solid. With caveats noted, Recommended.