The Little World of Don Camillo

In 1948 the Italian journalist and novelist Giovannino Guareschi wrote: Mondo piccolo : Don Camillo (translated in French en 1951 in Le petit monde de Don Camillo).Giovannino Guareschi creates in this book two strong characters: Don Camillo, the priest of Brescella and Giuseppe "Peppone" Bottazzi ,the communist mayor of Brescella.In 1952 French and Italian producers ask the French director Julien Duvivier to direct the "The little world of Don Camillo" with Fernandel and Gino Cervi as main actors. Julien Duvivier is a French director well know by "Sous le ciel de Paris", "Marie-Octobre" and "The Devil and the Ten commandments". Fernandel and Gino Cervi don't need any presentation, there were well known actors in their respective countries. "Don Camillo" is then the story of the rivalry between Don Camillo and Peppone.The two men have fought together in the Italian resistance and now one is the priest of the village and the other one is mayor of the village.We are in the time of the cold war: in Italy there are now two important political parties who dominate the political life in the country and also in this village of the Po Valley.Don Camillo criticizes Peppone and Peppone criticizes Don Camillo.Every one is thinking in the next moves that he can do to annoy the other one,but also, they will help each other in the difficult moments of their lives.I forget to mention an important character of this film ,the narrator who tells quietly and with humour the rivalry betweeen Don Camillo and Peppone.

By the way, the version I watched was not dubbed but subtitled. I mention this because one of the reviewers talked about seeing a dubbed version but this was not available on the DVD I watched. And, if it had been, I would have chosen the captions regardless.

I did an odd thing. I accidentally put the second Don Camillo film ahead of the first one on my Netflix queue. So I saw the second one first. This is not that bad a thing, however, as the second film recapped what happened in the first film when it began. But, because I loved the second film so much, I couldn't wait to see the first.

This movie begins with the town in an uproar. It's a heavily divided town and the Communists have just won the election for mayor. The old guard is quite unhappy and the unhappiest is the town's priest, Don Camillo (Fernandel). And, through most of the film, he and the Mayor butt heads and fight like dogs. It's all quite silly but enjoyable.

An odd thing about the film, just as in the second, is that Don Camillo talks to Jesus--and Jesus talks back to him through the crucifix in the church! Some might find it a bit sacrilegious, but it seemed to be handled well. Also, the town's struggles is a good microcosm of post-war Italy, as the country was strongly divided between Communists and those who wanted a right-wing republic--a problem which didn't really get resolved until the 1980s.

All in all, a very good film that I enjoyed. However, please watch the next one--it gets even better.

This is, and has been since I was a young boy, one of my favorite movies.

It's the story of a Catholic priest and a Communist mayor who are each others worst enemy and best friend. The dialogs are just great, but what I like most about these movies (there a are 5 in total) is that both main characters (Don Camillo and Peppone) are "real people". They act on impulse, say one thing but think the other, manipulate... they are real humans. When one of Peppone's people dies and asks for the church-bells to be rang at his funeral, Don Camillo refuses because he was no Catholic. Peppone orders a big bell to be placed in the town square which Don Camillo sabotages. The bell is broken and sounds horrible but at the end, Don Camillo rings his bells because "by asking for the bells, the boy was asking for God". This is one of these typical things I like about these movies.

I've got the good fortune I also understand French and can watch these movies in that language. I can't imagine what they would sound like in English but I would advice anyone to watch them in the French version. I hate dubbed movies and can't imagine Fernandel speaking English (although in one movie he does which is hilarious). But in all, I think even the English version still is one of the best movies ever made.

If you're not prejudiced against black and white and foreign movies, this is a movie you have to see. If you are, you don't know what you're missing.

French comic actor Fernandel embodied the title role while remarkable Italian character actor Gino Cervi played his spiritual and political opponent. More than a rustic comedy, the film epitomizes the postwar political polarization in Italy and symbolizes the famous "compromesso storico"---historical compromise---under which Italy would long continue to be governed. This successful film spawned a series of popular sequels, mostly with the same two actors, all based on the Giovanni Guareschi novels. A point of clarification: this was a French-Italian co-production and was first released in the U.S. in its French-language version with English subtitles before the dubbed English version with narrator Orson Welles went into circulation. The Italian-language version, not readily available, is the most appropriate one.

I think this is a very funny movie, Despite the fact it is a white&black film and you really can tell that it is placed on a certain time frame (end of 1940's - early 1950's), the plot is fun and universal. It gives you a glimpse of the life on a small Italian town, where simple things turns into hilarious situations, thanks to the strange relationship of friendship/rivalry between Don Camillo and Mayor Peppone. I was lucky to see the original french version (subtitled, of course) which is always better than hearing a translated version. I think that original voices -even if you do not understand the language- reveal the character's feelings, and give credibility to actor's performances. After the film, you get the impression that life is somewhat easier to cope with...