''The Little World of Don Camillo'' ( it, Don Camillo; french: Le Petit Monde de don Camillo) is a 1952 Italian-French film directed by

Julien Duvivier Julien Duvivier (; 8 October 1896 – 29 October 1967) was a French film director and screenwriter. He was prominent in French cinema in the years 1930–1960. Amongst his most original films, chiefly notable are ''La Bandera (film), La Bandera'', ...

, starring

Fernandel Fernand Joseph Désiré Contandin (8 May 1903 – 26 February 1971), better known as Fernandel, was a French actor and singer. Born near Marseille, France, to Désirée Bedouin and Denis Contandin, originating in Perosa Argentina, an Occitan to ...

and

Gino Cervi Luigi Cervi (3 May 1901 – 3 January 1974), better known as Gino Cervi (), was an Italian actor. He was best known for portraying Peppone in a series of comedies based on the character ''Don Camillo'' (1952-1965), and police detective Jules M ...

. It was the first film in the ''"

Don Camillo Don Camillo () and Peppone () are the fictional protagonists of a series of works by the Italian writer and journalist Giovannino Guareschi set in what Guareschi refers to as the "small world" of rural Italy after World War II. Most of the Don Cam ...

"'' series, which made Fernandel an international star. The film was based on the novel ''Don Camillo'' by Italian author

Giovannino Guareschi Giovannino Oliviero Giuseppe Guareschi (; 1 May 1908 – 22 July 1968) was an Italian journalist, cartoonist and humorist whose best known creation is the priest Don Camillo. Life and career Giovannino Guareschi was born into a middle-class famil ...

. It was followed in 1953 by ''

The Return of Don Camillo ''The Return of Don Camillo'' (Italian: ''Il ritorno di Don Camillo''; French: ''Le Retour de don Camillo'') is a 1953 French-Italian comedy film directed by Julien Duvivier and starring Fernandel, Gino Cervi and Édouard Delmont. The film's sets ...

'', also directed by Duvivier.

Synopsis

The story starts in a small lbeit unnamedtown, simply known as "a small world", in the Po lowlands of northern

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...

, in the early summer of 1946. The town's

Communist party A communist party is a political party that seeks to realize the socio-economic goals of communism. The term ''communist party'' was popularized by the title of ''The Manifesto of the Communist Party'' (1848) by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels. A ...

led by Peppone has just won the majority of seats within the city council, an event which they exploit for

propagandistic Propaganda is communication that is primarily used to influence or persuade an audience to further an agenda, which may not be objective and may be selectively presenting facts to encourage a particular synthesis or perception, or using loaded ...

purposes – and with some non-vocal, but church bell-assisted protest by the outraged Don Camillo, the spiritual leader of the town's Christian political party –, when an unexpected event puts an instant stop to this arising conflict: Peppone has just added a new member, a son, to his family, and following a personal and

pugilist Boxing (also known as "Western boxing" or "pugilism") is a combat sport in which two people, usually wearing protective gloves and other protective equipment such as hand wraps and mouthguards, throw punches at each other for a predetermined ...

ic appeal by Peppone himself (as well as some admonishment from

Christ Jesus, likely from he, יֵשׁוּעַ, translit=Yēšūaʿ, label=Hebrew/Aramaic ( AD 30 or 33), also referred to as Jesus Christ or Jesus of Nazareth (among other Names and titles of Jesus in the New Testament, names and titles), was ...

) to a reluctant Don Camillo, the child is baptized in Camillo's church. Similar conflicts arising in the course of the story are settled between Don Camillo and Peppone in a similarly conflicting, but ultimately unified fashion, such as: *the erection of a kindergarten for the town after Don Camillo finds out that Peppone has used money stolen from the

fascists Fascism is a far-right, authoritarian, ultra-nationalist political ideology and movement,: "extreme militaristic nationalism, contempt for electoral democracy and political and cultural liberalism, a belief in natural social hierarchy and th ...

during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

to finance the construction of his new community hall, and blackmails him with this knowledge; *a farmhand strike organized by the Communists to impose a special tax on the wealthier landowners in order to give the town's people work, resulting in the local cattle herds not getting milked until both Don Camillo and Peppone surreptitiously resolve the problem together; *a river blessing procession and the funeral of the town's generally respected old teacher, Ms. Christina, which are both kept strictly non-political despite the Communists' initial intentions. An important side story within the film is the ''

Romeo and Juliet ''Romeo and Juliet'' is a Shakespearean tragedy, tragedy written by William Shakespeare early in his career about the romance between two Italian youths from feuding families. It was among Shakespeare's most popular plays during his lifetim ...

''-esque relationship between a young girl named Gina Filotti, who has just returned to the town from boarding school as the story begins, and a young man named Mariolino Brusco. Gina and Mariolino's blossoming relationship, however, is off to a bad start: not only that the families of Gina (as Christians) and Mariolino (as Communists) are on ideologically opposite sides, they are also entertaining a long-running private feud. When their cause finds no support with neither Peppone as the mayor, nor with Camillo as a priest, the two lovers decide to commit a double suicide. Fortunately, both opposing parties come to their senses just in time, rescue the two and get the wedding underway. But during the combined wedding and house-warming festivities for the now-finished community hall and kindergarten, Don Camillo takes offense at one of Peppone's better throws at an

Aunt Sally Aunt Sally is a traditional English game usually played in pub gardens and fairgrounds, in which players throw sticks or battens at a ball, known as a 'dolly', balanced on top of a stick, traditionally a model of an old woman's head was sometime ...

stall, which results in a public mass brawl. Even though Peppone resents Don Camillo's interferences and their after-effects on personal health, he secretly enjoys their amicable quarrels and repeatedly tries his best to persuade the local

bishop A bishop is an ordained clergy member who is entrusted with a position of authority and oversight in a religious institution. In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance of dioceses. The role or office of bishop is ca ...

not to have Camillo replaced. However, with this last misdeed the bishop decides to send Camillo to a different community, and Peppone has threatened Camillo's parish not to say farewell to him as he is about to depart. But to his delightful surprise, Don Camillo does receive a touching goodbye from the people of his town – first from his parish at the train station next town, then from Peppone and his party comrades at the very next station afterward. Before Camillo departs for his new destination, Peppone asks him to come back soon and promises that Camillo's successor will not last long under his attention.

Cast

as Don Camillo *

as Giuseppe 'Peppone' Bottazzi *

Vera Talchi Vera may refer to: Names *Vera (surname), a surname (including a list of people with the name) *Vera (given name), a given name (including a list of people and fictional characters with the name) **Vera (), archbishop of the archdiocese of Tarrag ...

as Gina Filotti *

Franco Interlenghi Franco Interlenghi (29 October 1931 – 10 September 2015) was an Italian actor. He made his acting debut at 15 in Vittorio De Sica's 1946 Neorealist film ''Sciuscià''. He has worked with great directors such as Alessandro Blasetti in '' Fab ...

as Mariolino Brusco *

Saro Urzì Rosario "Saro" Urzì (24 February 1913 – 1 November 1979) was an Italian actor. He is best known for his roles in the films '' In the Name of the Law'' (1949), ''The Railroad Man'' (1956), '' Seduced and Abandoned'' (1964), which earned him a ...

as Brusco *Charles Vissière as the Bishop *

Leda Gloria Leda may refer to: Mythology * Leda (mythology), queen of Sparta and mother of Helen of Troy in Greek mythology Places * Leda, Western Australia, a suburb of Perth, Western Australia * Leda makeshift settlement, Bangladesh, a refugee camp ...

as Signora Bottazzi *

Luciano Manara Luciano Manara (23 March 1825 – 30 June 1849) was a Milanese soldier and politician of the Risorgimento era, who took part in the Roman Republic. Life Manara was born in Milan in 1825. A friend of Carlo Cattaneo, in 1848 he participated in th ...

as Filotti *

Mario Siletti Mario Giovanni Siletti (22 July 1903 – 19 April 1964) was an Italian actor. He was born in Turin. He performed in more than 160 films from 1932 to 1964. He began appearing in American films no later than 1946. From 1962 to 1964, he also portra ...

as Stiletti *

Marco Tulli Marco Tulli (20 November 1920 – 20 March 1982) was an Italian character actor, probably best known in the role of "Smilzo" in the Don Camillo film series. Born in Rome, Tulli debuted as actor while he was still a university student, at the end ...

as Smilzo *

Italo Clerici Italo may refer to: *Italo-, a prefix indicating a relation to Italy or Italians Film * ''Italo'' (film), a 2014 comedy film *Italo crime, a genre of crime film Music genres *Italo disco *Italo dance *Italo house People *Italo Allodi (1928–1 ...

as the corrupt soccer referee * Sylvie as Christina * André Hildebrand as Barchini *

Orson Welles George Orson Welles (May 6, 1915 – October 10, 1985) was an American actor, director, producer, and screenwriter, known for his innovative work in film, radio and theatre. He is considered to be among the greatest and most influential f ...

as Narrator (voice, English version) *

Jean Debucourt Jean Debucourt (19 January 1894 – 22 March 1958) was a French stage and film actor. He appeared in more than 100 films between 1920 and 1958. Selected filmography * '' The Little Thing'' (1923) * ''Jean Chouan'' (1926) * ''Madame Récami ...

as voice of jesus

Production notes

was 55 when he filmed ''Le petit monde de Don Camillo'' in the Italian town of

Brescello Brescello (; in the local dialect, in the Reggio Emilia dialect) is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Province of Reggio Emilia in the Italian region Emilia-Romagna, located about northwest of Bologna and about northwest of Reggio Emilia. A ...

. The film was produced by

Francinex Francinex was a French film production and distribution company active from the 1930s to the 1960s. It had its roots in Italian production interests before the Second World War, who were able to continue during the conflict due to film agreements ...

(Paris) and Rizzoli Amato (Rome). It belongs to a long series of Franco-Italian (or Italo-French) coproductions which provided hundreds of movies to the cinema during 30 years after World War II. In ''Le Petit Monde de Don Camillo'' (released in Italy as simply ''Don Camillo'') one of the characteristics is a certain balance between the two countries, since the original author, the place of action, and one of the two stars are Italian, while the director, the screenwriters, and the first star are French. The crew and the rest of the cast are also equally divided between both nations. During filming, the actors spoke their own language. So there are two originals, one Italian, and one French, in which the actors of the other language are dubbed.

Reception

The film was the highest-grossing film in Italy of all-time and is currently the seventh most watched Italian film at the cinema with 13,215,653 admissions. It was also the highest-grossing film in France of all-time and is currently the sixth most watched French film at the cinema with 12,791,168 admissions and the 17th most watched film in France.

Sequel

The film had four sequels, thus totaling five films plus one unfinished due to Fernandel's sudden death: *''

'' (Italian:'' Il ritorno di don Camillo ''; French: ''Le Retour de don Camillo'') (1953) *''

Don Camillo's Last Round ''Don Camillo's Last Round'' (French: ''La grande bagarre de Don Camillo'', Italian: ''Don Camillo e l'onorevole Peppone'') is a 1955 French-Italian comedy film directed by Carmine Gallone and starring Fernandel, Gino Cervi and Leda Gloria. It was t ...

'' (Italian: ''Don Camillo e l'onorevole Peppone''; French: ''La Grande Bagarre'') (1955) *'' Don Camillo: Monsignor'' (Italian: ''Don Camillo monsignore ma non troppo''; French: ''Don Camillo Monseigneur'') (1961) *''

Don Camillo in Moscow ''Don Camillo in Moscow'' ( it, Il compagno Don Camillo, "Comrade Don Camillo"; french: Don Camillo en Russie, "Don Camillo in Russia") is a 1965 Italian comedy film directed by Luigi Comencini. It was the fifth film in the Don Camillo series. ...

'' (Italian: ''Il compagno don Camillo''; French: ''Don Camillo en Russie'') (1965) *''Don Camillo e i giovani d'oggi'' (French: ''Don Camillo et les contestataires''; English translated: ''Don Camillo and the youth of today'') (1970) (unfinished film)

References

External links

* {{René Barjavel 1952 films French comedy films Italian comedy films French satirical films Italian satirical films Italian black-and-white films French black-and-white films 1950s Italian-language films Films about Catholic priests Films based on Italian novels Films based on works by Giovannino Guareschi Films set in Italy Films set in Emilia-Romagna Films with screenplays by René Barjavel Italy in fiction Cold War films French multilingual films Italian multilingual films Films directed by Julien Duvivier 1950s multilingual films French political satire films Italian political satire films Films critical of communism Films scored by Alessandro Cicognini 1950s Italian films 1950s French films