Little World of Don Camillo
8 /10 1 Votes8
| 7.8/10 IMDb Genre Comedy Duration | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Release date 1952 Characters Don Camillo, Giuseppe Bottazzi, Mariolino della Bruciata, Il Vescovo, Brusco, Gina Filotti Cast (Don Camillo), (Giuseppe Bottazzi "Peppone"), Vera Talchi (Gina Filotti), (Mariolino Brusco), (Signora Cristina), Charles Vissières (Il Vescovo)Similar movies The Godfather , Casino Royale , Pinocchio , Ghostbusters , How to Train Your Dragon , Life Is Beautiful | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Le Petit Monde de don Camillo ("The Little World of don Camillo"), or Don Camillo in Italian, is a 1952 French-Italian film directed by Julien Duvivier, starring Fernandel and Gino Cervi. It was the first film in the "Don Camillo" series, which made Fernandel an international star. The film was based on the novel Don Camillo by author Giovannino Guareschi. It was followed in 1953 by The Return of Don Camillo, also directed by Duvivier.
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Synopsis
The story starts in a small [albeit unnamed] town, simply known as "a small world", in the Po lowlands of northern Italy, in the early summer of 1946. The town's Communist party led by Peppone has just won the majority of seats within the city council, an event which they exploit for propagandistic 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 pugilistic appeal by Peppone himself (as well as some admonishment from Christ) 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:
An important side story within the film is the Romeo and Juliet-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 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 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.