The Little World of Don Camillo [Don Camillo] **** (1952, Fernandel, Gino Cervi, Vera Talchi, Franco Interlenghi, Sylvie) – Classic Movie Review 9353

Don Camillo (Fernandel) talking with Jesus.

Director Julien Duvivier’s delightful, light-hearted 1952 French-Italian comedy The Little World of Don Camillo [Don Camillo] [Le petit monde de Don Camillo] stars the always-excellent Fernandel on his most exuberant and engaging form as Don Camillo, a priest whose political views clash with those of his friend, the communist mayor, Giuseppe ‘Peppone’ Bottazzi (Gino Cervi), in a village of the Po valley.

It is set in an unnamed town, ‘the little world’, in northern Italy, in the early summer of 1946.

The Little World of Don Camillo is a well-crafted, entertaining film peopled with expertly honed ‘eccentric’ comic stereotypes.

Orson Welles’s fruity voice narrates the English-language version.

Julien Duvivier and Renè Barjavel’s screenplay is based on Giovanni [Giovannino] Guareschi’s popular novel.

Also in the cast are Vera Talchi [Vera Talqui], Franco Interlenghi, Sylvie, Charles Vissières, Italo Clerici, Peppino De Martino, Carlo Duse, Luciano Manara, Saro Urzi.

It is the first film in the five films Don Camillo series, making Fernandel an international star, followed in 1953 by The Return of Don Camillo, also directed by Duvivier, then Don Camillo’s Last Round (1955), Don Camillo: Monsignor and Don Camillo in Moscow.

It was the highest-grossing film of all time in both Italy and France, and is still their seventh (Italy) and sixth (France) most watched films at the cinema.

it is shot in in the Italian town of Brescello in the Emilia-Romagna region, about 80 kilometres northwest of Bologna.

Peppone (Gino Cervi) and Don Camillo (Fernandel) in The Little World of Don Camillo.

The actors speak their own language, so there are both Italian and French original versions, in which the actors of the other language are dubbed. Naturally, Fernandel is best seen and heard in the French version.

It is an interesting example of a true Italian-French co-production, as the book’s author, place of action and second star are all Italian, but the director, the screenwriters and the main star are all French. The cast and crew are also equally divided between the two nations.

The Little World of Don Camillo [Don Camillo] [Le petit monde de Don Camillo] is directed by Julien Duvivier, runs 108 minutes, is made by Produzione Film Giuseppe Amato, Rizzoli Editore, Francinex and S.N.A. (France), is released by I.F.E. Releasing Corporation (1953) (US), is written by Julien Duvivier and René Barjavel, based on the novel by Giovanni [Giovannino] Guareschi, is shot by Nicolas Hayer, is produced by Giuseppe Amato, scored by Alessandro Cicognini and designed by Virgilio Marchi.

© Derek Winnert 2020 Classic Movie Review 9353

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