ThiefHott Too much of everything

ManiakJiggy This is How Movies Should Be Made

PodBill Just what I expected

Juana what a terribly boring film. I'm sorry but this is absolutely not deserving of best picture and will be forgotten quickly. Entertaining and engaging cinema? No. Nothing performances with flat faces and mistaking silence for subtlety.

writers_reign This is based on a deceptively simple best-selling novel by Giovanni Guareshi which achieved International popularity and this, initial film in an eventual five, replicated the success of the novel though over the years it has lost a little of its lustre. This isn't really the fault of director Julien Duvivier who is responsible for several 'clssic' titles in several genres from Un Carnet de bal through Pepe le Moko, Le Fin du jour, Marie Octobre to name only four; nor is it the fault of Fernandel who was almost certainly the ideal actor to portray the simple priest who thinks nothing of holding two-way conversations with God and is not averse to hand-to- hand brawling with the followers of communist mayor Peppone, the priests' rival for the affection of the small village population and with whom he enjoys a love-hate relationship. Like the novel the film is episodic and more a series of vignettes than a conventional story with a beginning, middle, and end and perhaps this is what takes the edge off what is nevertheless an enjoyable film.

LeRoyMarko This movie is so much fun to watch! Tells us the story of Don Camillo, a Roman Catholic priest in a small Italian parish. Life in the village is change forever when Peppone, the communist mayor, is elected. The two are put one against the other. And what follows is a wacky list of situations! What I like most about this movie, it's the simple way it puts things. You can actually believe that this village exists and that what's being told in the movie really happened.Fernandel is great as Don Camillo, the hot-headed priest. And Gino Cervi shines in the role of Peppone. See this one, you won't regret it. Fun from beginning to end!Out of 100, I gave it 87. That's good for ***½ out of ****.Seen at home, in Toronto, on September 1st, 2002.

Gerald A. DeLuca 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.

Nick Rosier 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.