The Little World of Don Camillo

The Little World of Don Camillo is set in Brescello, a small village in the Po valley where life is hard and the land is unforgiving. The local priest, Don Camillo, and the newly elected communist mayor, Peppone, are locked in a constant struggle over how the community should be run. Each wants to build something for the villagers, one a People's House and the other a Garden City for the poor, and their rivalry spills over into arguments and scuffles. Behind the hostility, the two men share a grudging respect for each other, and the divisions between rich and poor, believers and atheists, even reach the village's young lovers.

The film was directed by Julien Duvivier, arriving in 1952 after Anna Karenina in 1948 and before The Return of Don Camillo the following year. Duvivier wrote the screenplay with René Barjavel, and Giuseppe Amato and Angelo Rizzoli produced the Italian-French co-production. Fernandel plays Don Camillo, with Gino Cervi as Peppone, alongside Vera Talchi, Franco Interlenghi, Saro Urzì and Charles Vissières among twenty-four credited cast members. It adapts Giovanni Guareschi's stories of the characters.

The comedy was released on 28 March 1952 and runs 107 minutes. It holds a rating of 7.6 out of 10 on IMDb from around 5,200 votes, and the same score on TMDB from roughly 318 votes, indicating a consistently positive response from viewers on both platforms.