I love this movie so much

People are voting emotionally.

This is a small, humorous movie in some ways, but it has a huge heart. What a nice experience.

All of these films share one commonality, that being a kind of emotional center that humanizes a cast of monsters.

Having read all of Giovanni Guareschi's Don Camillo stories, several times, I was very pleased to find "The Little World of Don Camillo" on YouTube. And I was further pleased to find it rather faithful to the original work by Guareschi.It's hard, usually, at least for me, to render a total and impartial judgment of a dubbed movie, but in my opinion the acting was superb, the casting was excellent, and the presentation of Guareschi's vision of this Po River Valley village was close enough to perfect.I see at IMDb that more modern versions of some Don Camillo stories have been made, and I hope to see them. Eventually.But first I want to see all the Fernandel versions. And I want to urge everyone to seek out the books and read them, either before or after seeing the movies. Especially read "Comrade Don Camillo," which is the only complete novel of the series.I have read "Comrade Don Camillo" several times, and every time I am moved to tears at some of the scenes, and to laughter at others, and to tears by the overall tone and beauty.Guareschi was, and might still be, the largest-selling Italian author in the world, and in my opinion deservedly. His own history is well worth reading, even in this post-Soviet Union era.

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.

By the way, the version I watched was not dubbed but subtitled. I mention this because one of the reviewers talked about seeing a dubbed version but this was not available on the DVD I watched. And, if it had been, I would have chosen the captions regardless.I did an odd thing. I accidentally put the second Don Camillo film ahead of the first one on my Netflix queue. So I saw the second one first. This is not that bad a thing, however, as the second film recapped what happened in the first film when it began. But, because I loved the second film so much, I couldn't wait to see the first.This movie begins with the town in an uproar. It's a heavily divided town and the Communists have just won the election for mayor. The old guard is quite unhappy and the unhappiest is the town's priest, Don Camillo (Fernandel). And, through most of the film, he and the Mayor butt heads and fight like dogs. It's all quite silly but enjoyable.An odd thing about the film, just as in the second, is that Don Camillo talks to Jesus--and Jesus talks back to him through the crucifix in the church! Some might find it a bit sacrilegious, but it seemed to be handled well. Also, the town's struggles is a good microcosm of post-war Italy, as the country was strongly divided between Communists and those who wanted a right-wing republic--a problem which didn't really get resolved until the 1980s.All in all, a very good film that I enjoyed. However, please watch the next one--it gets even better.

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.