La Grande bagarre de Don Camillo (1955) - film review

Don Camillo, Catholic priest of a small North Italian town, is infuriated when the town’s communist mayor, Peppone, declares his intention to stand as a candidate in the coming governmental elections.   The idea of Peppone wielding even more power than he has now galvanises Don Camillo to try to sabotage his chances of winning the election.  Then, after a tête-a-tête with the Almighty, he has a change of heart…

For this, the third in the series of Franco-Italian Don Camillo films, the directorial baton passed from Julien Duvivier to veteran Italian director Carmine Gallone.  Fernandel and Gino Cervi continue to play the roles they had made their own in the previous Don Camillo outings, although both are ill-served by a much weaker script than they had previously enjoyed.  Whilst the film still evokes the charm of Giovanni Guareschi’s original Don Camillo novels, and whilst Fernandel turns in another beautiful performance as the roguish parish priest, the film’s limp direction and lacklustre plot prevent it from having the entertainment value of the previous two films in the series.

© James Travers 2004

Write a review for this film...

What do you think of this film?