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.

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 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.

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.