Don Camillo: Monsignor

Don Camillo: Monsignor is a 1961 French-Italian comedy film directed by Carmine Gallone, starring Fernandel and Gino Cervi. The French title is Don Camillo Monseigneur and the Italian title is Don Camillo monsignore... ma non troppo. It was the fourth of five films featuring Fernandel as the Italian priest Don Camillo and his struggles with Giuseppe 'Peppone' Bottazzi, the Communist mayor of their rural town. In this instalment, Don Camillo has become a monsignor and Peppone a senator.

Don Camillo: Monsignor
Directed by	Carmine Gallone
Written by	Giovannino Guareschi (novel) Leo Benvenuti, Piero De Bernardi, Carmine Gallone
Produced by	Angelo Rizzoli
Starring	Fernandel, Gino Cervi, Saro Urzì
Cinematography	Carlo Carlini
Edited by	Niccolò Lazzari
Music by	Alessandro Cicognini
Release date	7 October 1961 (1961-10-07)
Running time	117 min
Country	Italy
Language	Italian

Plot summary

Scene from the film

In Brescello, Don Camillo and Peppone have left for Rome, after yet another battle royal. Don Camillo has become Monsignor, while Peppone has become a national senator. Both retain their pure and provincial spirit, not suitable to the crude realities of the city, and so they both contrive to return to Brescello. While Don Camillo is planning – in secret – the wedding in a Catholic ceremony of the son of Peppone, the mayor tries to bribe the bride's father to undergo a civil wedding. Don Camillo responds with a proposed deal on the sale of a gas station. Since Peppone, being a Communist, cannot be seen to deal with money, having won the Italian football pools, he decides to hide the ticket. Don Camillo unmasks him, and the two return to fight, as they prepare once again to leave for Rome.

Cast

• Fernandel as Don Camillo
• Gino Cervi as Giuseppe 'Peppone' Bottazzi
• Leda Gloria as Maria Bottazzi, Peppone's wife
• Gina Rovere as Gisella Marasca
• Valeria Ciangottini as Rosetta Grotti
• Saro Urzì as Brusco, the mayor
• Marco Tulli as Smilzo
• Andrea Checchi as the Roman Communist representative
• Emma Gramatica as Desolina, the old lady
• Karl Zoff as Walter "Lenin" Bottazzi, Peppone's son
• Ruggero De Daninos as Don Camillo's secretary
• Carlo Taranto as Marasca, Gisella's husband
• Armando Bandini as Don Carlino
• Giuseppe Porelli as Doctor Galluzzi
• Andrea Scotti as the leader of the "Athletic Youth"

Sequel

• Don Camillo in Moscow (Italian: Il compagno don Camillo; French: Don Camillo en Russie) (1965)
• Don Camillo e i giovani d'oggi (French: Don Camillo et les contestataires; English translated: Don Camillo and the youth of today) (1970) (unfinished film)

External links

• Don Camillo: Monsignor at IMDb