Don Camillo (1952)

In a village of the Po valley where the earth is hard and life miserly, the priest and the communist mayor are always fighting to be the head of the community.

Mildly satiric comedy with lovable characters finds humour in the smalltown Cold War antagonisms of its time.

Halliwell*: "Slightly lethargic character comedy with a mild message for its times, popular enough to warrant several sequels."

Maltin**1/2: "Fernandel is the whole show in this comic tale...Moderately funny satire of religion and politics..."

La vieille dame insigne (1965)

A newly widowed 70-year-old miser has lived a sheltered life married to her husband for some sixty years, but determines to venture into the modern world and have as much fun as possible, and in doing so finds that she loves it.

Carefully adequate adaptation of a Bertolt Brecht story, filmed in a cinéma vérité style and with a good cast, but Sylvie in the title role steals the show.