Il segreto di Santa Vittoria

Anthony Quinn's performance in The Secret of Santa Vittoria (1969) was worthy of an Academy Award for Best Actor, and certainly honorable mention for Best Picture as well as Best Cinematography. This film has aged well over the past fifty two (52) years and I found myself mesmerized by Anthony Quinn's performance as the drunkard Mayor of Santa Vittoria who develops a questionable plan to hide one million bottles of the towns wine production from the German soldiers who are on their way into town to abscond with all the towns wine and any other valuables the town has to offer them.

It is not an intense dramatic/action film about World War 2, but rather a unique comedic story about the town of Santa Vittoria and its people. The story focuses on the.love/hate relationship of the drunkard towns Mayor Bombolini (Anthony Quinn) and his estranged wife. Rosa (Anna Magnani) as they try and raise their sixteen (16) year old daughter who is falling in love with a local boy. The Mayor Bombolini is challenged to come up with a quick plan to hide the towns 1.3 million bottles of wine from the Germans who are heading to their little town to ravage it and take its spoils of World war 2.

The German Captain Von Prum (Hardy Krüger) appears to be civil but has a difficult assignment in fron of him and his troops in finding out where the one million bottles of wine have been hidden. Strategically May Bombolini has left 300 thousand bottles of wine for the Germans to find to fool them in believing "there is no more wine" which is the mantra that his honor the Mayor Bambolini as well as the townspeople repeats ad nauseum to the German Captain Von Prum.

Quinn is an emotional big man who can't help but steal every scene he appears in and quite frankly, he deserves an Academy Award for his performance which in some scenes is silly comedy but he is an affectionate big man who is a father, husband, and Mayor who loves his family, his townspeople, but especially his town's sacred wine.

I find it hard to believe.that the Hollywood library of film has not placed this film in the top 1000 film category, as part of the Criterion Collection, nor why it has never been released on Blu Ray and now 4K resolution in North America. I trust the manufacturers will right this wrong shortly and release a high quality resolution copy of this classic comedy/romance/war/drama film.

I give it an 8 out of 10 IMDB rating.

I read "The Secret Of Santa Vittoria" about ten years ago and I thought it would make a good movie. It turned out that Stanley Kramer had the same idea back in 1968. The movie is a bit uneven, but I thought there were some good moments. The film did a good job of showing the people of the town hiding the wine in the old cave. Their exhaustive work indicated how important and vital the wine was to the town. Anthony Quinn may have been a bit too broad in certain scenes. Also, there's something in his screen persona that indicates a forceful personality that seems to contradict the clownishness of his character. I liked Hardy Kruger and thought there was a little more to his character than the usual one dimensional evil Nazi seen in a million other World War II films. Apparently Anna Magnani really didn't care much for Quinn. In the scene where she repeatedly kicked him she broke her foot. The real town of Santa Vittoria was not chosen as the location because it was too modern in appearance by 1968, so the the beautiful and atmospheric town of Anticoli Corrado was chosen as the location.

I never tire of seeing this film with its repeated line, "There is no wine" from Bombolini. Anthony Quinn shows his comedy character acting skills as he acts in scenes with wife, daughter and the town council. He acts the hero when is is "interrogated" by the tough guys. The only time I find fault is when he throws himself to the ground and acts the imbecile - not part of Bombolini as a character I think.

It must be said, however, that Hardy Kruger as the German commanding officer of the troops who come to occupy the town and steal its wine, is the perfect choice. Eventually he leaves town after the population have foiled his efforts to take the precious wine stocks. He turns to them in defeat, "What kind of people are you?" During the process of transporting the wine via a chain of citizens to the cave the camera shows many local faces that are utterly convincing. They are lived in, hard worn, determined faces of people who will not be beaten.

For anyone seeking to visit Santa Vittoria when in Italy - don't expect to see street scenes that you remember. They used another nearby town, whose name escapes me, for the location. However, I understand the extras were all local people.

The film is set in Italy and begins just after the Italians surrender to the Allies during WWII. At first, the town is ecstatic--they are free and the fascists leaders quickly surrender the town to a man they designate the new mayor, Bombolini (Anthony Quinn). Bombolini seems ill-prepared, however, when the town learns that the Germans are coming--and will be occupying the town. However, a bright young man (Giancarlo Giannini) comes up with a great idea--to put all the town's wine in the Roman tunnels and then collapse the tunnels. That way, the Germans won't be able to steal the town's best resource. First, they need to move 1,000,000 bottles very quickly. Second, Bombolini needs to play nice to the German commander (Hardy Kruger) while also keeping the secret. Third, Bombolini needs to keep his nasty harpy of a wife (Anna Magnani) in line--and that might just be the most difficult task of all!

So is the film any good? Of course. With Anthony Quinn in the lead, the film is naturally quite good--as he seems a natural. He is also ably assisted by a nice supporting cast and nice location shooting. However, the film is a bit odd. The first half was rather comical and light in mood. The final portion, with the Nazis, was very dark--and it drug a bit in tempo compared to the first part. Not a perfect film but a very good one.

In short there is no other move quite like it. One of those that you might not think to rent, but if you find yourself at the beginning of it, you'll not leave until you see the ending. Quinn is excellent.

The nutshell is that The Germans are coming, and the town has lost all of its older boys and men to the Italian army. They're a wine-producing town, and elect the town-fool to be the "mock mayor". The problem is that they need to hide the wine from the Germans, being their only real treasure. From that premise forward, the movie becomes dark and deeply compelling. I believe that these are some of the best performances of the star-studded actors...

I recommend it, as one of life's "must see's".

(PS: I'm a tough critic, so an "8" for me is just about tops)