The Secret of Santa Vittoria

source: The Secret of Santa Vittoria

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.

Anthony Quinn looks like he is play "Zobra the Greek" again as a clownish Italian in director Stanley Kramer's predictable but entertaining comedy-drama "The Secret of Santa Vittoria," a World War II story that takes place in a hill town where wine is the chief virtue. There is a little too much comedy and not nearly enough edgy drama in this 139-minute film that won a Golden Globe. As the story unfolds, the citizens of Santa Vittoria rejoice when they learn that the tyrant dictator Mussolini has been deposed. The protagonist Italo Bombolini (Anthony Quinn) gets roaring drunk on wine and ascends the water tower to paint out a pro-Mussolini slogan that he had painted on the structure some 20 years ago. "Asphalt Jungle" scenarist Ben Maddow and "The Ladykillers" scribe William Rose based their uneven but okay screenplay on Robert Crichton's novel about a town that hides a million bottles of wine from the occupying forces of the German army. What makes this comedy-drama worth watching are the performances of Quinn, Anna Magnani, Virna Lisa, and Hardy Kruger. Initially, everybody thinks that Italo is a complete buffoon so they make him mayor. He surprises them and uses political theorist Niccolo Machiavelli's tract "The Prince" as a guide to his administration. Before long he has the entire town eating out of his hand with the sole exception of his harridan wife, Rosa (Anna Magnani of "The Red Rose"), who cannot stand the sight of him. A teenager named Fabio (Giancarlo Giannini of "Quantum of Solace") is in love with Italo's daughter, but he leaves the town so he can continue his education at the university. When he arrives at the university, Fabio learns that the Germans will occupy Santa Vittoria in a few week and most likely confiscate the town's supply of wine. He rides his bicycle back home and warns Italo, and the citizens scramble to hide the wine. Initially, they try to cart it off to a Roman cave, but all the carts seem to breakdown and there is a massive traffic jam in the town square. Reluctantly, Italo changes his plans and a Fascist deserter, Tufa (Sergio Franchi of "Curse of the Red Butterfly") tells him to use the entire town in the form of two human chains to hand the bottles of wine one-by-one to each other over a half-mile to get the wine safely to the Roman caves. Mind you, they have to pause because the citizens start to get careless and drop bottles. One of Italo's closest advisers suggests that Italo keep 300-thousand bottles of wine to give to the Nazis because they know the enemy will not believe them if they hide all of the wine. Eventually, they hide the wine and double-brick up the passageways. Captain von Prum (Hardy Kruger of "The Wild Geese") arrives with a small detachment of German troops and they occupy the town. Von Prum and Italo bargain about the percentage of wine that the town must give up to the Germans, while von Prum actively tries to romance Caterina Malatesta (Italian beauty Virna Lisa of "Queen Margot") who has fallen in love with the Fascist deserter. Everything looks rosy until the Gestapo show up and explain that the bookkeepers at the winery out-of-town calculate that over a million bottles of wine have not been accounted for. Von Prum spends 36 hours turning the town inside out, but he finds nothing. The Gestapo take two hostages and torture them in the Roman caves where the wine is hidden under their noses, but the hostages are Fascists who were being held captive by the townspeople. The Gestapo learn nothing from the discredited Fascists and the Germans leave Santa Vittoria and Italo Bombolini is celebrated as a hero and he wins a renewal of respect from his bitter wife.

This film has a great director, writer, and has a cast of excellent stars, including Anthony Quinn. Everybody knows him as Zorba the Greek, but hardly anyone recalls Quinn as Bombolini. Quinn goes from hen pecked town drunk to the man who saves the town from the Nazi's hunt for the town's treasure, Italien Vermouth. This is a WWII movie that shows a town getting rid of one Italian dictator, only to be faced with Hitler's gang. Quinn's character is deliciously funny. The simple man faces the professional and orderly German army and bests them using his wit instead of guns. Hardy Kruger, playing the perfect German officer, expresses bewilderment when faced with idea that such a slob could win the battle for the Vermouth.

Watching people bicker for two hours is not comedy, it's tiresome. Anthony Quinn over-acts like he just knows his career is on a serious downslope. Anna Magnani, fated to die of cancer only a few years later, still looks pretty good for a 60-year-old. But watching her harp on Quinn is beneath her dignity. It saddens me that this was her last big-screen role, unless you count Roma. So many excellent Italian movies about WWII. No need to waste time on a tawdry English-speaking knockoff.

The scene that has me ready to travel to Santa Vittoria shows hundreds of villagers in four lines snaking down from the mountaintop village through the vinyards to the Roman cave where a million bottles of wine can be hidden from the Nazis. The camera pauses on the faces of the villagers -- extras who must actually be from that area of Italy. The faces look real and so does the village. Could the story be based on a real incident? I've been searching for that answer since seeing the film at Turner Classic Movies the first weekend of February 2000.

Let me say at the start that I love this film. Anthony Quinn is superb as Bombolini, the drunken failure who is thrust into the role of mayor of Santa Vittoria, studies Machiavelli's 'The Prince' and becomes a cunning and resourceful leader of men. He knows the Germans expect him to cheat them out of some wine, so he must act as if he's not cheating; then, when the Germans find out he *is* cheating, they won't look for the million bottles he's really hiding. Some drunken clown! Anna Magnani is wonderful. This is the only film of hers that I've managed to see but I think she's great, and far sexier in her earthy vitality than the women we're usually told to think of as 'sex symbols'. [Possible spoiler]:The scene where she admits that Bombolini's leadership has surprised her after the wasted years of their marriage is incredibly touching.[End of possible spoiler.] While I know you shouldn't compare the two media, if you enjoy this film, read the book. Robert Crichton's novel makes far more of the relationship between Bombolini and Von Prumm and their different views of life than a two hour film allows. There are more incidents between the Germans and Italians, and the conflicts within Santa Vittoria itself are explored in far more - and funnier - detail.

This was the last film I saw with Anthony Quinn before his recent death, his performance is similar to that of his most famous role, Zorba the Greek, but not quite as good. He is often over the top playing the dirty town drunk finding himself elected Mayor but you gradually find yourself loving him as his character bounces off the excellently cast Hardy Kruger as the leader of a German platoon who settle in the small Italian town of Santa Vittoria during World War II. As the film centres upon the hiding of one million bottles of wine from the Germans there is great mix of tense drama and comedy with a reliable supporting cast including a very young Giancarlo Giannini, more recently seen as the Italian detective in Hannibal. Enjoyable Sunday afternoon entertainment.

This one deserves more than the 2 1/2 stars given it by Maltin. A superb combination of earthy humor and wartime intrigue, it gives us the triumph of human resourcefulness and peasant wiliness in the face of overpowering might. I like Anthony Quinn as Bombolini much more so than as Zorba. Anna Magnani as the long-suffering wife of Bombolini is magnificent. It is true that the love story subplot between the Sergio Franchi and Virna Lisi characters is a tad wearying, but it is not enough to detract from the overall success of the film. The true heros of the story, of course, are the Italian peasantry, as represented by the citizens of Anticoli Corrado, the central Italian village not far from Rome where the film was shot. As Babalucci says, finally: "I've been an anarchist all my life, although I've never been sure what it means, except that nothing means anything. But if anything does mean anything, it's this stinking town."

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)