With the third episode of the entertaining Don Camillo series, Rizzoli was beginning to flag: first Fernandel refused to don the cassock again, because he did not want his public to identify him, as had already happened over the years, with the testy but good-hearted country parish priest created by Guareschi. Then it was Duvivier’s turn to withdraw. Long negotiations followed, and the film was finally made by Rizzoli alone, without French co-production. Don Camillo e l’onorevole Peppone thus saw the light of day, and proved no less appealing than its predecessors. Here is how it was greeted by Pasquale Ojetti in “Cinema” (10 November 1955): “Don Camillo and Peppone appear in their third film: the French actor had doubts about participating; and in place of Duvivier’s signature, we see that of Gallone. The commercial intent of the production is therefore evident. However, the public delights in the word of Guareschi: a word of wholesome sincerity a crusty peasant bread, whose flavour and fragrance, given the richness of the prime ingredients, are guaranteed, whatever the oven in which it is baked.”

Vittorio Martinelli, Non solo Scipione. Il cinema di Carmine Gallone, edited by Pasquale Iaccio, Liguori editore, Naples, 2003