The first two Don Camillo films form a coherent whole and can be seen as one and the same work. It is one of the finest gems of Italian- French co-production, which was at its most thriving and fecund in the 50s and 60s. Always remaining an able and sensitive artisan, Divivier, relocating himself in the South, notably sweetened the tone to serve the characters born from the imagination of Guareschi. In what he himself defined as commissioned films, his intuition and also his honesty led him to abandon his innate pessimism in order to capture the real sense of Guareschi’s work. The scope of the film is in effect to show the triumph of friendship and good sense over political conflicts and opposed ideologies. The deep understanding (often even a total identity of views) which the two adversaries display, the esteem which they reciprocally experience as individuals beyond a permanent but superficial rivalry allows them to resolve the major part of the problems. They give the story a utopian and reassuring character which is without doubt the reason for the prodigious success of the work. A superb proof of Fernandel, who brilliantly combines maturity and the picturesque, serenity and malice. Gino Cervi supports him with a soberness and humility that do cre­dit to his talent.

Jacques Lourcelles, Dictionnaire du cinéma, Laffont, Paris, 1992