The Secret of Santa Vittoria

A film set in Italy in the last years of the Second World War. Santa Vittoria is a town that lives on wine. When news comes that Mussolini has fallen the townspeople take to the streets and a celebration begins. In the middle of it nobody is in charge; the mayoralty falls somehow to Bombolini, a wine seller, slack and taken seriously by no one. Then the news arrives: a German unit is on its way and will seize the wine store. There are more than a million bottles in the town. Bombolini makes a plan: most of them will be carried to an old Roman cave outside the walls and the entrance bricked up. The work is done in one night with the whole town taking part. The German officer arrives and knows the numbers. There is a gap between the bottles in the records and the bottles in the store. From there the film becomes a contest of wits: nobody can claim not to be lying, and the officer looks for the place the town has hidden. Anthony Quinn plays Bombolini and Anna Magnani his wife. Giancarlo Giannini and Hardy Krüger are in the cast. Stanley Kramer directed. The source is Robert Crichton's novel, and the narrative draws on a real event. An enjoyable production for anyone who likes wartime comedy and stories about towns. For a viewer wanting something short, it runs over two hours and the middle section gets heavy.