The Secret of Santa Vittoria (1969)

During WWII in Italy, a wine producing village hide a million bottles from the Germans

Director:

Stanley Kramer

Writers:

Robert Crichton (novel), William Rose (screenplay by)

Stars:

Anthony Quinn, Anna Magnani, Virna Lisi

Nominated for 2 Oscars. Another 1 win & 6 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Anthony Quinn	...	Bombolini
Anna Magnani	...	Rosa
Virna Lisi	...	Caterina
Hardy Krüger	...	Capt. von Prum (as Hardy Kruger)
Sergio Franchi	...	Tufa
Renato Rascel	...	Babbaluche
Giancarlo Giannini	...	Fabio
Patrizia Valturri	...	Angela
Eduardo Ciannelli	...	Luigi
Leopoldo Trieste	...	Vittorini
Gigi Ballista	...	Padre Polenta
Quinto Parmeggiani	...	Copa
Carlo Caprioli	...	Giovanni Pietrosanto
Francesco Mulé	...	Francucci
Wolfgang Jansen	...	Sgt. Zopf

Storyline

Bombolini is a fairly worthless drunk in the small Italian town of Santa Vittoria in the closing days of World War II. When word comes that the Fascist government has surrendered, he climbs a water tower to tear down the flag. He can't get down and someone gets the crowd to chant his name to give him confidence. The Fascist town council hears this and believes that he is the town's new leader. They surrender to him and make him the new mayor. He rises to the occasion and when he finds that the Germans plan to occupy his town and take their wine (over a million bottles) he works out a plan to hide it.

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Plot Keywords:

wine | bottle | mayor | italy | city hall | 

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Taglines:

In the beginning there was Bombolini the fool, Bombolini the drunk, Bombolini the joke. In the end there was Bombolini the mayor, Bombolini the hero, Bombolini the beautiful. In between is the secret of Santa Vittoria.

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Genres:

Comedy | Drama | War

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated PG-13 for some sexual content and language

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

27 February 1970 (Finland)

Also Known As:

El secreto de Santa Vittoria

Filming Locations:

Cinecittà Studios, Cinecittà, Rome, Lazio, Italy

Box Office

Budget:

$6,300,000 (estimated)

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$6,500,000, 31 December 1969

Company Credits

Production Co:

Stanley Kramer Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

139 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

During the fight scene, when Anna Magnani literally kicks Anthony Quinn out of the house, she kicked him so hard she broke her foot. Producer-director Stanley Kramer said of this in his autobiography "A Mad, Mad, Mad Mad World: A Life in Hollywood": "He and Magnani didn't get along at all. It's a wonder their scenes ever got finished. She didn't like him one bit, and in their big fight scene, when she was supposed to literally kick him out of the house, she did it so hard during the shooting that she broke her foot!". Kramer added: "She was a perfect lady. She greeted me in a formal gown, used a cigarette holder and spoke perfect English. She told me all about the studio there, where we would be doing some important interior sequences, and she described the business and artistic aspects of movie-making in Rome with a great deal of insight and intelligence and class. I thought wow, what a lady she is! And then she gave me a warning: 'Don't eat at the commissary here-the food is shit.' It was then I knew she had another side to her".

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Goofs

When Tufa the deserter, meets Caterina after being released by the Germans, Caterina places the bread knife parallel to the side of the cutting board. Next shot, the knife is away from the cutting board with the blade pointing away from the cutting board.

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Quotes

Italo Bombolini: [a drunken Italo Bombolini yells to the crowd, while sitting on top of the water tower:] What do you want? Go on home. Go on home. Your lunch is ready.

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Soundtracks

The Song of Santa Vittoria (Stay)
Music by Ernest Gold
Lyrics by Norman Gimbel
Sung by Sergio Franchi

User Reviews

A Well Kept Secret

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.