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Il compagno Don Camillo (1965)

Il compagno Don Camillo
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In the opening title sequence of the 1965 comedy Il compagno don Camillo, also known as Don Camillo in Moscow, a couple of madcaps get into a tussle.

The conflict at the film’s heart is between two community leaders in a small town in northern Italy just after the Second World War: Don Camillo (Fernandel), the lumbering, tempestuous priest, and Giuseppe Bottazzi (Gino Cervi), better known as Peppone, the town’s communist mayor. In the opening sequence, Italian designer Iginio Lardani and cinematographer Armando Nannuzzi take the symbol of each man’s station – his hat – and place it at the head of film, letting the biretta and fedora speak in their stead, acting out their disagreements – with a dash of Soviet symbology.

IMAGE: Still – Camillo and Peppone

Don Camillo (left) and Peppone (right) have a chat in this still from 1955's Don Camillo e l’onorevole Peppone aka Don Camillo's Last Round 

Lardani, most well-known for his graphic and vibrant title design work for Sergio Leone’s Dollars Trilogy, here embraces simplicity and mischief. In this rare black-and-white entry in Lardani’s oeuvre, the drawings take on an impish likeness and the hand-lettering is undeniably friendly in its many loops, dots, and stars. The effect is immediately disarming – a knock-out of accessible and spirited film design.

IMAGE: Still – "fine" end title card

The "fine" end title card, also hand-lettered by Iginio Lardani

  • Credits

Title Design by: Iginio Lardani, Fantasia

Director of Photography: Armando Nannuzzi
Music: Alessandro Cicognini

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Title sequence

  • Title Designer

    Iginio Lardani
  • Category

    Film
  • Styles

    1960s, animation, black and white, hand drawn, illustration, live action, main title
Il compagno Don Camillo
  • Film Director

    Luigi Comencini
  • Release Date

    September 18, 1965
  • Aspect Ratio

    1.78:1
  • Studios

    Francoriz Production, Omnia-Film, Rizzoli Film
  • Country

    Italy
  • Languages

    French, Italian, Russian
  • Reviews

    Reviews on Letterboxd
  • IMDb has full details

Article

  • Writer

    Lola Landekic
  • Published

    November 6, 2015

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