The Secret of Santa Vittoria - Anthony Quinn Anna Magnani Virna Lisi

Directed by Stanley Kramer
USA 1969

An enjoyable, albeit somewhat leisurely adaptation of author Robert Crichton's best-selling Second World War comedy from veteran director Stanley Kramer. Anthony Quinn plays Zorba the Italian (whoops! that should be Bombolini the Italian), a raucous drunk whose anti-fascist beliefs lead him to be elected mayor of a small wine-growing town, and who then conspires to hide a million bottles of their finest vintage from the occupying Nazis.

Excerpt from Channel 4 located HERE

Lost without a message to sledgehammer home, Kramer turned to bombastic comedy with this World War II yarn of an Italian village's attempts to hide a million bottles of wine from the occupying Germans. Just to keep the irritation factor of his movies constant, though, he hand-picked a full-throttle cast more than adequate to the task of previewing the effect of Sensurround.

Excerpt from TimeOut Film Guide located HERE

Posters

Theatrical Release: October 29th, 1969

Reviews More Reviews DVD Reviews

DVD Review: MGM - Region 1 - NTSC

DVD Box Cover		CLICK to order from:
Distribution	MGM Home Video - Region 1 - NTSC
Runtime	2:19:45
Video	2.35:1 Aspect Ratio Average Bitrate: 7.19 mb/s NTSC 720x480 29.97 f/s
	NOTE: The Vertical axis represents the bits transferred per second. The Horizontal is the time in minutes.
Bitrate:
Audio	English (Dolby Digital 2.0), English (mono), DUBs: Spanish, French (mono)
Subtitles	English, Spanish, None
Features	Release Information: Studio: MGM Aspect Ratio: Original Aspect Ratio 2.35:1 Edition Details: • none DVD Release Date: May 13th, 2008 Keep Case Chapters: 32

Comments:

Another bare-bones issue from MGM but this is a fun Kramer film that many have patiently awaited. The dual-layered DVD represents the film adequately. It is anamorphic (2.35:1 aspect ratio), progressive and coded for region 1 in the NTSC standard. Appearance is acceptable but not stellar - the image is not pristinely sharp and shows some noise in monochromatic dark sequences. It is very clean with only some very minor scratches and speckles. There are optional subtitles (Eng./ Spanish), an English stereo track (and mono) and mono DUBs - and there are, unfortunately, no extras.

Quinn is typically great and the gals are sexy are supportive. It's not a serious DVD effort (MGM after all) but it is certainly worth the $11 - amusing with some culture-crossing Italianisms that give it some life. Kramer adds his efficiency and competent detail. Certainly worth watching, in my opinion.