The book that this movie is based was one of the biggest best-sellers of the 1960's by the author of "The Great Imposter" (also adapted into a movie starring Tony Curtis). The book was hailed by one critic as giving a sense hope in a crazy world. And that's what this story is about, a kind of modern David and Golliath. Or maybe the town-drunkard-turned-mayor versus Nazi Germany.

The village of Santa Vittoria is no Rome. It's just a small town in Italy where the townspeople live very simple lives. They would be almost destitute except for one small commodity they all share: the town makes and exports wonderful wine to all parts of the world. They may not make as much as Mondavi, but it's a good living. Now, it's War World II, and the Germans have infiltrated the town. Not because they love the small-town folk of Santa Vittoria and want to protect them. They want their world-famous wine to help finance the war. But of course, the townspeople are dependent upon the wine for their livelihoods. So Anthony Quinn, perfectly cast as the town drunkard who ends up mayor, comes up with a plan. They give the Germans some of the wine and insist that they have given all the town possesses.

Hardy Kruger as the German officer in charge of the operation is unconvinced. They seemed too happy and too willing to give up their wine. He knows the townspeople are hiding more wine, and he will use all means at his disposal to retrieve every last bottle. The cat and mouse game is on! Can a bunch of simple-folk led by their clownish mayor in rural Italy outwit the likes of the German army? I vastly underrated movie that is mostly hilarious from beginning until end. There are a couple of references to torture but mostly it is quite a fun plot. Will Anthony Quinn and the town through sheer determination wear down the stubbornness of Hardy Kruger and the Germans, who seem absolutely relentless in their conviction that more wine exists? And now out on DVD!

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Anthony Quinn looks like he is play "Zobra the Greek" again as a clownish Italian in director Stanley Kramer's predictable but entertaining comedy-drama "The Secret of Santa Vittoria," a World War II story that takes place in a hill town where wine is the chief virtue. There is a little too much comedy and not nearly enough edgy drama in this 139-minute film that won a Golden Globe.

As the story unfolds, the citizens of Santa Vittoria rejoice when they learn that the tyrant dictator Mussolini has been deposed. The protagonist Italo Bombolini (Anthony Quinn) gets roaring drunk on wine and ascends the water tower to paint out a pro-Mussolini slogan that he had painted on the structure some 20 years ago. "Asphalt Jungle" scenarist Ben Maddow and "The Ladykillers" scribe William Rose based their uneven but okay screenplay on Robert Crichton's novel about a town that hides a million bottles of wine from the occupying forces of the German army.

What makes this comedy-drama worth watching are the performances of Quinn, Anna Magnani, Virna Lisa, and Hardy Kruger. Initially, everybody thinks that Italo is a complete buffoon so they make him mayor. He surprises them and uses political theorist Niccolo Machiavelli's tract "The Prince" as a guide to his administration. Before long he has the entire town eating out of his hand with the sole exception of his harridan wife, Rosa (Anna Magnani of "The Red Rose"),who cannot stand the sight of him. A teenager named Fabio (Giancarlo Giannini of "Quantum of Solace") is in love with Italo's daughter, but he leaves the town so he can continue his education at the university. When he arrives at the university, Fabio learns that the Germans will occupy Santa Vittoria in a few week and most likely confiscate the town's supply of wine. He rides his bicycle back home and warns Italo, and the citizens scramble to hide the wine.

Initially, they try to cart it off to a Roman cave, but all the carts seem to breakdown and there is a massive traffic jam in the town square. Reluctantly, Italo changes his plans and a Fascist deserter, Tufa (Sergio Franchi of "Curse of the Red Butterfly") tells him to use the entire town in the form of two human chains to hand the bottles of wine one-by-one to each other over a half-mile to get the wine safely to the Roman caves. Mind you, they have to pause because the citizens start to get careless and drop bottles. One of Italo's closest advisers suggests that Italo keep 300-thousand bottles of wine to give to the Nazis because they know the enemy will not believe them if they hide all of the wine.

Eventually, they hide the wine and double-brick up the passageways. Captain von Prum (Hardy Kruger of "The Wild Geese") arrives with a small detachment of German troops and they occupy the town. Von Prum and Italo bargain about the percentage of wine that the town must give up to the Germans, while von Prum actively tries to romance Caterina Malatesta (Italian beauty Virna Lisa of "Queen Margot") who has fallen in love with the Fascist deserter. Everything looks rosy until the Gestapo show up and explain that the bookkeepers at the winery out-of-town calculate that over a million bottles of wine have not been accounted for.

Von Prum spends 36 hours turning the town inside out, but he finds nothing. The Gestapo take two hostages and torture them in the Roman caves where the wine is hidden under their noses, but the hostages are Fascists who were being held captive by the townspeople. The Gestapo learn nothing from the discredited Fascists and the Germans leave Santa Vittoria and Italo Bombolini is celebrated as a hero and he wins a renewal of respect from his bitter wife.

When casting this film there was only one actor possible for the lead. It could only have been Anthony Quinn playing lead character and town drunk of Santa Vittorio, Bombolini. The way Quinn plays him so broadly it could only have been the guy who brought Zorba The Greek to the big screen.

When new of the fall of Mussolini's government the town celebrates as most of the town's did until Kesselring's troops occupied them. Because Quinn got himself totally plastered and stuck on a 100 foot water tower taking down pro-Mussolini signs the Fascist council thinks he's the popular leader and they make the town drunk mayor.

All a big joke to the one who knows him best wife Anna Magnani. They have what could be considered a tempestuous relationship. The only kind Magnani ever had on the screen. These scenes have some real bite to them because Quinn and Magnani did not get along at all during the making of The Secret Of Santa Vittoria.

What is that secret you ask? It is the fact that the town which is in the grape growing wine pressing part of Italy has squirreled away much of its wine from the Fascist government. Now however the Nazis threaten to occupy the town and Quinn and the rest of the town have to get real creative in their hiding.

They do and Quinn and Wehrmacht commander Hardy Kruger have quite a battle of wits. The German officer and the town drunk. Who do you think comes out on top?

The Secret Of Santa Vittoria is mostly a comedy, but it gets close to serious once the Germans arrive. Kruger has one of his most interesting parts in his career. He's a lot like Hannes Messemer who was the German Wehrmacht commander in The Great Escape. Kruger too has the S.S. looking over his shoulder.

Watch the film as you see this battle of wits between Quinn and Kruger. Lots of laughs along the way as you see whether Santa Vittoria keeps its wine.