In the Italian tradition of war comedies that are actually anti-war comedies (the classic being Monicelli's The Great War with Alberto Sordi), The Two Colonels stars Totò and Walter Pidgeon as rival officers in a Greek town that passes from British to Italian control with such regularity that the townspeople take it in stride, and the two colonels are the best of enemies. All this changes when the German troops arrive on the scene following Mussolini's removal. Italian audiences already saw Totò deriding the excesses of militarism in 1955's Men and Corporals (February 16); now, when the German major, about to raze the village, arrogantly insists that he has a free hand, Totò snaps back, "Then wipe your ass with it." Totò and Pidgeon got along famously, neither speaking the other's language but, according to Totò, speaking the universal language of intelligence and humor.