I would like to find a movie that I enjoyed very much when I was
younger. The movie was about a soldier during WW1 who hates war and
defects from his troops as they enter a small town in Europe. While he
is in hiding, the townspeople, along with his own troops, discover a
large bomb hidden in the main street fountain. Realizing it could go off
anytime, they all vacate the town for several days. Meantime, another
group of people, unaware of the bomb, enter the town.
Unaware that the townspeople have left and others have replaced them,
the soldier, after changing out of his uniform, comes out of hiding to
find the new townspeople to be very friendly, compassionate and loving.

As the movie continues, the soldier sees various shop owners, barber,
variety, baker, flower, running their businesses with smiles and open
arms towards him. It is then that he notices a beautiful young woman
using a wire strung across the street as a tight rope. She steels his
heart as she gracefully moves back and forth across the tight rope.

Suddenly, amongst all of this love and compassion, a large group of the
original townspeople return back to town. As they enter on foot, the
second group of people stop what they are doing and quietly walk out of
town in the opposite direction.
The soldier tries to get them to tell him where they are going but they
just keep walking. Curious, and in love, he follows them and after
several miles sees them walking through a large open gate, (apparently
left open when the original townspeople were vacating the town) that
leads to a large building in the distance. As he approaches the gate to
enter himself, a nun appears and closes it before he can enter. It is at
this time that he notices a sign that reads "sanitarium for the insane",
or something to that effect.

Meantime, back in town, the townspeople have removed the bomb from the
fountain which turns out to be a dud.

The next scene shows the nun approaching the gate later in the day as
the soldier rings the buzzer with no clothes on. The irony being that,
like the soldier, these people were the sane ones choosing to live
inside a sanitarium rather than be part of a world consisting of war and
violence.

Does anyone know the name of this movie? When it was made? Who made it?
or anything that can help me to find and purchase a copy?

Gadget Guy wrote:
I would like to find a movie that I enjoyed very much when I was
younger. The movie was about a soldier during WW1 who hates war and
defects from his troops as they enter a small town in Europe. While he
is in hiding, the townspeople, along with his own troops, discover a
large bomb hidden in the main street fountain. Realizing it could go off
anytime, they all vacate the town for several days. Meantime, another
group of people, unaware of the bomb, enter the town. Unaware that
the townspeople have left and others have replaced them,
the soldier, after changing out of his uniform, comes out of hiding to
find the new townspeople to be very friendly, compassionate and loving.
As the movie continues, the soldier sees various shop owners, barber,
variety, baker, flower, running their businesses with smiles and open
arms towards him. It is then that he notices a beautiful young woman
using a wire strung across the street as a tight rope. She steels his
heart as she gracefully moves back and forth across the tight rope.

Suddenly, amongst all of this love and compassion, a large group of the
original townspeople return back to town. As they enter on foot, the
second group of people stop what they are doing and quietly walk out of
town in the opposite direction. The soldier tries to get them to tell
him where they are going but they
just keep walking. Curious, and in love, he follows them and after
several miles sees them walking through a large open gate, (apparently
left open when the original townspeople were vacating the town) that
leads to a large building in the distance. As he approaches the gate to
enter himself, a nun appears and closes it before he can enter. It is at
this time that he notices a sign that reads "sanitarium for the insane",
or something to that effect.

Meantime, back in town, the townspeople have removed the bomb from the
fountain which turns out to be a dud.
The next scene shows the nun approaching the gate later in the day as
the soldier rings the buzzer with no clothes on. The irony being that,
like the soldier, these people were the sane ones choosing to live
inside a sanitarium rather than be part of a world consisting of war and
violence.
Does anyone know the name of this movie? When it was made? Who made it?
or anything that can help me to find and purchase a copy?

This sounds like "Le Roi de Coeur", a 1966 film directed by Philippe de
Broca, and released in the USA in 1967 under the title "King of
Hearts". The original soundtrack has the characters speaking in their
own languages in a mix of French, English, and German. Alan Bates stars
as the soldier.

The North American DVD release is under the title "King of Hearts", and
it's in stock at a couple of on-line retailers I checked.

-Neil Midkiff