1962's "Boccaccio 70" arrived during a period when anthologies were making a comeback (Roger Corman's "Tales of Terror" from Hollywood), four different directors doing one segment apiece, inspired by 14th-century Italian author Giovanni Boccaccio but updated to the present. Mario Monicelli's opener, "Renzo e Luciana" was never included in export versions for two logical reasons, first that at 3 hours-plus the picture was already quite lengthy, and second that the director failed to secure a name star for box office clout. Easily the most dialogue heavy and least humorous of the quartet, a newlywed couple forced to live with the bride's huge family while trying to earn enough wages to move into a place of their own. Their slave driving employer complicates things due to his skirt chasing insistence on single girls only, the poor groom pretending not to know his bride whenever the boss is present (she does enjoy a good vampire movie at the crowded cinema!). Considerably more fun is "Le Tentazioni del Dottore Antonio" (The Temptation of Doctor Antonio), the first color production for Federico Fellini, Peppino de Filippo as a middle aged morality watchdog with a hypocritical fascination for the female form, exemplified in a huge advertising poster of Anita Ekberg, holding a glass of milk below her already ample bosom (an Ekberg billboard for "Call Me Bwana" is prominently displayed in the James Bond thriller "From Russia with Love," both from producer Albert R. Broccoli). Even better for science fiction buffs, Anita actually comes alive as a 50 foot woman engaged in taunting/seducing the dazed doctor. At one critical moment he reaches down inside her cleavage, perhaps the inspiration for Bert I. Gordon's promotion for 1965's "Village of the Giants," after which she recovers his tiny umbrella from between her breasts! Next is Luchino Visconti's "Il Lavoro" (The Job), never leaving the luxury apartment of Count Ottavio (Tomas Millian) and his lovely Countess Pupe (Romy Schneider), discussing the pros and cons of his scandalous unions with high class call girls, Pupe's father holding the purse strings and betting his daughter's considerable allowance that she won't be able to find suitable employment without any experience. This one tends to drag after a time, so leave it to Vittorio De Sica to bring up the rear with "La Riffa" (The Raffle), scintillating Sophia Loren sashaying provocatively across the screen as a shooting gallery proprietress who offers her favors for one night to the lucky recipient of a winning ticket so as to pay back taxes that could lose her the booth. Once the winner is revealed he receives a plethora of financial offers for his ticket but yields to his mother's insistence that he not give in. The four stories are a study in sacrifice, some amusing or at least rewarding, the missing segment fully restored for a complete viewing experience.
Review of Boccaccio '70
