Decameron No. 2 - Le altre novelle di Boccaccio (1972)

User Rating:

4.0/10   

Director:

Mino Guerrini

Writer:

Luigi Russo (writer)

Release Date:

3 November 1972 (West Germany)

Plot Keywords:

Sex | Female Nudity | Italian Sex Comedy | Sex Comedy | Beautiful Woman

Cast

Enzo Pulcrano	...	Pietro di Vinciolo
Claudia Bianchi	...	Pietro's wife
Salvatore Giocondo	...	Lover
Mario Brega	...	Ferondo
Mariangela Giordano	...	Ferondo's wife
Marcello Di Falco	...	The Abbot
Umberto Di Grazia	...	Friar
Luigi Antonio Guerra	...	Friar (as Luigi Guerra)
Fortunato Cecilia	...	Zeppa di Mino (as Cecilia Fortunato)
Lidia Caroncini	...	Zeppa's wife
Renzo Rinaldi	...	Spinelloccio (as Enzo Rinaldo)
Bruna Olivieri	...	Spinelloccio's wife
Pupo De Luca	...	Puccio, the friar
Antonella Murgia	...	Wife
Fausto Di Bella	...	The Friar

Also Known As:

Decameron II (UK)

Runtime:

Finland:98 min (cinema release) (1973)

Country:

Italy

Language:

Italian

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

West Germany:18 (nf) | Finland:K-16

Filming Locations:

Mondragone, Caserta, Campania, Italy

Company:

CGC

Recommended, if you're into this sort of thing

The Italians are infamous for copying Hollywood films, but the truth is they copied each other even more. For instance, there was practically an entire subgenre of historical sex comedies that followed in the wake of Pasolini's "The Decameron". None is as good as the original (which itself isn't exactly considered Pasolini's best work), but they all usually had a satirical edginess to them and a minute amount of literary gravitas which made them preferable to the usual dumb Italian sex comedies. This one, simply called "Decameron 2", was, like the original, based more or less on tales from the famous Boccacio work.

It's pretty okay once you get past the first tale, a clumsy and ignorant story about homosexuality. In the second tale a priest convinces a man that he's died and gone to purgatory in order to take advantage of the man's voluptuous "widow" (Mariangelo Giordano, who is not nearly as exploited here as she would be later). The third tale features no less than Camille Keaton (I've always wanted to know how Buster Keaton's American-born grand-niece ended up in 70's Italian exploitation). She plays a gentil daughter who goes to a randy hermit seeking spiritual enlightenment and he teaches her how to put his "devil" in her "hell". The problem is after that she wants to put the "devil in hell" 24 hours a day. If nothing else this is a rare chance to see the lovely Keaton in the altogether and in a role where she's NOT being brutally raped (just horribly taken advantage of).

The fourth story is about a "faithful wife" (Krista Nell, for some reason using a pseudonym)and "loyal" servant who fool and cuckold their husband and master. The fifth is the same except that it's a priest and a wife doing it to the latter's overly-religious spouse. The final story, the most funny (and disgusting), features tit-for-tat cuckolding which evolves into free-spirited wife-swapping among two very Fellini-grotesque couples (one of the women would actually be pretty sexy if it wasn't for her mustache).

The director Mino Guerrini doesn't bring much style to any of the proceedings, but the material is infinitely better than that of his other movies I've seen like "Au Pair Girl". Recommended if you're into this sort of thing.