Decameron Nights

It was about 20 years before Pier Paolo Pasolini,whose version(1971) of Boccacio's work was much more daring,more erotic and bawdier;but it was 1953 and the censorship would not have tolerated such things.

Let's say it: Fregonese's Decameron is at least as good,as entertaining ,nay more elegant and subtler than that of his Italian colleague.Everything is suggested ,full of (more or less)veiled innuendos and it works quite well:three segments based on three tales told by the writer or Flamette;and what a good idea to have the actors play the "real" plot and the fictions !Joan Fontaine ,for instance ,is cast against type as a ship's boy and later an oriental one ,complete with turban and she manages quite well ,in this Virginia Mayo style.French Louis Jourdan ,who is still living ,is ideally cast as the handsome lady killer:and what a pleasure to hear him say in his first language "Bon Voyage" or "rendezvous"!;the cinematography is splendid and the screenplay is remarkably constructed.