Decameron Nights
| Decameron Nights | |
|---|---|
 |
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| Directed by | Hugo Fregonese |
| Produced by | M. J. Frankovich |
| Written by | George Oppenheimer Geza Herczeg (treatment) |
| Based on |
Summary of Decameron tales 1353 novel by Giovanni Boccaccio |
| Starring |
Joan Fontaine Louis Jourdan |
| Music by | Antony Hopkins |
| Cinematography | Guy Green |
| Edited by | Russell Lloyd |
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Production
company |
Amerit Film Corp.
Film Locations, Ltd. |
| Distributed by | RKO Radio Pictures |
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Release date
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Running time
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94 minutes |
| Country | United Kingdom United States |
| Language | English |
Decameron Nights is a 1953 anthology Technicolor film based on three tales from The Decameron by Giovanni Boccaccio, specifically the ninth and tenth tales of the second day and the ninth tale of the third. It stars Joan Fontaine and, as Boccaccio, Louis Jourdan.
In the mid-fourteenth century, Boccaccio seeks his true love, the recently widowed Fiametta (Joan Fontaine), and finds that she has fled Florence, plague-ridden and being sacked by an invading army, for a villa in the countryside with several female companions. When he shows up on her doorstep, Fiametta does not want to invite him to stay, but her friends, bored and lacking male companionship, override her objections. To entertain the ladies (and further his courtship of Fiametta), Boccaccio tells stories of the pursuit of love.
Bartolomea (Fontaine) is frustrated by her marriage to the wealthy, much older Ricciardo (Godfrey Tearle). The latter's strong belief in astrology dictates how they live. One day, the stars are favorable for fishing. However, a pirate ship appears suddenly and captures the ladies. The captain, Paganino (Jourdan), inspects his prisoners and releases all but Bartolomea. He sends her husband a demand for 50,000 gold florins ransom to be paid at Majorca. By the time Ricciardo shows up however, Bartolomea has fallen in love with the pirate. She denies knowing Ricciardo and, when he is unable to answer a simple question (the color of her eyes in the dark), Paganino's friend, the larcenous Governor of Majorca (Eliot Makeham), orders Ricciardo to pay a fine for his lies: the sum of 50,000 florins. Paganino and Bartolomea get married and he promises to give up pirating.
Fiametta is not amused by the "moral" of the story, but the others beg Boccaccio for another. Instead, Fiametta decides to recount a more uplifting tale, to her friends' disappointment.
Giulio (Jourdan) goads Bernabo (Tearle) into betting on the virtue of his wife Ginevra (Fontaine). Giulio wagers 1000 florins against Bernabo's 5000 that he can seduce Ginevra within a month. However, Giulio merely bribes the woman's maid Nerina (Binnie Barnes) into letting him hide in her mistress's bedchamber. Later, while Ginevra sleeps, he steals a locket with Bernabo's likeness in it and cuts off a lock of her hair, noticing as he does so a birthmark on her shoulder. When Giulio provides all three as "proof", Bernabo pays up. He then recruits two assassins to do away with his wife. The killers are discomfited by Ginevra's lack of fear and let her go.
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