Product Details

• Actors: Anita Ekberg, Sophia Loren, Romy Schneider, Marisa Solinas, Germano Gilioli
• Directors: Federico Fellini, Luchino Visconti, Mario Monicelli, Vittorio De Sica
• Writers: Federico Fellini, Brunello Rondi, Cesare Zavattini, Ennio Flaiano
• Format: Color, Dolby, DVD, Original recording remastered, Subtitled, Widescreen, NTSC
• Language: English (Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono), Italian (Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono)
• Subtitles: English
• Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. Read more about DVD formats.)
  
• Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1
• Number of discs: 2
• Rating: Unrated
• Studio: NoShame Films
• DVD Release Date: April 26, 2005
• Run Time: 205 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B00080OB9I
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #40,878 in Movies & TV (See Bestsellers in Movies & TV)

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• For more information about "Boccaccio '70 (Remastered Edition)" visit the Internet Movie Database (IMDb)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

A summit meeting of great Italian directors of the era, Boccaccio '70 is an antipasto platter of vintage sex symbols and naughty material. Cooked up and bankrolled by Carlo Ponti and American producer Joseph E. Levine, the four-part film was meant to tap the international smash of Federico Fellini's La Dolce Vita, which gave audiences some refreshingly, you know, "mature" subject matter. Four directors were hired to create segments ostensibly based on the tales of Boccaccio: Fellini himself (in the lull between La Dolce Vita and 8-1/2), Luchino Visconti, Vittorio De Sica, and Mario Monicelli.

Monicelli's story, Renzo and Luciana, is an agreeable tale, full of everyday Roman life: an office worker (Marisa Solinas) must marry her boyfriend when she gets pregnant--although marriage is against company rules. Fellini's segment, The Temptation of Dr. Antonio, is fantastical and big-scaled. It tells of a censorious bluenose (Peppino de Filippo) who becomes incensed at the presence of a billboard featuring a sexy portrait of Anita Ekberg (selling milk)--a portrait that comes to life. For this bizarre escapade, Nino Rota composed an advertising jingle that will stick in your mind whether you want it to or not.

Visconti's The Job is the best segment, tracking the emotional chess game between a playboy (Thomas Milian) and his wife (Romy Schneider at her most gorgeous) after he is publicly exposed in a sex scandal. Finally, the De Sica piece (The Raffle) is a fairly broad romp that uses Sophia Loren as the reward in a raffle. Sophia's delicious, needless to say.

The finished product weighed in at a whopping 208 minutes, and Monicelli's segment was lopped off before the film showed at the Cannes Film Festival. It has never been restored, until this DVD release. All the segments are frankly too long, and none qualifies as an essential gem, but they do give the flavor of Italy's best at an especially exciting cinematic moment. --Robert Horton

Product Description

Four complete segments, each directed by a master filmmaker and starring an extraordinary cast of international stars: "Renzo & Luciana", directed by Mario Monicelli (BIG DEAL ON MADONNA STREET) was cut to shorten the film for its international release and it's shown here for the first time ever in America. "The Temptation of Doctor Antonio" directed by Federico Fellini (LA DOLCE VITA, 8 1/2) and starring Anita Ekberg (LA DOLCE VITA), enlighten by a dreamy humoristic touch, it's considered by many to be the best Fellini's work ever! "The Job", directed by Luchino Visconti (THE LOEPARD, ROCCO AND HIS BROTHERS) stars Romy Schneider (WHAT'S NEW, PUSSYCAT) and future genre icon Tomas Milian (TRAFFIC, ALMOST HUMAN). A witty contemplation of marriage with an attention to details was the trademark of the Visconti's incomparable style. Finally, "The Raffle", an earthy comic romp directed by Vittorio De Sica (THE BICYCLE THIEF, TWO WOMEN) and starring Sophia Loren (YESTERDAY, TODAY AND TOMORROW, TWO WOMEN) as a woman who causes all sorts of problems for herself when she offers her favors as the prize in a lottery.

BOCCACCIO '70 is presented in a widescreen anamorphic digital transfer, loaded with never seen before extras, including a rare behind-the-scene archival footage

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

14 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A must for fans of the directors, May 28, 2005

By	Jim M. (Springfield MA) - See all my reviews

BOCCACCIO 70 is made up of four short films, each around 45 minutes long. The DVD set is broken up into two DVDS, with two of the shorts on each, and the second DVD containing a few extras.

The transfer for all the shorts is absolutely stunning. I don't think it could have looked this good when it played in theatres.

Disc 1

The first segment, directed by Mario Monicelli, had long been unseen, at least in the US. It was removed from the US release of the film. It is the least of the four, but still quite watchable, about a newly married couple, dealing with their family and work. Not much to it, but an interesting view of everyday life.

The second is probably the strongest, by Fellini. I would argue that this is one of Fellini's most focused works (although I would admit that I find him to be overrated to some extent). It is a very funny film about a moral crusader who objects to a large billboard for milk, with Anita Ekberg on it.

Disc 2

The third segment is directed by Visconti starring Romy Schneider. A wealthy man is caught in a scandal, having to do damage control with his business associates and his wife. It is one of Visconti's lightest works, and also quite fun.

The final segment is De Sica's THE RAFFLE. A group of men enter a raffle, the prize being Sophia Loren.

The extras on the disc include the original US credits, trailers, and some brief interviews made at the time of the films release, as well as a photo gallery.

The film is a must watch for all fans of the directors.

14 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars It's the Fellini segment, stupid!, July 21, 2005

By	Uncle Borges (Via Lungomare 6) - See all my reviews

5 stars because of the fantastic Fellini at his best-incomparable-Anita Ekberg-extravaganza! 3 stars to de Sica for lovely yet minor Sofia romp. 2 stars to theatrical budoir boredom of Visconti who can't find proper filter for his camera. 2 stars for Monicelli: was this a futuristic tale? 1 star to rather drab DVD package with hardly any meat on it (stills + thirty seconds of some black and white Sofia newsreel footage from 196?...nothing else!)
Overall: 5 stars because Il Maestro overwhelms every single complaint...in fact I suggest that you first watch disc 2 (Visconti/de Sica combo) and then go to disc 1 (Monicelli/Fellini)...

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Viva Anita Eckberg, Romy Schneider and Sophie Loren!, September 15, 2007

By	Hiram Gomez Pardo (Valencia, Venezuela) - See all my reviews (TOP 100 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

Bocaccio 70 is a set of four vignettes (The U:S version included an additional work directed by Mario Monicelli), although I don' t know this chapter; I will comment you the works I know.

" The bet" is a demolishing, incisive and merciless of a decaying marriage, when the husband of a very rich wealthy and alluring woman (the exquisite and unforgettable Romy Schneider) in a role that fits for her to perfection. She personifies the woman of the sixties at the eve of the feminine liberation, and so did she when she notices has been cheated by his husband and so she will take her own and brutal revenge. This is by far, the most mature of the three portraits, with that exquisiteness so typical of Luchino Visconti.

"The temptation of Saint Anthony" is a cynical and mundane parable; a demolishing satire about the Freudian man, who suffers in his own flesh all the sins of the world, product of the voluptuousness emanated from Anita Eckberg in a huge poster with a suggestive semiotic lexicon. That portrait will become for him a true set of bad dreams, but the way in which is told a this acidic surrealistic and mordacious story is so brilliant that the rest of the plot runs for you.

Finally, "The raffle" is perhaps the less relevant and banal of the previous two. It has to do with the times and livings of woman in search of love in the middle of a raffle (a sharp metaphor of life), but the script is extremely weak to hold the previous entries of FEFE and Visconti.

Fortunately the first two justify plainly your purchase. A cult movie to enjoy over and over, due the pristine elegance and mordacity that have resisted the test of time.

Highly recommended!