Boccaccio '70 (1962)

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General		Extras
Category	Comedy	Main Menu Audio Theatrical Trailer Gallery-Photo
Rating
Year Of Production	1962
Running Time	195:28 (Case: 203)
RSDL / Flipper	Dual Layered	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Menu
Region Coding	1,2,3,4,5,6	Directed By	Vittorio De Sica Federico Fellini Mario Monicelli Luchino Visconti
Studio Distributor	Stomp Visual	Starring	Marisa Solinas Germano Gilioli Anita Ekberg Peppino De Filippo Romy Schneider Tomas Milian Romolo Valli Sophia Loren Luigi Giuliani Alfio Vita
Case	Amaray-Opaque-Secure Clip
RPI	$29.95	Music	Nino Rota Armando Trovajoli Piero Umiliani

Video		Audio
Pan & Scan/Full Frame	None	Italian Dolby Digital 2.0 (192Kb/s)
Widescreen Aspect Ratio	1.85:1
16x9 Enhancement
Video Format	576i (PAL)
Original Aspect Ratio	Unknown	Miscellaneous
Jacket Pictures	No
Subtitles	English	Smoking	Yes
		Annoying Product Placement	No
		Action In or After Credits	No

     Boccaccio '70 is an anthology of four stories that are based on works by 14th century Italian poet Giovanni Boccaccio. The stories of Boccaccio '70 were quite risqué for the early sixties and all have a common theme. The premise for each tale centres on strong-minded women and the alluring powers they possess over men. Spellbinding beauty combined with cunning intelligence contribute to clever manipulation of the male species.

    Each instalment of Boccaccio '70 is directed by a distinguished Italian director of the era. Mario Monicelli, Federico Fellini, Luchino Visconti and Vittorio De Sica each add their own definitive style to these memorable tales.

    Boccaccio '70 has spent the majority of its cinematic life as a trilogy of stories. With a running time of over three hours, it was decided to remove one of the instalments for the American cinema release. The harsh decision was made to eliminate the Mario Moncelli segment, with producer Carlo Ponti making a promise to finance a future project with the director. This intended feature film was never actually realised. Thankfully though, Boccaccio '70 has now been restored to its original format and is presented as such in this DVD edition.

    Act I: The first episode is the previously deleted Renzo e Luciana (Renzo and Luciana), directed by Mario Monicelli (42:51). Renzo (Germano Gilioli) and Luciana (Marisa Solinas) marry in a small wedding ceremony. Luciana works for a company that has its female staff sign contracts forbidding them from marriage. After their secret nuptials, the couple live with Luciana's family in order to pay off their loans and save money. The busy household doesn't allow Renzo and Luciana a moment's privacy, which is causing substantial frustration for Renzo. To further complicate matters, the sleazy office manager has his sordid eye set on the "eligible" Luciana.

    Act II: The second segment is the unmistakable work of Federico Fellini with Le tentazioni del dottor Antonio (The Temptations of Dr Antonio) (52:34 ). Dr Antonio (Peppino De Filippo) is an obsessed morals crusader on a self righteous mission to rid the community of moral decay. When a milk company erects a fifty foot billboard in a local park, Dr Antonio is outraged. The board displays a buxom model (Anita Ekberg) in a sexy pose, holding a glass of milk. The local male population love this new attraction, which only serves to inspire Dr Antonio to greater heights in having it removed. He soon becomes totally obsessed by his mission - but in a bizarre twist, the billboard comes to life and administers some revenge on the hapless doctor.

    Act III: Il lavoro (The Job) directed by Luchino Visconti (52:51). The society pages of the newspapers are rife with stories of Conte Ottavio (Tomas Milian) being seen in the company of a prostitute. His wife, Pupe (Romy Schneider), seems to have disappeared, possibly to escape the media barrage. Pupe speaks with her father regularly by phone and it becomes clear that he has an influence over aspects of the marriage. When Pupe re-appears, Ottavio is desperate to have her help clear his name and reputation. She calmly and graciously agrees to help him, but also reveals her plans to change her life in a profound manner by taking on a special job.

    Act IV: The fourth and final instalment of Boccaccio '70 is La riffa (The Raffle), which is directed in a familiar realist style by Vittorio De Sica (47:12). Beautiful Zoe (Sophia Loren) operates a shooting gallery in a carnival. She has every man in the province lusting after her, and for good reason - she is first prize in a raffle. In order to help her pregnant sister and brother-in-law keep their heads above financial debt, Zoe has offered her sexual services in this unlawful raffle. The tickets are subsequently sold covertly, but it already seems that every man in the region has bought a ticket. Before the raffle is drawn, Zoe becomes besotted with a local stable worker and wants to withdraw her services from the raffle. However, the raffle is drawn and a rather awkward and introverted man arrives to claim his prize.

Video

    The video transfer for Boccaccio '70 is reasonably good.

    The film is presented in an aspect ratio of 1.85:1 and is 16x9 enhanced. If this is not the correct aspect ratio, it would certainly be very close. The original and correct aspect ratio could not be confirmed.

    Sharpness and clarity levels were of a consistently acceptable quality, without ever achieving stunning results. Although there is some grain occasionally present, blacks were generally clean, with no adverse issues with low-level-noise. Shadow detail was also quite good and displayed a high level of definition.

    Colours are well rendered on the disc and remained faithful to the beautiful display of rich colours used in the film.

    There were no MPEG artefacts noticed in the transfer. Some minor edge enhancement was noticed throughout the film, but was not of any real significance. Film-to-video artefacts were generally well controlled. Thankfully film artefacts were infrequent and not problematic at all.

    The only available subtitles are in English and were easily visible and legible in white. A couple of minor errors in grammar are present, but nothing of real consequence or annoyance.

    This is a single sided, dual layered disc. The layer change occurs at 3:28, during the third segment. It is quite easily noticed, but is not particularly disruptive.

Video Ratings Summary

Sharpness
Shadow Detail
Colour
Grain/Pixelization
Film-To-Video Artefacts
Film Artefacts
Overall

Audio

    The audio transfer is also quite good.

    There is only one audio track available on this DVD; Italian Dolby Digital 2.0 (192Kb/s), which is the original mono audio track.

    Although my comprehension of the Italian language is negligible, dialogue quality certainly seemed to be very good throughout the film. Under closer examination, audio sync appeared to be slightly amiss at times. ADR is the likely culprit of these issues in the film. However, in a casual viewing of the DVD, these discrepancies were not plainly obvious. As such, audio sync is not likely to cause too much concern under normal viewing conditions.

    The musical scores for the various instalments come from three Italian composers with impeccable reputations. Nino Rota scored two episodes (The Temptations of Dr Antonio and The Job), Armando Trovajoli one (The Raffle) and Piero Umiliani one (Renzo and Luciana). As you would expect from these composers, all the scores are outstanding. Nino Rota composed many superb musical scores for Fellini's films over the years and his work on the Fellini segment is the standout of the film.

    The surround channels and subwoofer were not used.

Audio Ratings Summary

Dialogue
Audio Sync
Clicks/Pops/Dropouts
Surround Channel Use
Subwoofer
Overall

    The selection of extras is extremely minimal. 

Menu

       The menu is static and very basic. It features a looped music sample from the film and is 16x9 enhanced.

Theatrical Trailer

    Boccaccio '70 (4:54)  This is the original Italian theatrical trailer, which has no subtitles.

Stills Gallery

     A miniscule collection of four non-descript images from the film, plus one promotional image - hardly worth the effort really.

    I will compare this R4 version of Boccaccio 70 with the R1 two DVD Special Edition, released in April 2005.

    The NTSC R1 Special Edition has spread the film evenly over both discs. The higher bit rate provides an increase in video quality. Both versions have the same Italian Dolby Digital 2.0 mono audio track, but the R1 has an additional dubbed English Dolby Digital 2.0 mono track. Both versions feature English subtitles only.

    The R1 edition presents the film in an aspect ratio of 1.66:1 and features a small selection of extras. These include the original Italian theatrical trailer, the original U.S. theatrical trailer, a comprehensive poster and stills gallery, archival footage and a collectable booklet.

     The R1 two DVD Special Edition is the clear winner here.

    Boccaccio '70 is an absorbing collection of short films from four of Italy's most important film directors. These adaptations of Giovanni Boccaccio stories are undeniably unique to each director's individual style and should please anyone with an interest in Italian cinema of the era.

    The video and audio transfers are both very good.

    The extras are minimal and very basic.

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall