Decameron Nights
Encyclopedia
Decameron Nights is a 1953 anthology 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.
, 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.
She disguises herself as a man and becomes a sailor on a merchant ship. A potential customer, the Sultan (Meinhart Maur
), becomes fascinated by Ginevra's pet talking parrot and agrees to buy the merchant's wares if he can also have the bird. Since the parrot will only speak for Ginevra, she agrees to enter the Sultan's service.
Then one day, she spots her locket in a marketplace stall manned by Giulio. Still in disguise, she coaxes the story out of him and finally learns why her husband wanted her dead. She then has the Sultan invite both Giulio and Bernabo (now working for Giulio) to dinner. Later, with the Sultan and Bernabo within earshot but out of sight, she appears dressed as a woman and asks Giulio if he knows her. When he repeatedly denies it, she is vindicated, and reunited with her husband.
Boccaccio does not like the tale, and starts another.
Spanish Don
Bertrando (Jourdan) is sent to fetch a female doctor, Isabella (Fontaine), for his master, the seriously ill King (Hugh Morton). On the trip, he has to defend her against two highwaymen.
When she is able to cure the King, he offers her anything she wants. She asks for a husband: Bertrando. Dismayed, Bertrando agrees, but immediately after their wedding, he leaves her, as that was all that he had promised to do, and resumes his playboy ways. Before he departs, he tells his new wife that he will only live with her if she obtains the ring on his finger and bears him a child. Determined, she sets out to do just that.
Learning that Bertrando is trying to seduce an innkeeper's daughter Maria (Joan Collins
), Isabella has the aggrieved innkeeper send Bertrando a message supposedly from Maria agreeing to spend the night with him. Instead, Isabella keeps the rendezvous in the dark, unlit bedroom. She later steals Bertrando's ring while he is sleeping and leaves before her deception is revealed. Months later, she gives birth to a son. Bertrando shows up, having heard that she claims the child is his. After she tells her story, Bertrando embraces her.
When Fiametta is again critical of Boccaccio's story, he gives up and leaves the villa. However, he returns, takes Fiametta in his arms, and kisses her. She resists at first, then gives in.
The Decameron
The Decameron, also called Prince Galehaut is a 14th-century medieval allegory by Giovanni Boccaccio, told as a frame story encompassing 100 tales by ten young people....
by Giovanni Boccaccio
Giovanni Boccaccio
Giovanni Boccaccio was an Italian author and poet, a friend, student, and correspondent of Petrarch, an important Renaissance humanist and the author of a number of notable works including the Decameron, On Famous Women, and his poetry in the Italian vernacular...
, specifically the ninth and tenth tales of the second day and the ninth tale of the third
Summary of Decameron tales
This article contains summaries and commentaries of the 100 stories contained in Giovanni Boccaccio's The Decameron.Each story of the Decameron begins with a short heading explaining the plot of the story. The 1903 J. M. Rigg English translation headings are used in many of these summaries...
. It stars Joan Fontaine
Joan Fontaine
Joan de Beauvoir de Havilland , known professionally as Joan Fontaine, is a British American actress. She and her elder sister Olivia de Havilland are two of the last surviving leading ladies from Hollywood of the 1930s....
and, as Boccaccio, Louis Jourdan.
Plot
In the mid-fourteenth century, Boccaccio seeks his true love, the recently widowed Fiametta (Joan Fontaine), and finds that she has fled FlorenceFlorence
Florence is the capital city of the Italian region of Tuscany and of the province of Florence. It is the most populous city in Tuscany, with approximately 370,000 inhabitants, expanding to over 1.5 million in the metropolitan area....
, 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
Godfrey Tearle
Sir Godfrey Seymour Tearle was a British actor who portrayed the quintessential Englishman on stage and in both English and US films.-Biography:...
). The latter's strong belief in astrology
Astrology
Astrology consists of a number of belief systems which hold that there is a relationship between astronomical phenomena and events in the human world...
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
Eliot Makeham
Eliot Makeham , sometimes credited as Eliott Makeham or Elliot Makeham, was an English film and television actor.-Early life and education:He was born Harold Elliott Makeham in 1882, in London, England....
), 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
Binnie Barnes
Gertrude Maud "Binnie" Barnes was an English-American actress. She was born in Islington to a Jewish father and an Italian mother and was brought up Jewish, although she converted to Catholicism later in life....
) 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.
She disguises herself as a man and becomes a sailor on a merchant ship. A potential customer, the Sultan (Meinhart Maur
Meinhart Maur
Meinhart Maur was a Hungarian film actor. He appeared in 44 films between 1919 and 1954.He was born in Hajdúnánás, Hungary and died in London, England.-Selected filmography:* Harakiri * Die Teufelsanbeter...
), becomes fascinated by Ginevra's pet talking parrot and agrees to buy the merchant's wares if he can also have the bird. Since the parrot will only speak for Ginevra, she agrees to enter the Sultan's service.
Then one day, she spots her locket in a marketplace stall manned by Giulio. Still in disguise, she coaxes the story out of him and finally learns why her husband wanted her dead. She then has the Sultan invite both Giulio and Bernabo (now working for Giulio) to dinner. Later, with the Sultan and Bernabo within earshot but out of sight, she appears dressed as a woman and asks Giulio if he knows her. When he repeatedly denies it, she is vindicated, and reunited with her husband.
Boccaccio does not like the tale, and starts another.
Spanish Don
Don (honorific)
Don, from Latin dominus, is an honorific in Spanish , Portuguese , and Italian . The female equivalent is Doña , Dona , and Donna , abbreviated "Dª" or simply "D."-Usage:...
Bertrando (Jourdan) is sent to fetch a female doctor, Isabella (Fontaine), for his master, the seriously ill King (Hugh Morton). On the trip, he has to defend her against two highwaymen.
When she is able to cure the King, he offers her anything she wants. She asks for a husband: Bertrando. Dismayed, Bertrando agrees, but immediately after their wedding, he leaves her, as that was all that he had promised to do, and resumes his playboy ways. Before he departs, he tells his new wife that he will only live with her if she obtains the ring on his finger and bears him a child. Determined, she sets out to do just that.
Learning that Bertrando is trying to seduce an innkeeper's daughter Maria (Joan Collins
Joan Collins
Joan Henrietta Collins, OBE , is an English actress, author, and columnist. Born in Paddington and raised in Maida Vale, Collins grew up during the Second World War. At the age of nine, she made her stage debut in A Doll's House and after attending school, she was classically trained as an actress...
), Isabella has the aggrieved innkeeper send Bertrando a message supposedly from Maria agreeing to spend the night with him. Instead, Isabella keeps the rendezvous in the dark, unlit bedroom. She later steals Bertrando's ring while he is sleeping and leaves before her deception is revealed. Months later, she gives birth to a son. Bertrando shows up, having heard that she claims the child is his. After she tells her story, Bertrando embraces her.
When Fiametta is again critical of Boccaccio's story, he gives up and leaves the villa. However, he returns, takes Fiametta in his arms, and kisses her. She resists at first, then gives in.
Cast
- Joan Fontaine as Fiametta / Bartolomea / Ginevra / Isabella
- Louis Jourdan as Giovanni Boccaccio / Paganino / Giulio / Don Bertrando
- Godfrey TearleGodfrey TearleSir Godfrey Seymour Tearle was a British actor who portrayed the quintessential Englishman on stage and in both English and US films.-Biography:...
as Ricciardo / Bernabo - Joan CollinsJoan CollinsJoan Henrietta Collins, OBE , is an English actress, author, and columnist. Born in Paddington and raised in Maida Vale, Collins grew up during the Second World War. At the age of nine, she made her stage debut in A Doll's House and after attending school, she was classically trained as an actress...
as Pampinea / Maria - Binnie BarnesBinnie BarnesGertrude Maud "Binnie" Barnes was an English-American actress. She was born in Islington to a Jewish father and an Italian mother and was brought up Jewish, although she converted to Catholicism later in life....
as Contessa de Firenze / The Countess / Nerina the Chambermaid / The Old Witch - Meinhart MaurMeinhart MaurMeinhart Maur was a Hungarian film actor. He appeared in 44 films between 1919 and 1954.He was born in Hajdúnánás, Hungary and died in London, England.-Selected filmography:* Harakiri * Die Teufelsanbeter...
as Sultan - Gordon Whiting
- Gordon Bell as Merchant
- Melissa StriblingMelissa StriblingMelissa Stribling was a Scottish film and television actress.- Career :Born in Gourock, Scotland, her career began with the film Wide Boy , Stribling is known for playing the role of Mina in the horror film Dracula starring Christopher Lee in the title role...
as Girl in Villa - Stella Riley as Girl in Villa
- Mara Lane as Girl in Villa
- Van Boolen as Captain
- Gérard TichyGerard TichyGérard Tichy was a Spanish actor of German descent, who appeared in numerous movies, including several international productions. He was born in Weißenfels, Germany, on March 11, 1920, and died in Madrid, Spain, on April 11, 1992.Tichy participated in World War II and held the rank of a...
- Diaz de Mendoza
- Carlos VillaríasCarlos VillaríasCarlos Villarías , was a Spanish actor who was born in Córdoba, Spain and died in California, USA. His best remembered role is in a Spanish language version of Dracula made at night on the same sets as the version starring Bela Lugosi.-External links:...
(as Carolos Villarias) - Eliot MakehamEliot MakehamEliot Makeham , sometimes credited as Eliott Makeham or Elliot Makeham, was an English film and television actor.-Early life and education:He was born Harold Elliott Makeham in 1882, in London, England....
as Governor of Majorca - Marjorie RhodesMarjorie RhodesMarjorie Rhodes was a British actress.One of her best-known roles was as Lucy Fitton, the mother of Bill Naughton's northern comedy All in Good Time. She played the role on Broadway, for which she was nominated for a Tony Award in 1965...
as Signora Bucca - Noel PurcellNoel Purcell (actor)Noel Purcell was an Irish film and television actor.-Career:Purcell began his show business career at the age of 12 in Dublin's Gaiety Theatre. Later, he toured Ireland in a vaudeville act with Jimmy O'Dea....
as Father Francisco - Hugh Morton as King
- George Bernard as Messenger
- Bert Bernard as Messenger