''Decameron Nights'' (also known as ''Tres Historias De Amor'') is a 1953 British-American anthology

Technicolor Technicolor is a family of Color motion picture film, color motion picture processes. The first version, Process 1, was introduced in 1916, and improved versions followed over several decades. Definitive Technicolor movies using three black-and ...

film directed by

Hugo Fregonese Hugo Geronimo Fregonese (8 April 1908 – 11 January 1987) was an Argentine film director and screenwriter who worked both in Hollywood and his home country during the Golden Age of Argentine cinema, classical era of Argentine cinema.''Cine Na ...

and starring Joan Fontaine and Louis Jourdan. It was written by George Oppenheimer based on three tales from ''

The Decameron ''The Decameron'' (; or ''Decamerone'' ), subtitled ''Prince Galehaut'' (Old ) and sometimes nicknamed ''l'Umana commedia'' ("the Human Comedy (drama), comedy", as it was Boccaccio that dubbed Dante Alighieri's ''Divine Comedy, Comedy'' "''D ...

'' by

Giovanni Boccaccio Giovanni Boccaccio ( , ; ; 16 June 1313 – 21 December 1375) was an Italian people, Italian writer, poet, correspondent of Petrarch, and an important Renaissance humanism, Renaissance humanist. Born in the town of Certaldo, he became so ...

, specifically the ninth and tenth tales of the second day and the ninth tale of the third.

Plot

In the mid-fourteenth century, Boccaccio seeks his true love, the recently widowed Fiametta, and finds that she has fled

Florence Florence ( ; ) is the capital city of the Italy, Italian region of Tuscany. It is also the most populated city in Tuscany, with 362,353 inhabitants, and 989,460 in Metropolitan City of Florence, its metropolitan province as of 2025. Florence ...

, plague-ridden and being sacked by an invading army, for a villa in the countryside with several female companions. When he shows up, Fiametta does not want to invite him to stay, but her friends, bored and lacking male companionship, override her. To entertain the ladies (and further his courtship of Fiametta), Boccaccio tells stories of the pursuit of love. Bartolomea is frustrated by her marriage to the wealthy, much older Ricciardo. The latter's strong belief in

astrology Astrology is a range of Divination, divinatory practices, recognized as pseudoscientific since the 18th century, that propose that information about human affairs and terrestrial events may be discerned by studying the apparent positions ...

dictates how they live. One day, the stars are favorable for fishing, but pirates capture the ladies. Their captain, Paganino, releases all but Bartolomea. He demand a 50,000 gold florin ransom to be paid at

Majorca Mallorca, or Majorca, is the largest of the Balearic Islands, which are part of Spain, and the List of islands in the Mediterranean#By area, seventh largest island in the Mediterranean Sea. The capital of the island, Palma, Majorca, Palma, i ...

. 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 about her, Paganino's friend, the Governor of Majorca, orders Ricciardo to pay a fine for his lies: 50,000 florins. Paganino and Bartolomea get married, and he promises to give up piracy. 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 goads Bernabo into betting on the virtue of his wife Ginevra. Giulio wagers that he can seduce Ginevra within a month. However, Giulio merely bribes the woman's maid Nerina into letting him hide in her mistress's bedchamber. Later, while Ginevra sleeps, he steals her locket 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, 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 has the Sultan invite both Giulio and Bernabo to dinner. Later, with 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 is sent to fetch a female doctor, Isabella, for his master, the seriously ill King. On the trip, he defends her from two highwaymen. When she cures the King, he offers her anything. She asks for a husband: Bertrando. Dismayed, Bertrando agrees, but immediately after their wedding, he leaves her - having fulfilled his promise – and resumes his playboy ways. Before departing, he tells her that he will only live with her if she obtains the ring on his finger and bears him a child. Learning that Bertrando is trying to seduce an innkeeper's daughter, Maria, Isabella has the 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. 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

/ Paganino / Giulio / Don Bertrando *

Godfrey Tearle Sir Godfrey Seymour Tearle (12 October 1884 – 9 June 1953) was a British actor who portrayed the quintessential British gentleman on stage and in both British and US films. Biography Born in New York City and brought up in United Kingdom of ...

as Ricciardo / Bernabo *

Joan Collins Dame Joan Henrietta Collins (born 23 May 1933) is an English actress, author and columnist. She is the recipient of several accolades, including a Golden Globe Awards, a People's Choice Award, two Soap Opera Digest Awards and a Primetime Emm ...

as Pampinea / Maria *

Binnie Barnes Gertrude Maud Barnes (25 March 1903 – 27 July 1998), known professionally as Binnie Barnes, was an English actress whose career in films spanned from 1923 to 1973. She was known for as a leading lady in films such as ''The Private Life of He ...

as Contessa de Firenze / The Countess / Nerina the Chambermaid / The Old Witch * Meinhart Maur as sultan * Gordon Whiting * Gordon Bell as merchant * Melissa Stribling as girl in villa * Stella Riley as girl in villa * Mara Lane as girl in villa * Van Boolen as captain * Gérard Tichy * Diaz de Mendoza * Carlos Villarías (as Carolos Villarias) * Eliot Makeham as Governor of Majorca *

Marjorie Rhodes Marjorie Rhodes (9 April 1897 – 4 July 1979) was a British actress. She was born Millicent Wise in Kingston upon Hull, Hull, East Riding of Yorkshire. Career One of her better-known roles was as Lucy Fitton, the mother in Bill Naughton's pl ...

as Signora Bucca * Noel Purcell as Father Francisco * Hugh Morton as King * George Bernard as messenger * Bert Bernard as messenger

Reception

The Monthly Film Bulletin The ''Monthly Film Bulletin'' was a periodical of the British Film Institute published monthly from February 1934 until April 1991, when it merged with '' Sight & Sound''. It reviewed all films on release in the United Kingdom, including those wi ...

'' wrote: "Made by an Argentine born Hollywood director and an Anglo-American cast, and filmed on location in Spain and at Elstree Studios, this is the sort of hybrid international production of which experience has made one slightly mistrustful. The idea of filming Boccaccio is strange enough, but the film, with an essentially twentieth-century script, takes on something of the air of a series of revue sketches; the Bernard brothers provide a pantomime act as a pair of soft-hearted executioners, Binnie Barnes comes on a in variety of strange disguises, and the two stars, scarcely disguised at all, perform with a dispiriting tattiness. Dialogue and direction are heavy-handed though good natured colour is rather garish. An odd, rather tiring charade."

References

External links

* * * {{Hugo Fregonese 1953 films American anthology films British romance films British anthology films The Decameron Films based on short fiction Films based on works by Giovanni Boccaccio 1950s romance films RKO Pictures films Films scored by Antony Hopkins Films set in the 14th century Films about writers Films set in Italy American romance films Films set in Monaco Films set in Tunisia Cross-dressing in British films 1950s English-language films 1950s American films 1950s British films Cross-dressing in American films English-language romance films