''The Birds, the Bees and the Italians'' is a 1966 Italian film directed by Pietro Germi. Its original Italian title is ''Signore & Signori'', which means 'Ladies and Gentlemen'. The anthology film is a

sex comedy Sex comedy, erotic comedy or more broadly sexual comedy is a genre in which comedy is motivated by sexual situations and love affairs. Although "sex comedy" is primarily a description of dramatic forms such as theatre and film, literary works such ...

that presents three storylines, all set in the Italian town of

Treviso Treviso ( , ; vec, Trevixo) is a city and '' comune'' in the Veneto region of northern Italy. It is the capital of the province of Treviso and the municipality has 84,669 inhabitants (as of September 2017). Some 3,000 live within the Ven ...

. In the first story, a husband pretends to be impotent as a cover for having an affair. In the second, a bank clerk abandons his wife for his mistress, but the rest of the town's husbands become jealous and unite to conspire against them. In the third, men of the town all seduce a promiscuous teenager, but her father eventually reveals that she is underage, and they face prosecution for

statutory rape In common law jurisdictions, statutory rape is nonforcible sexual activity in which one of the individuals is below the age of consent (the age required to legally consent to the behavior). Although it usually refers to adults engaging in sexual ...

. The film shared the Grand Prix with '' A Man and a Woman'' at the

1966 Cannes Film Festival The 19th Cannes Film Festival was held from 5 to 20 May 1966. To honour the festival's 20th anniversary, a special prize was given. The Grand Prix du Festival International du Film went to the '' Signore & Signori'' by Pietro Germi, in tie wit ...

. It was later selected for screening as part of the Cannes Classics section at the 2016 Cannes Film Festival.

Cast

Virna Lisi Verna or Virna may refer to: People * Verna Aardema (1911–2000), American author of children's books * Verna Bloom (1939–2019), American actress * Virna De Angeli (born 1976), Italian former sprinter * Virna Dias (born 1971), Brazilian reti ...

– Milena Zulian *

Gastone Moschin Gastone Moschin (8 June 1929 – 4 September 2017) was an Italian stage, television and film actor. Career Born in San Giovanni Lupatoto (Veneto), Moschin graduated from the Accademia Nazionale di Arte Drammatica Silvio D'Amico and then began ...

– Osvaldo Bisigato * Nora Ricci – Gilda Bisigato * Alberto Lionello – Toni Gasparini * Olga Villi – Ippolita Gasparini *

Franco Fabrizi Franco Fabrizi (; 15 February 1916 – 18 October 1995) was an Italian actor. Life and career Son of a barber and a cinema cashier, Franco Fabrizi started his career as a model and an actor in fotoromanzi. Fabrizi also starred on several revu ...

– Lino Benedetti * Beba Lončar – Noemi Castellan *

Gigi Ballista Gigi Ballista (1 December 1918 – 2 August 1980) was an Italian film and television actor. He appeared in 60 films between 1961 and 1980. Life and career Born in Florence, Ballista graduated in Law, then he started working as a PR consulta ...

– Giacinto Castellan *

Carlo Bagno Carlo Bagno (21 March 1920 – 19 January 1990) was an Italian actor. Life and career Born in Lendinara, Rovigo, Bagno studied acting at the Accademia Nazionale di Arte Drammatica Silvio D'Amico, graduating in 1941. Bagno was mainly active on ...

– Bepi Cristofoletto *

Patrizia Valturri Patrizia is a feminine Italian given name meaning "noble". Notable people with the name include: * Patrizia (singer), Italian-Canadian dramatic coloratura soprano who performs operatic rock * Patrizia von Brandenstein (born 1943), American produ ...

– Alda Cristofoletto * Virgilio Gazzolo – Newspaper editor * Quinto Parmeggiani – Giovanni Soligo * Gia Sandri – Betty Soligo *

Moira Orfei Moira Orfei (; born Miranda Orfei; 21 December 1931 – 15 November 2015) was an Italian circus performer, actress and television personality of remote Romani origins. Moira was also considered the queen of the Italian circus, one stage name be ...

– Giorgia Casellato *

Virgilio Scapin Virgilio, the Italian and Spanish form of Virgil may refer to: *Virgilio, Lombardy, a ''frazione'' of the ''comune'' of Borgo Virgilio in the Italian province of Mantua *Virgilio.it, a website People with the given name *Virgilio Barco Vargas (192 ...

– Don Schiavon

References

External links

* *
Cannes profile
1966 films Italian black-and-white films Palme d'Or winners Commedia all'italiana 1960s sex comedy films 1960s Italian-language films Films shot in Veneto Films directed by Pietro Germi Films scored by Carlo Rustichelli Italian anthology films Films with screenplays by Luciano Vincenzoni Commedia sexy all'italiana Films set in Veneto 1966 comedy films 1960s Italian films {{erotic-comedy-film-stub