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Released by: One 7 Movies
Released on: May 6th, 2013.
Director: Mario Caiano
Cast: Rosalba Neri, Christa Linder, Peter Landers, Toni Ucci, Orchidea de Santis
Year: 1972
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The Movie:
Known until now as The Sexbury Tales (or in Italy as I racconti di Viterbury - Le pií¹ allegre storie del '300 - which is the title card used on the transfer for this DVD release), Mario Caiano's The Real Decameron (retitled to sound even more like a Pasolini movie?) is a nicely shot but seemingly cheaply made knock off likely made quick to cash in on the success of Pasolini's famous picture. It'll likely be of interest to readers of this site primarily for one reason, and that's the involvement of the lovely Rosalba Neri, but if that's the reason you're wanting to plunk down your hard earned money for this one, let it be stated that she really isn't in it all that much.
The movie is made up of a few vignettes that center on a collective of working girls, members of the world's oldest profession. As they hang around outside and do laundry they start telling sexy stories to one another. The first story follows a young man named Antonio (Gianni Ottaviani) who is told that a local woman named Madonna Brenda (Linda Sini) whose daughter Alice (Orchidea de Santis), fresh out of a convent, would make good marriage material. Before you know it, the young couple is out to get hitched but Antonio is not allowed to see his fiancé's face until after they've wed - she keeps it hidden with a veil. You can see where this is going…
Later we meet a girl named Tonia and her overprotective father who won't let her boyfriend, Menico (Fausto Di Bella), anywhere near her. When he gets in the mood and she wants some too, he dressed up as a scarecrow to keep the old man's eyes off of them. From here on out he tries a few other bizarre methods to get access to Tonia, but the old man seems to have a knack for spoiling their fun.
From there, a newlywed couple made up of Bona (Rosalba Neri) and her husband call in an exorcist (Peter Landers) to deal with a strange ghost that is haunting them. The exorcist, however, seems more interested in exploring her in search of the mark of the beast than in actually trying to get rid of whatever evil spirit might be causing these problems for them in the first place.
After that, Flora (Christa Linder) has an unfortunate accident while skinny dipping with some friends in which an uninvited sea creature makes its way into a place no one in their right mind would ever want to find a sea creature. Last but not least a poor man named Niccolo is upset that his wife won't sleep with him because she's plagued by strange nightmares before a dying woman gives her death bed confession to a priest.
It's all very silly, rather unfunny for the most part, but stylishly shot and the ladies on display are frequently gorgeous. The cinematography is nice as are the locations and costumes used in the picture - but pacing wise… this one is a bit of a slog to get through and will likely be of interest only to those out to check out the most obscure offerings in the various filmographies of those who got suckered into working on this turkey in the first place.
Video/Audio/Extras:
The Real Decameron debuts on DVD in North America framed at 1.85.1 anamorphic widescreen in a transfer that looks like it was sourced from a print without any restoration. As such, print damage is definitely a constant though this is, at least, always watchable. Colors are sometimes more faded than others and black levels are all over the place but the framing looks good. Again, it's watchable, but far from a great video presentation.
The Italian language Dolby Digital Mono track is on par with the video. Expect some hiss, some scratchiness here and there, and some occasionally bizarre subtitle quirks. There are no alternate language options provided and it's doubtful any exist.
Extras? No, just a static menu offering chapter selection, that's it.
The Final Word:
The Real Decameron isn't very good but it offers up enough naked ladies that some will find reason enough to want to check it out. The DVD from One 7 Movies is passable enough but won't blow anyone away with its quality. This is a pretty obscure picture and fans of Italian sex comedies may be quite happy to finally have a decent English friendly version, but go into this one with tempered expectations…
