Wife for a Night

Last updated
Wife for a Night
Wife For a Night.jpg
Belgian poster
Directed by Mario Camerini
Written byMario Camerini
Franco Brusati
Paolo Levi
Based onThe Dazzling Hour by Anna Bonacci
Produced by Angelo Rizzoli
Starring Gina Lollobrigida
Gino Cervi
Nadia Gray
Paolo Stoppa
CinematographyAldo Giordani
Edited byMario Camerini
Adriana Novelli
Music by Alessandro Cicognini
Production
companies
Mambretti Film
Rizzoli Film
Distributed byCineriz
Release date
12 July 1952
Running time
86 minutes
CountryItaly
Language Italian

Wife for a Night (Italian: Moglie per una notte) is a 1952 Italian historical comedy film directed by Mario Camerini and starring Gina Lollobrigida, Gino Cervi and Nadia Gray. It was based on the play The Dazzling Hour by Anna Bonacci [1] [2] which was later updated for the Billy Wilder film Kiss Me, Stupid . The film's sets were designed by the art director Flavio Mogherini. Location shooting took place around Parma.

Contents

Plot

The late nineteenth century: Count d'Origo, a notorious roué, spots an attractive woman. Hoping to seduce her, he attempts to find out who she is. In fact she is Geraldine, a practiced courtesan. However, the local mayor tells the Count that she is Ottavia, the wife of his nephew, Enrico, a struggling young musician. Enrico is hoping to stage his newly completed opera. With the Count's support he will get the backing he needs. His uncle hopes to help Enrico by employing Geraldine to impersonate Ottavia, so she can be "seduced". Before she submits, Geraldine will extract a promise from the Count to stage her "husband"'s opera. Geraldine, Ottavia and Enrico agree to go along with the plot. However, as Enrico introduces Geraldine to the eager Count he becomes increasingly jealous as the Count moves in. Eventually he forces the Count to leave after becoming angered by his advances. Charmed by his protectiveness, Geraldine asks him to pretend she is really his wife for one night, so that she can live her dream of having a normal life with a devoted husband.

Meanwhile, the real Ottavia has been staying at Geraldine's home, where she becomes intrigued by the courtesan lifestyle. She is coached in skills of flirtation by Geraldine's maid. Pretending to be Geraldine, she entertains two buffoonish suitors. Sexually frustrated, the Count learns about the courtesan Geraldine and visits her home. He is entranced by Ottavia. When she learns that her husband threw the Count out to be alone with Geraldine, she swears she will revenge herself on him. The maid persuades her to force the Count to agree to put the opera on; she will get her revenge by making her husband both jealous and indebted to her. Ottavia pretends to offer herself to the Count, but keeps delaying, playing music from the opera on the piano. She refuses to go to bed with him until he agrees to get it performed. Eventually he gives in. As he tries to kiss her, looking forward to a night of passion, Ottavia pretends to faint. The Count is forced to sit up with her for the rest of the night while she "recovers".

Some months later the opera is performed to great acclaim. The principal characters meet once again in their true identities.

Cast

Related Research Articles

<i>A Little Night Music</i> 1973 musical

A Little Night Music is a musical with music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim and book by Hugh Wheeler. Inspired by the 1955 Ingmar Bergman film Smiles of a Summer Night, it involves the romantic lives of several couples. Its title is a literal English translation of the German name for Mozart's Serenade No. 13, K. 525, Eine kleine Nachtmusik. The musical includes the popular song "Send In the Clowns", written for Glynis Johns.

<i>Die Fledermaus</i> Comic operetta in three acts by Johann Strauss II

Die Fledermaus is an operetta composed by Johann Strauss II to a German libretto by Karl Haffner and Richard Genée, which premiered in 1874.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gina Lollobrigida</span> Italian actress (1927–2023)

Luigia "Gina" LollobrigidaOMRI was an Italian actress, model, photojournalist, artist and politician. She was one of the highest-profile European actresses of the 1950s and 1960s, a period in which she was an international sex symbol. She was among the last surviving high-profile international actors from the Golden Age of Hollywood cinema.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gino Cervi</span> Italian actor

Luigi Cervi, better known as Gino Cervi, was an Italian actor. He was best known for portraying Peppone in a series of comedies based on the character Don Camillo (1952–1965), and police detective Jules Maigret on the television series Le inchieste del commissario Maigret (1964–1972).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Esmeralda (The Hunchback of Notre-Dame)</span> Fictional character from Victor Hugos The Hunchback of Notre Dame

Esmeralda, born Agnès, is a fictional character in Victor Hugo's 1831 novel The Hunchback of Notre-Dame. She is a French Roma girl. She constantly attracts men with her seductive dances, and is rarely seen without her clever goat Djali. She is around 16 years old and has a kind and generous heart.

A Mad World, My Masters is a Jacobean stage play written by Thomas Middleton, a comedy first performed around 1605 and first published in 1608. The title had been used by a pamphleteer, Nicholas Breton, in 1603, and was later the origin for the title of Stanley Kramer's 1963 film, It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mario Soldati</span> Italian writer

Mario Soldati was an Italian writer and film director. In 1954 he won the Strega Prize for Lettere da Capri. He directed several works adapted from novels, and worked with leading Italian actresses, such as Sophia Loren and Gina Lollobrigida.

<i>Casanova 70</i> 1965 Italian film

Casanova 70 is a 1965 Italian comedy film produced by Carlo Ponti, directed by Mario Monicelli and starring Marcello Mastroianni, Virna Lisi, Enrico Maria Salerno and Michèle Mercier.

<i>Il Boom</i> 1963 Italian film

Il Boom is a 1963 commedia all'italiana film by Italian director Vittorio De Sica.

<i>The Lady Without Camelias</i> 1953 film by Michelangelo Antonioni

The Lady Without Camelias is a 1953 Italian black-and-white drama film directed by Michelangelo Antonioni and starring Lucia Bosé, Gino Cervi, and Andrea Checchi. Based on a story by Antonioni, the film is about a new starlet who is discovered and her experiences in Italian films. The film has been called "Antonioni's most unjustly neglected fiction feature." Filmed on location in Rome and Venice, The Lady Without Camelias was released on 27 February 1953 in Italy.

<i>Pagliacci</i> (1948 film) 1948 Italian film

Love of a Clown, or Pagliacci, is a 1948 Italian film based on Ruggero Leoncavallo's opera Pagliacci, directed by Mario Costa. The film stars Tito Gobbi and Gina Lollobrigida. It recounts the tragedy of Canio, the lead clown in a commedia dell'arte troupe, his wife Nedda, and her lover, Silvio. When Nedda spurns the advances of Tonio, another player in the troupe, he tells Canio about Nedda's betrayal. In a jealous rage Canio murders both Nedda and Silvio. The only actor in the cast who also sang his role was the celebrated Italian baritone, Tito Gobbi, but the film is largely very faithful to its source material, presenting the opera nearly complete.

<i>Cameriera bella presenza offresi...</i> 1951 Italian film

Cameriera bella presenza offresi... (Housemaid) is a 1951 Italian film directed by Giorgio Pastina. Federico Fellini was one of its scriptwriters. The film marked the comeback of Elsa Merlini after a nine years hiatus.

<i>Beauties of the Night</i> (1952 film) 1952 film by René Clair

Les Belles de nuit is a 1952 French language motion picture fantasy directed and written by René Clair who co-produced with Angelo Rizzoli. The film stars Gérard Philipe, Martine Carol, Gina Lollobrigida and Magali Vendeuil. It was nominated the Venice Film Festival for Golden Lion.

<i>The Cliff of Sin</i> 1950 film

The Cliff of Sin is a 1950 Italian melodrama film directed by Roberto Bianchi Montero and starring Gino Cervi, Margarete Genske and Delia Scala.

<i>In Olden Days</i> 1952 film

In Olden Days is a 1952 Italian comedy drama anthology film directed by Alessandro Blasetti and featuring an ensemble cast that included Gina Lollobrigida, Amedeo Nazzari, Vittorio De Sica, Elisa Cegani, Barbara Florian, Aldo Fabrizi, Andrea Checchi and Alba Arnova. It was shot at the Cinecittà Studios in Rome. The film's sets were designed by the art directors Dario Cecchi and Veniero Colasanti. It is also known as Times Gone By and Infidelity.

<i>The Amorous Adventures of Moll Flanders</i> 1965 film by Terence Young

The Amorous Adventures of Moll Flanders is a 1965 British historical comedy film directed by Terence Young and starring Kim Novak, Richard Johnson, and Angela Lansbury. It is based on the 1722 novel Moll Flanders by Daniel Defoe.

<i>Crossed Swords</i> (1954 film) 1954 film by Milton Krims

Crossed Swords or The Teacher of Don Juan is a 1954 historical swashbuckling adventure film directed by Milton Krims and starring Errol Flynn, Gina Lollobrigida and Nadia Gray. It was co-production between Italy and the United States. It was shot at the Cinecittà Studios in Rome. The film's sets were designed by the art director Arrigo Equini.

<i>Beautiful but Dangerous</i> 1955 Italian film

Beautiful But Dangerous is a 1956 French-Italian comedy drama romance film directed by Robert Z. Leonard. The picture is a biopic about Italian opera soprano Lina Cavalieri. The film was a co-production between Italy and France. For this film Gina Lollobrigida was awarded a David di Donatello for Best Actress.

<i>My Widow and I</i> 1945 film

My Widow and I is a 1945 Italian comedy film directed by Carlo Ludovico Bragaglia and starring Vittorio De Sica, Isa Miranda and Gino Cervi.

<i>Cardinal Lambertini</i> (1954 film) 1954 film

Cardinal Lambertini is a 1954 Italian historical comedy film directed by Giorgio Pastina and starring Gino Cervi, Nadia Gray and Arnoldo Foà. It is an adaptation of Alfredo Testoni's 1905 play Cardinal Lambertini, which had previously been turned into a 1934 film adaptation.

References

  1. Cavallaro p.141
  2. Deleyto p.93

Bibliography