Giovanni Boccaccio

Set against the background of the Black Death of 1348, Giovanni Boccaccio's undisputed masterpiece recaptures both the tragedies and comedies of medieval life and is surely one of the greatest achievements in the history of literature.

Pasolini's rendition of 8 of Boccaccio's tales. Includes lusty nuns who perform sexual "miracles," a cheating wife with a head for business, a dying con artist attempting a heavenly swindle, young lovers caught with their pants down, a servant who loses his head for love and a gullible farmer who tries to turn his wife into a mare.

A young servant fleeing from his master takes refuge at a convent full of emotionally unstable nuns in the Middle Ages. Introduced as a deaf blind man, he must fight to hold his cover as the nuns try to resist temptation.

"Four satires on morality, prudery, and hypocrisy. Monicelli's "Renzo e Luciana" is a frothy tale of young love and office politics in the big city. Fellini's notorious "Le tentazioni del dottor Antonio" features Ekberg as a busty model in a milk advertisement whose image begins to haunt an aging prude. Visconti's "Il Lavoro" stars Romy Schneider as a trophy wife enduring her husband's very public affairs, and De Sica's "La Riffa" raffles off a night...