oldgringo2001
I saw this movie in one of the grind houses that used to flourish between 5th and 7th Street on Market in San Francisco some time between 1969 and 1971. The version I saw was a full English Dub. Curtis did have a few good bits, but it also had some strange stuff like a young woman asking a saintly monk about her place in things and being told that like all women she has no soul. For all I know, the Italian dub might have entirely different dialog. I remember a laughably unconvincing "castle" somewhere in the Italian countryside (I presume). It's hard to believe Curtis had fallen so far since The Boston Strangler and (my favorite) The Great Race not that many years earlier.
MARIO GAUCI
Comic medieval romp which, as can be surmised from the title, concerns the battle of the sexes; not bad overall, but not sufficiently inspired either (despite willing performers and interesting credits – while an Italian production, the script was co-written by Larry Gelbart!).The film is generally entertaining, flavorful, even mildly saucy and, yet, emerges as a somewhat hit-or-miss affair – with at least as many flat spots as bright ones (the latter thanks largely to the delightful presence, in both senses of the word, of Monica Vitti…even though, in retrospect, her modern style of acting seems incongruous within this particular milieu!). The male lead is played by Tony Curtis – spoofing his own image in Hollywood films of this type (incidentally, I should be watching him presently in THE BLACK SHIELD OF FALWORTH [1954]). Also in the cast is Englishman John Richardson (a "Euro-Cult" regular during this era) as an errant knight who loses a contest with Vitti (disguised as one herself in an attempt to reach Curtis, currently engaged in Holy War) and thus sworn to undying loyalty…even if he's himself eventually revealed to be royalty operating incognito! Nino Castelnuovo appears as Curtis' jovial yet frustrated squire – since the latter is seen exercising his droit de seigneur with the ladies at every opportunity, leaving Castelnuovo "the leftovers"! Towards the end of the film, Hugh Griffith also pops in for an unremarkable bit as a Muslim who abducts both Curtis and Vitti to his palace – one to convert to Islam, the other to add to his harem.Buoyed by a lively Riz Ortolani score, this takes a light comedy approach to the subject matter wherein Curtis and Vitti's consummation of their relationship is continually thwarted – either by tradition, exigencies of State, or their own selfish pride. Even when the two have finally made up and are willing to honor their marital vows, they first lose the key to the chastity belt and, when eventually retrieved, discover that it has been exchanged with that belonging to the Empress herself!
B-Fuller
You are not the only person that remembers this film.I thought it was funny and better the Mel Brooks "Men in Tights" which had a similar theme. As I remember it Tony Curtis is a young knight who falls for a lovely young maiden that gives him a really hard time until she realises that he really does love her. One their wedding day this load turns up and orders him to come on the crusades with him. But he must not leave his new bride, who he has not even spent one night with, without protection. The blacksmith is commissioned to construct a "Chastity Belt" for the young lady. The funniest scene for me is Tony pretending to have found some him for the lady and as they cuddle Tony slips the fiendish device upon her and off he goes. I wish I could see it again as the last time was about 20 years ago.If anyone knows where a copy can be found with English then please post a note here.Thanks, Brian.
