The Nights of Lucretia Borgia | |
---|---|
Directed by | Sergio Grieco |
Written by | Carlo Caiano Sergio Grieco |
Starring | Belinda Lee Jacques Sernas |
Production companies | Fidès, Musa |
Distributed by | Eroc (UK) |
Release dates |
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Running time | 113 mins (Italy) 92 mins (UK) |
Countries | Italy France |
Language | Italian |
The Nights of Lucretia Borgia is a 1959 Italian historical drama film. It was also known as Le notti di Lucrezia Borgia and Nights of Temptation. [1] It was one of a series of sexually aggressive characters Belinda Lee played in European movies. [2]
Diana d'Alva is part of a family who are leading a conspiracy against the Borgias in medieval Italy. She is rescued from being attacked by Federico, a virtuous nobleman from an impoverished family.
Federico goes to serve Cesare Borgia. Cesare's sister Lucrezia Borgia desires Federico, but he is in love with Diana. Lucrezia's former lover, Astorre, is jealous of Frederico.
Frederico rescues Diana from the Borgias and kills Atorre in a duel.
It was Belinda Lee's first movie after her contract with Rank ended. Filming ended by February 1959. [3]
Jacques Sernas later made The Loves of Salammbo for the same director
The Monthly Film Bulletin said the film had "sumptuous sets and costumes, an almost unbroken flow of sword and bodour play and the somewhat mechanical athleticism of its Fairbanks hero (Jacques Seras) all fail to lend this period confection the right kind of robust self-assertion. Since the scenes of eroticism and flagellation constituting the film's actual basic appeal have all been pared away, little remain to divert the undemanding but some memorably inappropriate dubbing and Belinda Lee's uninhibited resolve to come to grips with Lucrezia's villainy." [4]
The film was released in the US in 1960. The Los Angeles Times said "Miss Belinda Lee proves that no really bad girl is Lucretia Borgia - just look out, though, for what she pourgia." [5]
The New York Times said "Miss Lee, in a Veronica Lake hairdo, studiously imitates Mae West, but her elementary activities in the field of orgies will disappoint any former serviceman who caught Martine Carol's uncensored Lucretia overseas in one of the most popular tourist attractions ever filmed in France." [6]
The San Francisco Examiner called it "a sort of solo Musketeer show. The more surprising thing about it is the grandiose score." [7]
Cesare Borgia was an Italian cardinal and condottiero, an illegitimate son of Pope Alexander VI and member of the Spanish-Aragonese House of Borgia. His fight for power was a major inspiration for The Prince by Niccolò Machiavelli.
Lucrezia Borgia was an Italian noblewoman of the House of Borgia who was the illegitimate daughter of Pope Alexander VI and Vannozza dei Cattanei. She reigned as the governor of Spoleto, in her own right, a position usually held by Cardinals.
Giovanna "Vannozza" (dei) Cattanei was an Italian woman who was the chief mistress of Cardinal Rodrigo de Borgia, later to become Pope Alexander VI.
Belinda Lee was an English actress.
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The Secret Nights of Lucrezia Borgia is a 1982 Italian-Spanish historical film directed by Roberto Bianchi Montero and starring Sirpa Lane, George Hilton and Willey Reynolds.
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