Boccaccio '70

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We here at Variety Photoplays headquarters were saddened to learn of the passing of Anita Ekberg - and even more saddened to observe that so few people seemed to even remember who she was.  But apparently the people at Mubi share our kind regard for the Swedish bombshell: in honor of her passing, they have restored my absolute favorite of her performances: The Temptation of Dr. Antonio.

Boccaccio '70

If you haven't seen "The Temptation of Dr. Antonio"  - and pretty much no-one has, because Boccaccio '70 doesn't seem to be available online anywhere in an English translation - you're missing something truly special. While the other entries into Boccaccio '70 seem dated (seriously, you can just fast forward through the vaudevillian camp of various guys ogling Sophia Loren's bazooms in the piazza), Anita Ekberg's playful turn as a billboard sex symbol come to life feels positively Third Wave. 

Here's a quick summary, cribbed from "The Judgement of Paris":

"The film introduces us to the eponymous Dr. Antonio, an unmarried, middle-aged moralist who has devoted his life to leading a crusade against the incursion of any form of prurience in an unnamed Italian metropolis. His mission confronts its greatest challenge when a new billboard appears in the centre of town, right outside his fourth-floor apartment.


The ad, which is nominally a dairy-industry promotion ("Drink More Milk" reads the text above the billboard), shows Anita Ekberg reclining on a plush sofa, like a Titian Venus.

And from the moment that the billboard is unveiled, Dr. Antonio begins a crusade against it--imploring everyone, from the Church, to town politicians, to the builders who assemble it, to take it down.

But the trouble is that no one can understand precisely what Dr. Antonio finds so objectionable about the image.

Undaunted, the doctor rails against the billboard, claiming that it will turn the city into a new "Babylon," or "Sodom and Gomorrah." And indeed, revelers do begin to assemble in the field around it. But their saturnalia is of a very G-rated variety. Instead of "debauchery," the billboard attracts balloon vendors, cotton-candy sellers, and a Punch-and-Judy show. 


Nevertheless, Dr. Antonio continues to denounce the poster in the most hyperbolic terms imaginable.

...
But then, one evening, while his church group is assembled at his home, he receives a visitation from the decried goddess.... "

 As the embodiment of the powerful feminine, you could really do worse than a gigantic Anita Ekberg. Larger than life in every respect, the giant sex symbol steps down from her billboard and chases Dr. Antonio around town like the 50 foot woman. She revels in her own beauty and sexuality, and tries everything to befriend Dr. Antonio, who- for reasons nobody quite understands - fears and hates her.  Sound familiar to anyone? I won't give away more of the movie, but seriously: somebody needs to let Jezebel know about Anita.

Boccaccio '70 is available to Mubi subscribers ($4.99/month). https://mubi.com/films/boccaccio-70