Four for Foolery

Bambole, or "Dolls," is the playful sex comedy that scandalized the Vatican, provoked a near crisis over movie censorship in the Italian government, and brought grievous moments to scrumptious Gina Lollobrigida, who told a Roman judge that during her celebrated "nude" scene she was wearing a flesh-colored coverall. Pending the outcome of charges that Lollo and her codefendants may have perpetrated an immoral exhibition, movie exhibitors everywhere are itching to unreel the evidence. It consists of a four-part comedy, vaguely inspired by The Decameron, in which a quartet of beauties with little on their minds and less on their bodies wriggle through a keyhole-art film of widely varied quality:

>Lollobrigida, the outrageously accomplished predator of Monsignor Cupid, ensnares the staid nephew (Jean Sorel) of a churchman attending the Vatican Council in Rome. As a hotelkeeper who offers practically unlimited amenities, Gina tricks the gullible monsignor (Akim Tamiroff) into acting as her go-between, unwittingly goading the stalwart young innocent to her bed. How she does it is revealed by Director Mauro Bolognini with style, polish and cinematic fluidity.

> Virna Lisi adorns a wrong number entitled The Telephone Call by Director Dino Risi (The Easy Life). Swathed in slippery folderol, Virna lets her eager husband sweat while she warms up the wire with Mamma, discussing status, family problems, and the bikini-clad trollop who inhabits a terrace apartment across the way. Virna is still jabbering as her mate steals over to find out for himself whether a girl can really be as wicked as all that. And she can.

>Elke Sommer essays a predictable Treatise on Eugenics about a free-thinking Swedish miss who tours Rome seeking a perfect specimen of Latin manhood to sire an illegitimate child. In the end, of course, Elke must choose between her theories and the prospect of breeding urchins with her hired chauffeur, a sturdy but steady Neanderthal.

>Monica Vitti, brooding about fate in The Soup, mocks her own sullen beauty with surprising verve as an impoverished young wife yearning to rid herself of a wretched husband who slurps and belches at mealtime. She is "lucky enough to be hit by a car," and invests her meager insurance money in a series of hired killers, some dishonest, some amorous, none very efficient.

Not so surprisingly, Gina's Cupid is the pick of the lot. The other sexcerpts look to Boccaccio chiefly for borrowed glamour. Cupid, updated from an irreverent Decameron tale, retains the full flavor of its source, and suggests that the thing missing from most movies about sex is a master's touch.

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