The Birds, the Bees and the Italians (1966)

February 10, 1966 (IT) • Comedy • 115m

Overview

An anthology presents three storylines, all set in the Italian town of Treviso: A husband pretends to be impotent as a cover for having an affair; a bank clerk abandons his wife for his mistress, but the rest of the town's husbands become jealous and unite to conspire against them; and local men all seduce a promiscuous young woman, but when her father eventually reveals that she is underage, they all face prosecution for statutory rape.

Director

Pietro Germi

Writers

Luciano Vincenzoni, Luciano Vincenzoni, Pietro Germi, Pietro Germi, Furio Scarpelli, Agenore Incrocci

Top Billed

Virna Lisi

Keywords

No keywords available for this title.

Where to watch

Check streaming options on TMDB

Top Billed Cast

Virna Lisi

Milena Zulian

Gastone Moschin

Osvaldo Bisigato

Nora Ricci

Gilda Bisigato

Alberto Lionello

Toni Gasparini

Olga Villi

Ippolita Gasparini

Beba Lončar

Noemi Castellan

Franco Fabrizi

Lino Benedetti

Gigi Ballista

Giacinto Castellan

Gia Sandri

Betty Scodeler

Quinto Parmeggiani

Giovanni Soligo

Moira Orfei

Giorgetta Casellato

Aldo Puglisi

Carabiniere Mancuso

Gustavo D'Arpe

Scarabello

Alberto Rabagliati

Galeazzo Casellato

Patrizia Valturri

Alda Cristofoletto

Carlo Bagno

Bepi Cristofoletto

Giulio Questi

Franco Zaccaria

Virgilio Scapin

Don Schiavon

Sergio Fincato

Lawyer Maschio

Stefano Satta Flores

Virgilio Gazzolo

Il giornalista Tosato

Elia Guiotto

Giuseppe "Bepi" Scodeller

Giancarlo Fontanieri

Crew

Pietro Germi

Director

Robert Haggiag

Producer

Luciano Vincenzoni

Story

Luciano Vincenzoni

Screenplay

Pietro Germi

Screenplay

Pietro Germi

Story

Andrea Fantacci

Set Decoration

Michael Haggiag

Second Assistant Director

Bruno Pasqualini

Gaffer

Carlo Egidi

Production Design

Luigi Lazzari

Set Decoration

Lino S. Haggiag

Delegated Producer

Vitaliana Patacca

Hairstylist

Guglielmo Maga

Key Grip

Luciano Luna

Production Assistant

Venanzio Biraschi

Sound

Pietro Germi

Producer

Luigi Urbini

Conductor

Gian Maria Ferretto

Second Assistant Director

Elio Polacchi

Camera Operator

Carlo Rustichelli

Original Music Composer

Renato Pieri

Administration

Angela Sammaciccia

Costume Design

Raffaele Cristini

Makeup Artist

Gianni Cecchin

Production Manager

Francesco Massaro

First Assistant Director

Vittorio Trentino

Sound

Giampiero Giunti

Assistant Editor

Fiorenzo Cerini

Production Assistant

Mirta Guarnaschelli

Script Supervisor

Luigi Giacosi

Production Coordinator

Luigi Barnardini

Assistant Camera

Enzo Lucarini

Accountant

Gianni Assenza

Still Photographer

Furio Scarpelli

Screenplay

Agenore Incrocci

Screenplay

Sergio Montanari

Editor

Aiace Parolin

Director of Photography

Reviews

CinemaSerf

⭐ 7/10

August 16, 2025

Who knew Treviso was the place to live, if you fancied a bit of good old-fashioned infidelity? The town is positively writhing in pudgy middle-aged gentlemen who drink excessively then routinely cheat on their wives and sweethearts. There are three inter-connected stories here that follow the licentious behaviour of these citizens. The first gent, “Gasparini” (Alberto Lionello) is married to the the somewhat imperious “Ippolita” (Olga Villi) and he has been claiming impotence to avoid fulfilling his conjugal duties. He confides this problem to his doctor “Castellan” (Gigi Ballista) only he doesn’t expand upon the fact that this is a feint not only to deter his wife, but also to distract the physician from his interest in that man’s wife “Noemi” (Beba Loncar). When “Castellan” goes blabbing about this to his café friends, though, he inadvertently plays into the hands of his rival and ends up with quite a bit of egg on his face. Meantime, henpecked bank clerk “Bisgato” (Gastone Moschin) is constantly being berated by his wife (Nora Ricci) for lacking in ambition and despite her frequent interventions is repeatedly told by his employers - relatives of “Ippolita” - that he’s paid what he’s worth. He’s a bit naive, is poor old “Bisgato” for he has fallen in love with “Milena” (Virna Lisi) and the thrust of the best comedic elements of the film come from this man’s determination to escape from what he sees as the martial yoke. Cheating is one thing, moving out - well that’s something altogether different. Then finally, we meet the young “Alda” (Patrizia Valturri) whose arrival on the scene sets the cat amongst these elderly pigeons even more. That is until her father (Carlo Bagno) declares that she is but a minor, and that the police are going to be investigating charges of statutory rape. Now these men are going to have to scream for help - but whom can they run to, though? There’s a great deal of music throughout this and for the most part it works well in helping to sustain the frenetic pace, the frantically delivered dialogue and the almost slapstick nature of these men”s behaviour, adventures and peccadilloes. Along the way, the storylines shine an humorous light on many of the stereotypical attitudes that prevailed amongst the permanently horny menfolk and amongst their equally stoic, and often quite relieved, spouses. Sex is never far from the plot, neither is jealousy nor pantomime and the dynamic between Moschin and Lisi, supported by the on-form Lionello and Ricci present us with a not so subtle evaluation of the hypocrisies of modern Italian suburban life where the Christian doctrines of marriage and respect are honoured much more in the breach than the observance. There are three distinctly separate episodes here, but by the last half hour they have all melded together into something that rarely comes up for breath, and that I quite enjoyed.

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Status

Released

Original Language

Budget

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Revenue

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The Birds, the Bees and the Italians (1966)

Luciano Vincenzoni, Luciano Vincenzoni, Pietro Germi, Pietro Germi, Furio Scarpelli, Agenore Incrocci

Where to watch

Top Billed Cast

Crew

Reviews

CinemaSerf

Status

Original Language

Budget

Revenue

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