While over the last decade, North America cinema lovers have been enjoying high-quality imports of Italian genre cinema on Blu-ray (and even 4K UHD). Spaghetti Westerns, Giallo, horror, cops and even cannibals have been released. But those weren’t the only movies being created in the booming Italian cinema world. There were plenty of sex comedies. Although it seems that many of them mainly found distributors in Europe. There were a few sex comedies that arrived in America, but they seemed to be made by Fellini so it was less of a genre and more of “another Fellini film!” 8 1/2 would be one of them. The Magnificent Cuckold did play in New York City since there is a review in the NY Times. The review was for an art house debut in 1965 (a year after coming out in Rome) so it probably didn’t play normal movie house or outside large cities. It might not have escaped the Big Apple after getting a “mildly amusing” tagline by the critic. I don’t get how this guy wasn’t fully thrilled by Claudia Cardinale as a wife suspecting of cheating by her cheating husband.
Andrea Artusi (Ugo Tognazzi, Barbarella & La Cage aux Folles) seems to be living the good life in modern ’60s Italy. He owns a hat factory, his luxury villa is being built and he has a wonderful young wife in Maria (Claudia Cardinale, The Pink Panther & Once Upon A Time In The West). But he’s filled with anxiety since the hat business isn’t quite doing so well. Young men no longer find it fashionable to wear them around town. Who wants to cover up their groovy haircut with a fedora? His villa keeps hitting roadblocks with permits and contractors. And his wife? He starts to suspect she’s having an affair? Why would he think such a thing? Turns out that after a Hat industry dinner, Andre and Maria are invited back to the organization’s president’s house for late night drinks. Instead of following him, the couples trade off partners in the cars to give directions. Andre has an interesting and flirty ride with Christina (Michele Girardon, Hatari!). The president’s young wife seems to be hitting on him. When they get to their house, Andre and Christina find themselves somewhat alone in the kitchen. Their maid is sleeping in her room and Christina exposes her slumbering staff to Andre. Eventually this leads to the “not married to each other” couple arranging a tryst at a fancy hotel. She seems to have a routine on how to pull off the discreet hook up as she’s in the spa and he gets the room. This happens a few times. But then one night when Andre returns home late, he discovers Maria has not come home yet. He finds a brochure for the hotel next to her vanity. This leads to hot fantasies that she’s having an affair too. Except in his dreams, she’s screwing every guy in the city. None of them are wearing hats! Is Andre going to truly screw up his life with his paranoia, jealousy and cheating ways?
On paper, the idea of a husband being tempted to cheat on Claudia Cardinale seems absurd. She is the woman you dump your wife and kids for. On film, Michele Girardon cranks up the temptation. She emits a thrill seeker charm when she lets Andre know that she’s down for a fling. There’s also a bit of danger that he’s screwing the head of the organization’s wife. He can’t resist taking off his hat for her. Andre screwing around on Claudia Cardinale is believable at 24 frames per second.
There’s also quite a bit of comedy as the husband comes up with stupid ways to “catch” his wife having affairs. Claudia Cardinale is the perfect straight wife as she keeps catching him mid-scheme. Director Antonio Pietrangeli injects the right level of humor so this doesn’t end up a Lifetime cheating husband movie.
I do wonder if Stanley Kubrick enjoyed The Magnificent Cuckold more than the New York Times critic. There are parts of this film that remind me of Eyes Wide Shut which was also about a guy worrying that his wife is cheating on him while he ends up at a kinky swinger party. Tom Cruise imagining Nicole Kidman fooling around on him has elements of Andre’s fantasies about what his wife is doing when he’s not around. Although Claudia Cardinale’s seductive dance in the bedroom to the hungry eyes of a dozen men in formal dress is more than what Nicole Kidman did. The Magnificent Cuckold is magnificent and amusing after all these years.
Radiance Films has done a great job of reviving several of Claudia Cardinale’s movies including The Facts Of Murder, Girl With A Suitcase and The Day of The Owl. The Magnificent Cuckold adds to her cinematic legacy as it receives a glorious presentation in America.
The Video is 1.85:1 anamorphic. The 4K restoration makes the black and white look so sharp. You’ll see all the alluring charms of Claudia Cardinale. The Audio is Italian LPCM 1.0 mono. You’ll hear the rocking theme song clearly. The movie is subtitled in English.
Richard Dyer (42:37) gets into how the film reflects a modernizing Italy after the damages of World War II. Turns out the movie is based off a successful play of the same title. The movie isn’t a direct adaptation though. There are clips of the posters that have Claudia Cardinale looking very seductive.
Remi Fournier Lanzoni (17:33) is a visual essay by the cinema professor about the film. He talks about the director’s background. There is talk about how the men in the film gaze at Claudia Cardinale.
Color Sequence (2:28) has a recut of the husband’s dream with the scene tinted in rather pop and artsy ways. This was part of a shorter cut put out in the early ’70s. There is the context of how the cities of Italy expanded when the country shifted from agriculture to modern factories.
Illustrated Booklet has an essay by Phuong Le.
Radiance Films present The Magnificent Cuckold: Limited Edition. Directed by Antonio Pietrangeli. Screenplay by Diego Fabbri and Ruggero Maccari. Starring Claudia Cardinale, Ugo Tognazzi, Bernard Blier, Michèle Girardon and Paul Guers. Running Time: 125 minutes. Rating: Unrated. Release Date: September 1, 2026.