THE SATYR AND THE SAINT

n Italian amusement, this teases and tickles along with the sophisticated cynicism of a latterday Boccaccio tale. Randolfo Urbani, the aging, well-practiced lover of over 2000 women absorbs himself in the unusual problem of his young screen-writer. Eduardo Virgili is a 28-year-old virgin who believes in the condition for unmarried men and women. He is in search of a beautiful virgin of the opposite sex. The two men share every detail of the ordeal. It not only weighs on Randolfo's mind, it weighs on his glands. No matter how many possibilities he nudges into Eduardo's line of restricted vision, the younger man always asks the unforgivable question and must take up his search yet again. When he found Marina, Eduardo could barely believe she was chaste. Whatever else the Roman bushes are full of, it isn't original types. She was 18 years old, lyrically beautiful and stupid to a degree. Even after marriage, doubts and tests are not finished. Eduardo's work suffers and Randolfo continues to suffer for his friend until both achieve the satisfaction of understanding. Swift to read and sunny with a Roman sort of truth, this is a bedtime story for very grownup children.