Casanova's Big Night

Norman Z. McLeod’s 1954 film is a straight parody of the swashbuckling historical adventure. Bob Hope plays Pippo Popolino, a cowardly tailor’s apprentice in the Italy of 1757 who passes himself off as the great Casanova in order to court the widow Francesca. The real Casanova’s creditors are desperate enough to lock him into the role, and he is dispatched to Venice on an errand well beyond anything he can manage. Joan Fontaine plays the widow and Basil Rathbone the scheming valet, with John Carradine, Lon Chaney Jr. and Raymond Burr also in the cast. Vincent Price turns up briefly as the real Casanova, which is the joke the whole film has been saving.