#The six loves of casanova: from the diary he did not keep

[thebookofthefilm]

First published as The Six Loves Of Casanova: From The Diary He Did Not Keep, Paul Tabori's speculative account of the lives and loves of Italian adventurer Giacomo Casanova was hurriedly reissued by NEL in 1971 to tie in with Dennis Potter's BBC serial from that year. Note the truncated title, to fit the series name of simply Casanova, and the alteration of the subtitle to From The Diary He Might Have Kept. Despite the image of star Frank Finlay on the cover, there is no evidence to suggest Potter worked from Tabori's book, nor that he was even aware of it; his inspiration came from William R. Trask's twelve volume translation of Casanova's own memoirs - read on publication in 1966, when Potter was working as a literary critic for The Times - and a great deal of academic research. Despite some complaints from viewers over the sexual content of the series, and a scathing review by moral campaigner Mary Whitehouse, the six-part serial was a success and saw Finlay nominated for a best actor BAFTA the following year.