An all-star cast featuring David Niven and Gina Lollobrigida anchors Skolimowski’s adaptation of the Vladimir Nabokov novel, which finds sexual tension and erotic triangles within that most taboo place: the bourgeois family. Into the home of his industrialist uncle and aunt bumbles an errant teenager (John Moulder-Brown, a year removed from Deep End), recently orphaned and ready to be adopted. Belying his Jerry Lewis-like dorkiness, our teenage protagonist quickly proves a quick learner, both in his uncle’s workplace and, more surprisingly, in his aunt’s boudoir. As Uncle David concerns himself with his mechanical shop dummies, Auntie Gina trains her idiot teen in more physical skills (“Do it again. We’ll do it until you get it right”), although her desires may mask other intentions. Quickly forgotten after its release, King Queen Knave now re-emerges as a delightful satire on the kinks of the well-mannered rich, and as a chance to see Niven and Lollobrigida at their comic best.

—Jason Sanders

• Written by David Seltzer, David Shaw, based on the novel by Vladimir Nabokov. Photographed by Charly Steinberger. With David Niven, Gina Lollobrigida, John Moulder-Brown, Mario Adorf. (94 mins, Color, 35mm, From Moving Image Archives, University of North Carolina School of the Arts)