totally totò a retrospective honoring italy’s comic genius october 17 - 31, 2000 photo: hawks and sparrows

Buy tickets online for this program! or see information about our box office sales here. program description Presented by the Film Society of Lincoln Center and Cinecittà Holding Totally Totò has been organized by the Film Society of Lincoln Center and Cinecittà Holding. Special thanks for Laura Caparotti, Paolo Pistolesi, Martin Stiglio, Gordon Poole and the Italian Cultural Institute of New York. Special thanks also to the De Curtis family for their generous support of the series. In the contentious, charged atmosphere of Italian cinema — in which political parties nominate candidates to run major film festivals — there is one thing on which the Left and the Right, the Communists and the Christian Democrats all agree: Totò is truly the King. Perhaps the greatest screen comedian since the glory days of Chaplin, Keaton and Lloyd, Antonio de Curtis, universally known as Totò, worked in dozens of films in a screen career that stretched over thirty years; he was wildly popular in Italy, where his films regularly attracted millions of spectators, and his films were exported broadly. What were the elements which made up Totò’s special artistry? To begin with, the Totò persona was distinctly regional — Neapolitan to be exact — and especially for Italian audiences there was the constant delight of Totò’s tongue-twisting invented words and phrases. As a performer, his comic timing was impeccable; his face, as inscrutable as Keaton’s, seemed capable of communicating simultaneously a range of emotions and intentions. Yet especially as his popularity reached record levels in the 1950s and 1960s, Totò also came to be seen as the symbol of an older notion of Italy, and the Italians, that didn’t seem to fit with the rapidly modernizing, rapidly industrializing country that grew up in the aftermath of World War II. Our present series can give no more than a taste of this major figure’s great body of work; let’s hope that Totally Totò can become a returning feature of our program in years to come. To see a CINECITTÀ WEB MOVIE-STORY dedicated to Totò' s movie ARE WE MEN OR CORPORALS? (SIAMO UOMINI O CAPORALI?) please see: http://www.cinecitta.com/cinerac/decurtis/eng/indexfilm.htm

poverty and nobility / miseria e nobilità are we men or are we corporals? / siamo uomini o caporali?

program: SAINT JOHN THE BAPTIST BEHEADED (SAN GIOVANNI DECOLLATO) 1940, Amleto Palmeri, 87m Originally set to be directed by neorealist screenwriter and ideologue Cesare Zavattini — who did collaborate on the screenplay — this was the first film in which Toto’s raw Neapolitan everyman persona was unleashed; throughout, there are prime examples of the tongue-twisting “Totò-isms” that would become a hallmark of the his later work. The plot concerns a porter whose excessive devotion to an image of Giovanni Battista (St. John the Baptist) arouses the ire of the local residents. There are star-crossed lovers, feuding families and crazed, near-surreal plate fight that’s a comic tour-de-force. Sat Oct 21: 4:30 THE PASSIONATE THIEF (RISATE DI GIOIA) 1960, Mario Monicelli, 106m The only film in which Totò acted with Anna Magnani — with whom he had worked in theater — THE PASSIONATE THIEF teams this extraordinary duo together with a very young Ben Gazzara. Times are always tough for Cinecittà extra Tortorella (Magnani), but especially at year's end, when there's simply no work. Hoping to improve her financial lot, she joins up with a fellow out-of-work actor (Gazzara) and a professional pickpocket (Totò) to fleece guests at a posh New Year's Eve party. Equal parts wacky humor and touching pathos, THE PASSIONATE THIEF features Totò in his clown bianco, or sad clown mode, whose presence always adds a hint of desperation to the action. Sat Oct 21: 8:30 Wed Oct 25: 3 & 7 TOTO CON MAN (TOTÒTRUFFA '62) 1961, Camillo Mastrocinque, 107m With Totò, Nino Taranto, Ernesto Calindri, Ugo D'Alessio, Lia Zoppelli, Renzo Palmer, Pietro De Vico, Luigi Pavese, Mario Castellani, Oreste Lionello. The film (screenplay by Castellano and Pipolo) is one long farce with disguises and high-comedy sketches. There is a classical scene where an Italo-American immigrant is swindled into buying the Trevi fountain in Rome. Wed Oct 18: 3 Thurs Oct 19: 4 & 9 Sun Oct 22: 4:30 POVERTY AND NOBILITY (MISERIA E NOBILITÀ) 1954, Mario Mattoli, 95m The second, and finest, of the screen adaptations made with Totò of the 19th-century writer of farce Eduardo Scarpetta, POVERTY AND NOBILITY offers a near-perfect cinematic vehicle for Totò's theatrical genius. The writer Felice (Totò) and the photographer Pasquale (Enzo Turco) live in poverty, constantly bickering as they attempt to ply their respective arts. Their friend Eugenio, son of the Marquis Ottavio, convinces the two to accompany him and pretend they are aristocrats when he goes to ask for the hand of his beloved Gemma (Sophia Loren). All the double crosses, mixed messages and startling coincidences are handled with exquisite comic timing, presided over by Totò as a kind of manic ringmaster. Thurs Oct 19: 2 Fri Oct 20: 3 & 7

big deal on madonna street / i soliti ignoti band of honest men / la banda degli onesti

ARE WE MEN OR CORPORALS? (SIAMO UOMINI O CAPORALI?) 1955, Camillo Mastrocinque, 94m Totò ends up in an insane asylum for assaulting the official in charge of extras at Cinecittà, after he's been refused a part. At the psychiatrist's office, he explains his philosophy of life: the world is divided between regular men, whose lot is to be frustrated and provoked, and the "corporals," whose nature it is to frustrate and to provoke. His worldview is illustrated by various misadventures performed in hilarious detail — a demonstration finally judged so convincing the psychiatrist declares that Totò must be seen. The film also features Totò in two musical numbers. Fri Oct 20: 1, 5 & 9 Sun Oct 22: 8:45 THE TWO COLONELS (I DUE COLONNELLI) 1963, Steno, 90m The Italians have a wonderful tradition of anti-war comedies — the best known perhaps being Monicelli's THE GREAT WAR, with Sordi; THE TWO COLONELS is another proud and hilarious example of this trend. Totò wanted a "big American actor" for his co-star, and he cast Walter Pidgeon, fresh from the success of ADVISE AND CONSENT. On the border between Greece and Albania, the control of a small town passes back and forth between the British and the Italians so often that a certain stability is maintained; the townspeople simply go about their business, and the two commanding officers, Totò and Pidgeon, enjoy cordial relations. But everything changes once Mussolini is removed and German troops arrive on the scene. Fri Oct 27: 1:30, 5:30 & 9:30 Sat Oct 28: 6 BIG DEAL ON MADONNA STREET (I SOLITI IGNOTI) 1958, Mario Monicelli, 100m While not properly a "Totò film" — he really only performs (as a favor to his good friend Monicelli) in one scene, in which he details how to blow up a safe — one needs little excuse to screen one of the greatest of all Italian comedies, an often-imitated but never-equaled account of a robbery which couldn't go more wrong. With Vittorio Gassman, Marcello Mastroianni, Claudia Cardinale, Renato Salvatori. Sat Oct 21: 6:20 Mon Oct 23: 1, 5 & 9 TOTÒ DIABOLICUS 1962, Steno, 96m The great international success of Clouzot's DIABOLIQUE led to a wave of mystery-thrillers in Italy and elsewhere — and provided the raw material for one of Totò's sharpest, best-loved comedies. A rich nobleman is assassinated, and the assassin leaves on the body a signature, "Diabolicus." The victim's heirs, four brothers and a sister (all played by Totò!) are immediately suspected, especially as only one of them, Monsignor Antonino, has an iron-clad alibi. But when all his siblings start to disappear, the police begin to think the Monsignor might be somehow involved. Tue Oct 17: 2:30 Wed Oct 18: 1 Sun Oct 22: 6:40 Thurs Oct 26: 1 & 5 Sat Oct 28: 4

totò and peppino divided in berlin / totò e pippino divisi a berlino

THE BAND OF HONEST MEN (LA BANDA DEGLI ONESTI) 1956, Camillo Mastrocinque, 90m Considered one of Totò's sharpest social critiques, THE BAND OF HONEST MEN is a scathing look at an Italy in which the race for wealth supercedes everything else. Before he dies, an engraver leaves all the necessary equipment for the counterfeiting of 10,000 lira notes to his doorman, Antonio (Totò). Together with his two friends, a typesetter and a drawing teacher, Antonio sets up his new business, only to discover that his products draw raised eyebrows at the local tobacconist. Then one day Antonio learns through his son that the police are on the lookout for a gang of counterfeiters. Mon Oct 23: 3 & 7 Tues Oct 24: 1 TOTO, FABRIZIO AND TODAY'S YOUNG FOLK (TOTÒ, FABRIZI E I GIOVANI D'OGGI) 1960, Mario Mattoli, 87m. With Totò, Alo Fabrizi, Rina Morelli, Luigi Pavese, Franca Marzi, Carlo Pisacane, Angela Luce, Oreste Lionello. A script (by Castellano and Pipolo) designed to let the two stars perform a series of exhilarating sketches. Wed Oct 25: 1, 5:10 & 9:15 TOTÒ AND PEPPINO DIVIDED IN BERLIN (TOTÒ E PEPPINO DIVISI A BERLINO) 1962, Giorgio Bianchi, 90m Who but Totò could come up with a send-up of the erection of the Berlin Wall mere months after its completion? Totò and Peppino are hired by some former Nazis to pretend to be Admiral Canarinis and his assistant — wanted Italian war criminals — but the American authorities don't believe them and deport them to East Berlin. There, they're captured by the Russians, who do believe them, and demand they reveal the whereabouts of American spy planes. In the always politically charged atmosphere of Italy, the film sparked controversy among Totò's admirers on both the Left and the Right. Thurs Oct 26: 3 Fri Oct 27: 3:30 & 7:30 TOTÒ VERSUS THE 4 (TOTÒ CONTRO I 4) 1963, Steno, 98m Essentially a series of sketches that reunited Totò with some of his favorite co-stars (Peppino De Filippo, Aldo Fabrizi, Nino Taranto, etc.), Totò here is Commissioner Saracino, a policeman whose everyday duties (such as taking testimony from a parrot) is interrupted when his brand-new car gets stolen. His investigation eventually leads him to a house where he finds a somewhat mysterious group in the process of filming a thriller. The plot machinations spin from here to absurdity, yet the great joy is watching Totò at the top of his comic powers. Tue Oct 17: 1 & 4:15 Sat Oct 28: 8 Sun Oct 29: 6:30 Mon Oct 30: 1 HAWKS AND SPARROWS (UCCELLACCI E UCCELLINI) 1966, Pier Paolo Pasolini, 91m Pasolini was a fervent admirer of Totò, whom he saw as the embodiment of a kind of southern Italian resistance to the modern, industrial face Italy sought to adopt in the postwar era. He was delighted when Totò agreed to work with him in HAWKS AND SPARROWS. After meeting a talking crow, Totò and Ninetto Davoli are transported back to the 12th century, where they become Franciscan monks and set out to convert all the birds to Christianity. One of the best-loved Italian films of the Sixties. Sat Oct 28: 10 Sun Oct 29: 8:30 TOTO, PEPPINO AND THE HUSSY (TOTÒ, PEPPINO...E LA MALAFEMMINA) 1956, Camillo Mastrocinque, 118m With Totò, Peppino De Filippo, Vittoria Crispo, Teddy Reno, Dorian Gray, Nino Manfredi, Mario Castellani. Inspired by the song Malafemmena written and composed by Totò, it is the first of several films where the names of Totò and Peppino are coupled together in the title. It is their masterpiece, a jewel of surrealistic comedy. Sun Oct 29: 4 Mon Oct 30: 3