Toto in Color
Toto in Color | |
---|---|
Directed by | Steno |
Written by | Steno Age & Scarpelli Totò |
Produced by | Giovanni Amati Dino De Laurentiis Carlo Ponti |
Starring | Totò |
Cinematography | Tonino Delli Colli |
Edited by | Mario Bonotti |
Music by | Felice Montagnini |
Distributed by | Filmauro Home Video |
Release date | 1952 |
Running time | 95 min |
Country | Italy |
Language | Italian |
Toto in Color (Italian: Totò a colori) is a 1952 Italian comedy film, the first Italian
Plot
Antonio Scannagatti is a penniless musician who lives with his sister's family in the small town of
The mayor of Caianello is organizing a celebration for the
The day of celebration turns out to be a failure: Pellecchia is frustrated in his attempts to give a speech from the balcony of the town hall as Scannagatti inadvertently prevents him by making the band play his works continuously, until the Italian-American leaves enraged. A day later Scannagatti attempts to collect his reward – the coveted recommendation – and joins Poldo and Poppy, who have left Caianello and are guests at a bizarre house party held by a rich heiress in Capri. There, the couple tricks him again by making him believe he has received an appointment with Tiscordi.
Scannagatti therefore takes a sleeping car train to Milan. After a night trip spent arguing with his bunk mate, the politician the Honourable Cosimo Trombetta, he finally arrives in Milan and meets Tiscordi in person due to a misunderstanding: he has been mistaken for a nurse able to give painless back injections to the editor, who has already fired numerous nurses. The misunderstanding leads to an altercation between the two.
Further complications arise when Scannagatti is intercepted by his Sicilian brother-in-law – whose money he has stolen for the trip to Milan – who threatens to kill him; to appease him, the maestro pretends to have obtained a contract and takes him to a musical performance, but of a
Cast
- Totò as Antonio Scannagatti
- Virgilio Riento as Tiburzio
- Mario Castellani as Cosimo Trombetta
- Luigi Pavese as Tiscordi
- Franca Valeri as Giulia Sofia
- Galeazzo Benti as Poldo of Roccarasata
- Isa Barzizza as Lady of the sleeping car
- Rosita Pisano as Antonio's sister
- Rocco D'Assunta as Sicilian brother-in-law
- Carlo Mazzarella as Giulia's fiancée
- Fulvia Franco as Poppy Winnipeg
- Lily Cerasoli as Patrizia
- Anna Vita as Existentialist
- Vittorio Caprioli as Stutterer tenor
- Bruno Corelli as Painter
- Idolo Tancredi as Joe Pellecchia
- Alberto Bonucci as Russian director
- Guglielmo Inglese as Gardener
Production
Totò in Color was essentially an anthology of Totò's most famous
The movie was shot with the Ferraniacolor system, which required extremely powerful lighting; this was especially painful for Totò – already suffering from long-term eye problems – and is credited for accelerating his loss of vision.[3][4]
"The Honourable Gentleman in the sleeping car" (Italian: "L'Onorevole in vagone letto") has been called Totò's most famous sketch.[3] It originated in 1947 and after years of performance it expanded until assuming its final iteration in Totò in Color.[3] It was inspired by a real encounter between Totò and Giulio Andreotti who by chance found themselves sharing the same sleeping car.[5] Film director Walter Veltroni considered it "perhaps the most sensational comedy sketch in the history of Italian cinema".[6]
Reception
Totò in Color is widely regarded as Totò's masterpiece.[7] Film critic Morando Morandini gave the film four stars out of five.[1]
The film has been chosen as one of the
References
- ^ ISBN 9788808227225.
- ^ a b "Ecco i cento film italiani da salvare". Corriere della Sera (in Italian). 28 February 2008. Retrieved 14 November 2020.
- ^ a b c d Goffreto Fofi (2004). "TOTÓ". Enciclopedia del Cinema (in Italian). Treccani.
- ^ "Il mondo in Ferraniacolor" on filmdoc.it
- ^ Natascia Festa (11 May 2013). "La figlia di Totò compie 80 anni e svela: "L'onorevole Trombetta? Era Andreotti"" (in Italian).
- ^ Totò a colori on Mymovies.it
- ISBN 978-1-84403-604-2
External links
- Toto in Color at IMDb