The Comic and Poetic Charm of Totò Bondì

The scope of this course is to study the various roles played by Italy’s greatest comedian: Totò, born Antonio Vincenzo Stefano Clemente on February 19, 1898 in a poor district of Naples, who went on to become a living legend. After many years on the stage Totò, in the late thirties made his debut in cinema and went on to make more than one hundred films. Unfortunately, for the most part, his earlier films were not well received by the critics who maintained that Totò’s real artistic dimension belonged only to the theater. Through a series of films made with Monicelli, Rossellini, Pier Paolo Pasolini and others, this course will bring to life Totò’s unsurpassable acting and his poetic cinematic interpretations.

Required texts: Totò, l'uomo e la maschera di Franca Faldini e Goffredo Fofi ed. L'ancora del Mediterraneo, 2000 Napoli ISBN 8884401151

Liliana de Curtis, Totò mio padre. Milano: Ed Rizzoli ISBN 88-04-33680-3.