Wednesday, November 5, 2008

TOTO' ALL' INFERNO - Pippo Barzizza - "Totò In Hell" (1954)

Italian actor and comedian Antonio Griffo Focas Flavio Ducas Comneno Porfirogenito Gagliardi De Curtis of Byzantium, His Imperial Highness, Palatine Count, Kinght of the Holy Roman Empire, Exarch of Ravenna, Duke of Macedonia and Illyria, Prince of Constantinople, Cilicia, Thessaly, Ponte of Moldavia, Dardania, Peloponnesus, Count of Cyprus and Epirus, Count and Duke of Drivasto and Durazzo, and,or, aka, Totò, for short was arguably Italy's biggest box office attraction of all time and is still to this day almost a saint to many people, as someone like Elvis is, in the U.S. Yes, he was that popular!!!Totò had puppet-like features and a tendency to lean toward the more risque side of the comedy genre, which got him into quite a bit of trouble with the authorities at times!!

I think you get the idea!!!

Then, this guy comes on and sings this incredible song, & I already spent too much time trying to figure out who he is, and my Italian ain't that great!!!

It's almost impossible to explain how indifferent the crowd is to the whole scene!

Let's just say, he gets a sitting ovation before Totò comes out dressed up in a standup bass outfit!!

Totò made over a 100 movies, many with his name in the title, that found him in a number of different odd circumstances, and in this particular film, he ended up in Hell!! When he really died in 1967 at the age of 69, the rubber-faced comic, poet and songwriter was so popular, they had to have three separate funerals!

The terrific score by Pippo Barzizza is swingin' hard and also sounds like some of the best 50's cartoon music you've never heard with liberal use of the swizzle stick! So, here you go, bask in the glory of the genius of the man known as Totò and all his friends in Hell!!!!

2 comments:

Merceria Barbagli said...

This is a translations of the songs:

When i was died
by that funereal lake
a boat bring home an heap of bones
yust an heap of bones
instead in a grave..I put them in a chest of drawers..

In that drawers the skeleton sang
that song i could never forget..

Crossed bones
danger of death
good fortune inspiring terror.

Friday seventeen..

(laugh)

We are existentialists
you see it at the first sight
We are always sad
at all costs
playing double- bass

(excuse me?)

We are always think about Proust
smoke without a fire!

Of course the funniest side is lost in translation..Toto was great, or better IS great, in his movies he improvised nearly all the cues,so the other actors got mad to stay at his step, you can figure out this in lots of movie and its a great fun.
Thanks for post it! You are doing a very good job here, dont give up!
Ciao! From Italy..

Eegah!! and Tabonga! said...

Now that my friends, is a comment!!! Grazie mille Merceria! Now we can sing along!!!

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