Tre Passi Nel Delirio (episodio Toby Dammit)

Federico Fellini

T. alt.: Histoires extraordinaires. T. int.: Spirits of the Dead. Sog.: from the story of Non scommettere la testa col diavolo of Edgar Allan Poe. Scen.: Federico Fellini, Bernardino Zapponi. F.: Giuseppe Rotunno. M.: Ruggero Mastroianni. Scgf.: Piero Tosi. Mus.: Nino Rota. Int.: Terence Stamp, Salvo Randone, Antonia Pietrosi, Polidor, Milena Vukotic. Prod.: Les Films Marceau-Cocinor, P.E.A. Produzioni Europee Associate 35mm. D.: 48′. Col.

T. it.: Italian title. T. int.: International title. T. alt.: Alternative title. Sog.: Story. Scen.: Screenplay. F.: Cinematography. M.: Editing. Scgf.: Set Design. Mus.: Music. Int.: Cast. Prod.: Production Company. L.: Length. D.: Running Time. f/s: Frames per second. Bn.: Black e White. Col.: Color. Da: Print source

Film Notes

Fellini said that after Toby Dammit his films would never be the same again. After an uncertain Giulietta degli spiriti and the hilarious Dottor Antonio, Toby Dammit prepares for the end of a world in Satyricon, the theme of death in I clowns and the somber Casanova. The theme of death enters the films of Fellini violently (although he would never be able to complete the project about his own death, Mastorna) and, much more than Poe’s short story Never Bet the Devil Your Head, it has an absolute, non-dialectic visionary dimension which deals with the horror of the mutation of an entire society though the nightmare of the show business, of an alienating and extreme ‘society of the spectacle’. Toby Dammit is a film that marked a transition, a turning point, in its theme and its language. Fellini’s work cannot be analysed without taking it into account.

Goffredo Fofi