Totó, o Gângster

Pepe Le Moko is dead, as you'd know if you ever saw a movie, and his gang in the Casbah sends for his only surviving relative to take over. It's Toto,

It's a gag-filled burlesque of the great movie, with Toto playing his dumb comic character for all it's worth, with two beautiful women - Gianna Maria Canale and Carla Carlo drooling over him in the backlot Casbah. He's a true clown, trained in the com media del arte, talking high-speed gibberish, and a thorough delight.

Antonio Griffo Focas Flavio Angelo Ducas Comneno De Curtis di Bisanzio Gagliardi Was born in Naples in 1898. He first appeared on the movie screen in 1937. His big hit I DUE ORFANELLI (1947) made him a star, and he ran through multiple movies every year, racking up more than a hundred appearances. His later performances were hobbled by increasing blindness. He retired in 1968, a year he appeared in two big-screen movies, although he had died the year before.

Although it was released in 1949,it was the eighties before this spoof on one of the most famous French movies of all time was shown in Julien Duvivier's country."Pepe Le Moko" was remade twice in the U.S...and once in Italy .I guess some of the jokes concerning the political situation of Italy at the time are lost on the FRench audience.My favorite part is the first when Toto does not know,has not got an idea of what his pals are expecting from him.It's less successful when he becomes a "true" gangster .The parody is sometimes marvelously precise,mainly in the first half ,and Gianna Maria Canale is ideally cast as the Femme Fatale.