From 1905 the booming Italian economy encouraged a number of production companies to set up, notably in Rome (Cines) and Turin (Arturo Ambrosio Cie). So for Italian cinematographic production, the year 1910 and onwards was linked to a boom that would last up until 1918. During this period the Italian film industry was diversifying, and even if from a stylistic point of view it was marked by epics and historical films (filoni), comedy films were showcased during these years of major film production.

Of a humour that could be aggressive and disrespectful towards social institutions, law and order and moral standards in force, comedy film at the time of silent film had a practically subversive role:  it took a swipe at la bonne société by providing the most popular masses an outlet for social tension.  In Polidor vuol suicidarsi, the suicide condemned by Christian morality was made fun of and unleashed a series of gags. So, to accentuate the effect of mockery, Polidor took to spying on the intimacy of the inhabitants of the building he undertook to climb.  A peeping Tom in turn the spectator, party to this, can only mock this Bourgeois world that drives the hero to despair.

Trained at the school of circus Ferdinand Guillaume (1887-1977), the actor-film director of French origin, took on the role of Tontolini, a character that was the forerunner of Charlot, before becoming Polidor. Alongside him other burlesque characters like Fricot, Robinet and Cretinetti also made an appearance in Italian film and contributed to the success of the genre which reached the height of its success in 1912 exactly, the year when Polidor vuol suicidarsi was made.

Relegated to bit parts and even that of extras once speaking film arrived, Polidor performed increasingly on stage from 1920 by creating the Theatre of Laughter. In remembrance of the burlesque films where as a child he discovered Polidor at the cinema, Federico Fellini (1920-1993) made him his “mascot”. Thus the actor, omnipresent, played symbolic supporting roles in the films of Maestro including Nights of Cabiria in 1957 to Spirits of the Dead in 1968. Furthermore Ferdinand Guillaume directed nearly fifty short burlesque films for Italian cinema.

The original music for this film was composed by Pablo Pico in 2010 in the context of the call for proposals launched in partnership with the Sacem (Société des auteurs compositeurs et éditeurs de musique – Society of authors, composers and music editors).