Tontolini ipnotizzato - 1910
ABOUT THE FILM : Tontolini ipnotizzato
Cineteca del FriuliTontolini and Hypnotism
Year: 1910
In the grip of various ills, Tontolini decides to consult Dr Patineau, celebrated for his singular methods. To recover his health, our hero must stare attentively at a goose quill until he plunges into a deep hypnotic sleep. Finally relieved of his symptoms, Tontolini is nevertheless still under the grip of the bewitching power of feathers, which henceforth block his way: first, those of poultry transported by a travelling peddler, then those, more fearful yet, decorating the downy attire of a spinster trying to meet a husband in a nearby park.
Before yielding the place to Polidor and adopting it as a stage name, Ferdinand Guillaume is first Tontolini.
Nationality: Italian
Actor: Ferdinand Guillaume
Length: 7' 28"
Genre: comedy
Sound: silent with soundtrack
Original elements: black & white
Producer: Cines
Composer: Fabien Cali
Original language: Italian
A BRIEF HISTORY : Tontolini ipnotizzato
The great international success of André Deed (1879-1940) in Turin gave rise in Italy to many imitators: the fashion of comedy being henceforth established, the production company Cines in Rome hired Ferdinand Guillaume (1887-1977), another French clown, to play the part of Tontolini. It was with Uno sbaglio di Tontolini (Tontolini's Mistake) that the actor, stemming from a famous circus dynasty, shot in 1910 the first comical adventure of a character who is precursor to Chaplin's beloved little tramp.
In Tontolini ipnotizzato (Tontolini and Hypnotism) the same year, Tontolini already displays a face imprinted with silliness which was to become the very symbol of his character. Reflection of his impassiveness vis-à-vis events, it's always afflicted with this expression that he aggravates the incidents of daily life to the point of transforming them into nightmares in the some one hundred films shot at a frantic pace in a little more than a year.
The Tontolini series entitled Ferdinand Guillaume to great and well-deserved popularity, for, in order to keep up the pace, Cines forced him to ceaselessly create and copy ideas. In addition to the hit series, the marionette Pinocchio, which he played in the film by Giulio Antamoro (1877-1945) enabled him nonetheless to catch his breath.
Thanks to his success at Cines, Ferdinand Guillaume did a brief stint at Milano Films in the role of Cocciutelli, but it's in 1912 that he became the unforgettable Polidor of Pasquali & C., a hero somewhat more frantic and aggressive than his predecessor, Tontolini.
Ferdinand Guillaume directed most of the films in which he was the hero: from Il clarino di Tontolini (Tontolini's Clarinet) in 1911 to I creatori dell' impossibile (The Creator of the Impossible) in 1922, he is the source of some fifty shorts.
The original music for this film was composed by Fabien Cali in 2011 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).
