''Toto, Peppino, and the Hussy'' (originally ''Totò, Peppino e la... malafemmina'') is an Italian

comedy film The comedy film is a film genre that emphasizes humor. These films are designed to amuse audiences and make them laugh. Films in this genre typically have a happy ending, with dark comedy being an exception to this rule. Comedy is one of the o ...

directed by

Camillo Mastrocinque Camillo Mastrocinque (11 May 1901 – 23 April 1969) was an Italian film director and screenwriter. He directed more than 60 films between 1937 and 1968, and is known to horror film fans for directing ''Terror in the Crypt'' (1964) starring ...

in 1956. It stars the

comedy duo A double act (also known as a comedy duo) is a form of comedy originating in the British music hall tradition, and American vaudeville, in which two comedians perform together as a single act, often highlighting differences in their characters' ...

Totò Antonio Griffo Focas Flavio Angelo Ducas Comneno Porfirogenito Gagliardi De Curtis di Bisanzio (15 February 1898 – 15 April 1967), best known by his stage name Totò (), or simply as Antonio de Curtis, and nicknamed ''il principe della risat ...

and

Peppino De Filippo Giuseppe "Peppino" De Filippo (24 August 1903 – 27 January 1980) was an Italian actor. De Filippo was born in Naples, brother of actor and dramatist Eduardo De Filippo and of Titina De Filippo. He made his stage debut at the age of six. ...

. The film also stars the popular singer

Teddy Reno Ferruccio Merk Ricordi (born 11 July 1926), known professionally as Teddy Reno, is an Italian retired singer, songwriter, actor and record producer. Life and career Born in Trieste, Reno made his debut on Radio Trieste during the Anglo-American ...

, and features Reno singing some of his songs as well as '' Malafemmena'', Totò's most famous work as a songwriter. It was the top-grossing movie of the year in Italy with a 1,751,000,000

Italian lire The lira ( , ; : lire, , ) was the currency of Italy between 1861 and 2002. It was introduced by the Napoleonic Kingdom of Italy in 1807 at par with the French franc, and was subsequently adopted by the different states that would eventually fo ...

revenue (about 40 million Euro in 2009).Italian national network page about the movie
in Italian

Plot

The brothers Antonio (Totò) and Peppino (Peppino De Filippo) Caponi are boorish landowners living in southern Italy. Antonio is lavish and steals his stingy brother's money. Gianni (Teddy Reno), their sister Lucia ( Vittoria Crispo)'s son, is studying medicine in

Naples Naples ( ; ; ) is the Regions of Italy, regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 908,082 within the city's administrative limits as of 2025, while its Metropolitan City of N ...

, when he falls in love with Marisa (

Dorian Gray ''The Picture of Dorian Gray'' is an 1890 philosophical fiction and Gothic horror novel by Irish writer Oscar Wilde. A shorter novella-length version was published in the July 1890 issue of the American periodical ''Lippincott's Monthly M ...

), a revue dancer, and follows her to

Milan Milan ( , , ; ) is a city in northern Italy, regional capital of Lombardy, the largest city in Italy by urban area and the List of cities in Italy, second-most-populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of nea ...

. The news is broken to the family with an anonymous letter, and the three brothers travel to Milan in an attempt to stop the relationship, which they consider dangerous. Antonio and Peppino try to bribe Marisa away from Gianni but he woos her back by moving her to tears with the song "Malafemmina", and Lucia realizes that she is a good girl. In the end, she leaves the revue world, moves to their village and marries Gianni.

The letter of the Capone brothers

Memorable in the history of comedy films is the scene in the movie where Toto and Peppino (the Capone brothers) have to write a simple letter to be sent to their nephew. Unfortunately for two uneducated peasants even this simple task proves impossible. Everything that the two brothers should write to their nephew's girlfriend concerns a notice to let the boy alone in order for him to continue his studies. Mistaking her for roughly a prostitute, however, the two brothers offer the girl 700,000 as a reward.
Yet Toto, who is believed to be the bright one, dictates a letter to his brother that is so full of grammatical and syntactical errors to make it unintelligible.
The text of the letter says: « Signorina veniamo noi con questa mia addirvi una parola che che che scusate se sono poche ma sette cento mila lire; noi ci fanno specie che questanno c’è stato una grande morìa delle vacche come voi ben sapete.: questa moneta servono a che voi vi con l'insalata consolate dai dispiacere che avreta perché dovete lasciare nostro nipote che gli zii che siamo noi medesimo di persona vi mandano questo a scatola con i soldiperché il giovanotto è studente che studia che si deve prendere una laura che deve tenere la testa al solito posto cioè sul collo.;.; Salutandovi indistintamente i fratelli Caponi (che siamo noi i Fratelli Caponi) »

Legacy

Some of the most famous scenes of Totò and Peppino took place in this movie (e.g. the dictation of a letter full of grammatical errors and their attempt to talk in French with a Milanese policeman ("nous voulevan savua'...")).

Cast

: Antonio Caponi *

: Peppino Caponi *

: Marisa Florian *

: Gianni * Vittoria Crispo: Lucia Caponi *

Mario Castellani Mario Castellani (24 November 190625 April 1978) was an Italian comic actor, best known as the sidekick of famous comic actor Antonio De Curtis (Totò). He appeared with the latter in all his major movies, as well as many of Totò's theatre prod ...

: Mezzacapa *

Nino Manfredi Saturnino "Nino" Manfredi (22 March 1921 – 4 June 2004) was an Italian actor, voice actor, director, screenwriter, playwright, comedian, singer, author, radio personality and television presenter. He was one of the most prominent Italian ac ...

: Raffaele * Luisa Ciampi: Giulietta *

Edoardo Toniolo Edoardo Toniolo (22 November 1907 – 31 December 1986) was an Italian actor and voice actor. Life and career Born in Turin, the son of the stage actors Antonio and Rosa Rosaz, at young age Toniolo debuted on stage in supporting roles. He la ...

: Remo *

Linda Sini Linda Sini (13 February 1924 – 5 February 1999) was an Italian actress. She made 75 appearances between 1950 and 1979 and several appearances after this, mostly in film. Debuting in '' Sigillo rosso'' in 1950, she went on to star in films ...

: Gabriella

References

External links

* * (German dub) {{Camillo Mastrocinque 1956 films 1950s Italian-language films Italian buddy comedy films Films set in Milan Films directed by Camillo Mastrocinque Films set in Campania 1950s buddy comedy films 1956 comedy films 1950s Italian films Italian black-and-white films Italian-language comedy films