“Toby Dammit”

(1967)

Synopsis

Toby Dammit is part of compilation film titled Tre passi nel delirio (Italian), Histoires extraordinaires (French) or Spirits of the Dead (English). The short film took two elements from the publication, Never Bet the Devil Your Head, a story published in 1841 by Edgar Allan Poe. First, “the plot of a drunk who confronts a mysterious stranger on a bridge and bets him his head; the man fails to see that the stranger is the devil who subsequently wins the bet“. Second, Fellini takes the name Toby Dammit,  where Toby being an English slang term for ass in Poe’s time; Therefore, Toby Dammit is a “dammed ass” in short.

Source: Porcari, George. “Fellini’s Forgotten Masterpiece: Toby Dammit.” CineAction 71 (Winter 2007): 9-13.

Trailer