Toby Dammit (1968)

This week on The Spectator Film Podcast…

Toby Dammit (1968) 4.5.19
Featuring: Austin, Maxx

Commentary begins at 24:20

— Notes —

• Toby Dammit is available on The Criterion Channel as Spirits of the Dead (1968).
• “No One Here Gets Out Alive: Federico Fellini’s Toby Dammit” by George Porcari on lightmonkey.net (also published in CineAction 2007) — This was one of the few open-access resources I could find discussing Toby Dammit, but that doesn’t make it any less thorough or engaging to read. This is a wonderful critical introduction to a very dense and quick-moving movie. The rest of George’s website (lightmonkey.net) looks fantastic as well.
• The Cinema of Federico Fellini by Peter Bondanella — This is an excellent introduction to the career of Federico Fellini, featuring a solid mixture of both historical information (and biographical information) about each production and critical insight and analysis into the resultant films. There’s a whole chapter dedicated to Toby Dammit and Fellini Satyricon (1969), discussing the films as a response to the collapse of Mastorna and a turning point in Fellini’s career.
• “Fellini, Federico” by Antonia Shanahan on Senses of Cinema — Great Director profile from Senses of Cinema
• The Society of the Spectacle by Guy Debord — Not only incredibly relevant to Toby Dammit, but also one of the most important books in terms of studying mediated images and how they interact with one another in society.
  • “An Illustrated Guide to Guy Debord’s ‘Society of the Spectacle'” by Tiernan Morgan & Lauren Purje — Here’s a fun primer on Debord’s thoughts.
• Simulacra and Simulation by Jean Baudrillard (Trans. Sheila Glaser) 
• “Never Bet the Devil Your Head: A Tale with a Moral” by Edgar Allen Poe