Totò in the Moon

Totò in the Moon

Year: 1958

Runtime: 93 mins

Language: Italian

Director: Steno

Comedy

Two men embarks upon a space race. Their efforts are hampered by aliens who clone the heroes to keep them from exploring further.

Warning: spoilers below!

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Timeline & Setting – Totò in the Moon (1958)

Explore the full timeline and setting of Totò in the Moon (1958). Follow every major event in chronological order and see how the environment shapes the story, characters, and dramatic tension.

Time period

Location

Italy, Moon

The story unfolds in a small Italian publishing house owned by cavaliere Pasquale Belafronte, rooting the film in Italy. As the plot progresses, a US-led space mission draws Achilles into a lunar journey, turning the comedy into a spacefaring caper. Aliens intervene on Earth and eventually land the rocket on the Moon, making the Moon a central stage for the finale. The contrast between a bustling Italian office and a high-stakes space operation drives the humor and the film’s surreal twists.

🎬 Italian setting 🛰️ Space adventure 😂 Comedy

Last Updated: October 04, 2025 at 18:45

Main Characters – Totò in the Moon (1958)

Meet the key characters of Totò in the Moon (1958), with detailed profiles, motivations, and roles in the plot. Understand their emotional journeys and what they reveal about the film’s deeper themes.

Pasquale Belafronte (Totò)

A scheming cavaliere who owns the publishing house and wields power with humor and cruelty. He starts hostile toward Achilles, then pivots to publish the novel at his own expense, even negotiating a marriage with his daughter Lydia. His opportunism fuels the plot as he switches between oppressor and facilitator, ultimately facing the consequences of his schemes.

🎭 Antagonist 💼 Power-hungry 🏷️ Opportunistic

Achilles Paoloni (Ugo Tognazzi)

A delivery boy who writes a science fiction novel and dreams of publication. He is identified by US scientists as a potential space traveler due to a substance in his blood, and he becomes the focal point of a moon mission. Despite being miscast by the adults around him, he grows into a successful writer with a family, around whom the story’s surreal events revolve.

🚀 Space traveler ✍️ Writer 🧬 Extraordinary biology

Lidia Belafronte (Sylva Koscina)

Pasquale’s daughter, initially a pawn in her father’s plans but later entangled with Achilles. She embodies the human center of the plot’s romantic and familial tension and ultimately enters a relationship with Achilles as his life moves forward.

❤️ Romance 👩‍👧 Family 🕊️ Ally

Tatiana (Sandra Milo)

A beautiful spy working for a foreign power, she hovers around the human protagonists and the moon mission as an emissary of intrigue. Her presence heightens the tension between espionage and the comedy of errors, until the aliens’ plan disrupts the human plots.

🕵️ Spy 🧭 Espionage 💫 Intrigue

Von Braut (Luciano Salce)

A German rocket scientist and antagonist tied to the rival powers attempting to influence Achilles. He embodies the international stakes of the mission and the competition that drives the story’s schemes, ultimately undone by the aliens’ intervention.

🧪 Scientist 🔹 Rival 🛸 Interference

Last Updated: October 04, 2025 at 18:45

Major Themes – Totò in the Moon (1958)

Explore the central themes of Totò in the Moon (1958), from psychological, social, and emotional dimensions to philosophical messages. Understand what the film is really saying beneath the surface.

🚀 Space Race

A playful spoof of Cold War space competition, where a publisher’s quarrel over a sci‑fi manuscript propels characters toward a literal moon mission. The film needles national rivalry as US and German forces chase Achilles, blurring art with propulsion. Ambition and farce collide, revealing how desire for glory can morph into absurd adventures.

🪞 Identity

Anellids create cosone copies of Pasquale and Achilles, raising questions about authenticity and who people truly are. The duplicates threaten to replace the originals, testing loyalty and family bonds. The revelation that the real Achilles becomes a settled writer with a life of his own underscores the fluid nature of identity.

🎭 Power & Ambition

Characters maneuver for control—Pasquale’s initial hostility, then opportunistic alliance, and Achilles’s central role in a space epic. The plot hinges on manipulation, love, and the pursuit of glory, all through comic misadventure. The final twist—transforming a cosone into a real woman—satirizes social climbers and the theatre of space conquest.

Last Updated: October 04, 2025 at 18:45

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Totò in the Moon Summary

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Totò in the Moon Summary

Totò in the Moon Timeline

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Totò in the Moon Timeline

More About Totò in the Moon

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More About Totò in the Moon

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