10 January 1960 - OESP praises 'Tudo azul' (Everything's all right) as a superior kind of Brazilian film. It was first shown at Cine Art Palacio in 1952. Directed by Moacyr Fenelon, it was mainly a vehicle for singer Marlene who was at the pinnacle of her popularity. She sings 'Lata d'água' which turned out to be her greatest hit ever.
17 January 1960 - Carlos Manga's 'Pintando o sete' with Oscarito, Cyll Farney, Sonia Mamed & Ema D'Avila; see more about it further down the page when it opens in Sao Paulo on 7 July 1960.
20 January 1960 - Argentine director Carlos Hugo Christensen's 'Matemática 0, amor 10' with Suzana Freyre & Alberto Ruschel, follows his 'Meus amores no Rio', a box-office hit...
24 January 1960 - daily OESP cinema columnist praises Milton Amaral who directed Mazzaropi's 'Jeca Tatú' as he did also 'Chofer de praça' in 1958. He also extols the presence of Marlene França who had appeared at German flick 'Die Windrose' before. Actually the 'high brows' at Estadão would not despise Mazzaropi's kind of cinema because he was Paulista (those hailing from São Paulo city or state) as they did with the so-called 'Carioca cinema' - movies made in Rio de Janeiro, Brazilian capital city. São Paulo's intelligentsia was actually parochial and narrow-minded. If there ever were to be a competition between São Paulo and Rio cinemas, Rio would win hands down. São Paulo was naive and hill-billy. Rio was witty and cosmopolitan. São Paulo was conservative and square. Rio was advanced and sexy. São Paulo's accent was ugly and its grammar attrocious. Rio had swing and its accent was pleasant.
Francisco de Souza & Marlene França
4 February 1960 - Aloysio de Carvalho's 'Pequeno por fora' with Walter D'Avila & Nancy Wanderley; see more about it further down the page when it opens in Sao Paulo on 28 April 1960.
7 February 1960 - a Herbert Richers production 'Entrei de gaiato' premieres in Rio; see further comments at Sao Paulo's release on 20 February 1960. It is one of my favourite Brazilian musical comedies of all time. It is uncanny that at the same time that the genre was fast getting to its demise (give it 2 more years and it would be dead) 1960 saw a few masterpieces... 'Entrei de gaiato' being surely one of them.
18 February 1960 - Cine Metro presents Violeta Ferraz in 'Minha sogra é da polícia' (My mother-in-law is a police woman) in which rock'n'roll plays a major part in the sound-track like Lana Bittencourt singing 'Alone', Carlos Imperial with 'That's rock', El Cubanito with 'Ai, cosita linda', Paulo Molin with 'Sereno', Cauby Peixoto, Mario Mascarenhas & others.As usual, the biased OESP movies-columnist dismisses the musical-comedy as 'chanchada' (schweinerein) claiming it's been done only with the foul intention of making a profit. Jee, in what planet did he live on? He disparages the director Aloizio T.de Carvalho as the one who wrote 'Sereno' sung in the movie by Paulo Molin - as if writing a song was a demeaning occupation. His colonized-head didn't make any sense.
As 'Minha sogra é da policia' was made in 1958, I guess Cine Metro re-released it to comply with a law that made it compulsory showing a Brazilian production a number of days per year.
21 February 1960 - even though the OESP columnist thinks 'Pé na tábua' is a new film it was actually released in January 1959 by Herbert Richers its producer. However dismissive of 'Carioca musicals' he is, he still sees some good in comedians Ankito, Renata Fronzi, Grande Otelo and ingenue Nelly Martins, who plays a handicapped girl. The columnist also praises the direction of Victor Lima, who he considers a very good director as well as an excellent screenplayer.
Band leader Ruy Rey performs 'Torero', singer-actor Bill Farr sings 'Carioca '58' (B.Farr-Bruno Monteiro-Ary Monteiro); Grande Otelo sings 'O progresso é natural' (G.Otelo-A.Pinto) and Ankito sings 'Pé na tábua' (A.Pinto-Lemos Pereira).
20 February 1960 - Brazilian flicks with popular performers like Zé Trindade & Dercy Gonçalves were advertised 3 or 4 weeks in advance to build up expectation among the crowd. 'Entrei de gaiato' was a winner. It had all the elements to be a top box-office seller. It had top-comedian Zé Trindade with his double-entendres, it had Dercy Gonçalves the most popular Brazilian comedienne by far; and a lot of Carnaval hits like 'Me dá um dinheiro aí' (Gimme some money now).
Zé Trindade plays Januário Jaboatão to Dercy Gonçalves's Ananásia da Emancipação. Their character names were deliberately unusual to elicit a few laughs from the public as soon as they were uttered.
27 March 1960 - re-release of J.B.Tanko's 1954's 'A outra face do homem'. OESP's cinema columnist praises the film which is utterly unusual. Maybe it's because the flick was the recepient of the trophy Saci for best film of 1954 - a yearly award that daily 'O Estado de S.Paulo' (here referred as OESP) granted to the best productions - a sort of a Brazilian Academy Award.
Maybe that's one of the reasons why OESP spurned musical comedies; because only dramas entered their list of nominees. They wanted to be 'serious people' granting awards to 'serious film makers'. That was a really difficult task in a country with two-thirds of its population illiterate or half-illiterate.
Actually I was flabbergasted when I read somewhere that daily OESP did not bestow a Saci for 'best film category' in 1955 because it deemed the year 'too poor' in film productions to deserve a trophy of 'best of'. Imagine if the Hollywood Academy of Arts & Sciences did the same in the USA?
And to think that Nelson Pereira dos Santos's 'Rio 40 graus' is a 1955 production. Maybe the daily from São Paulo thought it would not grant a 'best picture of the year' to a production that carried the name of Rio de Janeiro on its title. Parochialism taken to the limit.
Maybe that's one of the reasons why OESP spurned musical comedies; because only dramas entered their list of nominees. They wanted to be 'serious people' granting awards to 'serious film makers'. That was a really difficult task in a country with two-thirds of its population illiterate or half-illiterate.
Actually I was flabbergasted when I read somewhere that daily OESP did not bestow a Saci for 'best film category' in 1955 because it deemed the year 'too poor' in film productions to deserve a trophy of 'best of'. Imagine if the Hollywood Academy of Arts & Sciences did the same in the USA?
And to think that Nelson Pereira dos Santos's 'Rio 40 graus' is a 1955 production. Maybe the daily from São Paulo thought it would not grant a 'best picture of the year' to a production that carried the name of Rio de Janeiro on its title. Parochialism taken to the limit.
27 March 1960 - at adults-only Cine Aurea the release of 1952's 'O preço de um desejo' (The price of a desire).
27 March 1960 - a Brazilian person who was born in the 1980s or 1990s and is an adult in the 2010s cannot underestand how Brazilian films could be so popular in the 1950s and 1960s. The were hugely popular. Especially because there was no TV and two-thirds of the country's population were illiterate and only went to the movies when they did not have to read subtitles in foreign-language movies. Musical comedies were constantly being re-released even after only a few months of their premiere. They were a sure-fire way of getting good box-office receipts. José Carlos Burle's 'Barnabé, tu és meu' (1951); J.C.Burle's 'Tres vagabundos' (1952); Jorge Ileli's 'Amei um bicheiro' (1952); J.C. Burle's 'Carnaval Atlântida' (1952); Carlos Manga's 'Nem Sansão, nem Dalila' (1954); Carlos Manga's 'Matar ou correr' (1954) and Eurípedes Ramos's 'Três recrutas' (1953).
10 April 1960 - film made in 1955, based on the legend of Brazil's main object of religious faith: Nossa Senhora d'Aparecida (Our Lady of the Appearance) a smallish statue of a Madonna that was fished from the bottom of a river by some fishermen who could not find fish. After they recovered the statue things started picking up for them. They made up a little makeshift chapel for it and from thence wonderous things happened broadening the appeal of such a small object until it became so famous the Vatican decided to bestow a sainthood on it. This flick made a hit in a country that was 95% Catholic then. I remember seeing it in 1960 when I was 11 years old. It actually had 3 different titles: 'Padroeira do Brasil', 'Cavalgada da esperança' and 'Nossa Senhora d'Aparecida'. Child actress Graça Maria made a splash playing the little blind girl who recovers her sight due the intercession of such a powerful Entity.
24 April 1960 - It is hard to belive that there was a time in Brazil - this very April 1960 week - when 9 Brazilian films were being shown at the same time in a city like Sao Paulo. They were: 1. 'O mistério da Ilha de Vênus' (Voodoo Island); 2. 'Yalis, a flor selvagem' (Vergine del Roncador); 3. 'O batedor de carteiras' (1958); 4. 'Matemática: zero, Amor: dez'; 5. 'O ébrio' (1946); 6. 'Na Garganta do Diabo'; 7. 'Padroeira do Brasil' (Nossa Senhora d' Aparecida); 8. 'Fronteiras do inferno' (1959); 9. 'Pequeno por fora'.
'O mistério da Ilha de Venus' ('Voodoo Island' or 'Naked love') - a Brazilian-USA co-production. OESP columnist is really glad that Brazil is finally catching up with the rest of the world that have associated themselves with Hollywood as soon as WWII ended. Brazil (always according to his gospel) was the only country left behind. Brazilians with a colonized mind always think that just being near the 'metropolis' (Hollywood, USA) is beneficial to their well-being. Maybe that's why they welcomed the US intervention in the Brazilian political process in April 1964 - a military coup d'etat that destroyed Brazilian democracy for the next 50 years.The columnist says that the showing of 'Voodoo Island' in Phoenix, Arizona for only one week had already made enough money to cover the Brazilian cost of the production. There was also an avant-premiere at Cine Regencia on Rua Augusta in which 41.5% of those polled found the flick excellent and 32.2% found it good. The action happens in a Central America island with a lot of voodoo. Brazilian great actress Ruth de Souza has the chance to play a voodoo witch. Music was supplied by Enrico Simonetti.
OESP columnist dismisses it as the very first vehicle for Zé Trindade's ascent to superstardom. But this is actually a good comedy made even funnier by the presence of great comedienne Nancy Wanderley not to mention superb Violeta Ferraz.
Tragic torch-song queen Maysa sings 'Meu mundo caiu' (My world has tumbled down) in a very tasteful scenery.
Brazilian actress Vanja Orico & Italian actor Ettore Manni
28 April 1960 - Aloisio T. de Carvalho's 'Pequeno por fora' (Small on the outside) synopsis: When their rich uncle from Portugal announces he's coming to Rio for a visit, Nancy & Walter get into a panic for they had told him a lie saying they had a lovely boy just to get a pension off him. The couple then arrange a circus dwarf to pass off as their son but the uncle ends up staying longer than originally planned.
The story line is almost unbelievable but it could have turned out to be a good farce. But apparently the end result was not really good judging from the review written by Pedro Lima, from Rio de Janeiro's 'Diario da Noite' (9 February 1960). I wouldn't believe the OESP columnist but I have to bow down to the reviews written in Rio. Meio-Quilo, the circus dwarf who played the 'kid' was dubbed by Germano. It is hard to believe comedienne Nancy Wanderley was not effective in the film; she used to be funny even with her mouth shut. She could do no wrong. Wanderley was married to Francisco Anisio who plays a role in the film too and would eventually become the top comedian in Brazil for almost 50 years until his death in 2012.
Walter D'Avila was a real fine comedian too. I wonder what could have gone wrong with so many talents together in one film.
Musical numbers: 'Só Deus' (Jair Amorim-E.Gouveia) performed by Maysa; 'De Araraé' with Jackson do Pandeiro & Amira ; 'Bolha d'agua' (Jorge de Castro-Wilson Baptista) plus 'Mangueira, meu berço' with show-girl Angelita Martinez; 'Canção do pescador' with Trio Guarany (Polydor); 'Balada à lua' (Aloysio T.de Carvalho) with Mario Gil (Continental); 'Rosa caída' with José Luciano & seu conjunto; 'Tamanho não é documento' (Lamartine Babo-Eneas Machado de Assis) plus 'Sereno' (Aloysio T.de Carvalho) with Sexteto Prestige.
Quando sabe que o tio rico de Portugal vem ao Rio de passagem, um casal (Nancy Wanderley & Walter D'Avila) se vê em apuros: como arranjar um garoto que passasse por filho, cujo nascimento haviam anunciado astuciosamente a fim de obterem uma grana do tio? Contratam por algumas horas os serviços de um anão de circo (Meio-Quilo), mas o tio é forçado a demorar-se mais tempo e o anão resolve aproveitar-se do fato.
15 May 1960 - 1956's 'Colegio de brotos' is re-released at Cine Coral.
1st May 1960 - Walter Hugo Khuory's 'Na Garganta do Diabo' was universally praised as Brazilian cinema's the greatest hope. It had all the traps to be a great film but seen in hindsight it didn't actually make good business at the box-office. Maybe it's because it had to do with the Southern part of Brazil and the genocidal Paraguay War in which Brazil, Argentina & Uruguay allied themselves against Paraguay and all but destroyed the country. It isn't a pleasant matter to watch. Maybe Brazilians were more used to the kind of violence one was suppose to expect from 'cangaceiros' - bandits from the Northern part rather than Southern misery.
22nd May 1960 - 'Correio da Manhã' advertises 'Na garganta do diabo' s 2nd week in Rio de Janeiro.
22 May 1960 - another Herbert Richers production, 'Pistoleiro Bossa-Nova' (Rio, abril 1960) with Ankito & Grande Otelo directed by Victor Lima. dismissive OESP columnist finds something praise-worthy in the comedy though quoting previous ouvres by Mr. Lima like 'Espirito de porco' and 'De pernas p'ro ar'. 'Além da já provada desenvoltura para o gênero da trinca Renata Fronzi-Ankito-Grande Otelo, 'Pistoleiro bossa-nova' conta com excelentes interpretes do 'cinema sério' de S.Paulo, a dançarina Lyris Castellani, Ana Maria Nabuco e, principalmente Aurélio Teixeira, ator consagrado com um Saci conferido por esse jornal ao melhor ator coadjuvante de 1... (?).
3 July 1960 - at Cine Art Palacio, 'A viuva Valentina', the latest comedy by Dercy Gonçalves with Jayme Costa, Catalano, Herval Rossano, Mara Di Carlo and Trio Irakitan.
Wilson Grey, Francisco Dantas, Mara Di Carlo, Dercy Gonçalves, Herval Rossano & Jayme Costa.
7 July 1960 - At Cine Maraba, 'Pintando o sete' (Painting the town red) the latest Oscarito comedy. Even though Oscarito was 54 years old (he was born in 1906) he still played relatively young characters and was still the best Brazilian comedian by far. OESP columnist praises the director Carlos Manga plus the screenplay & scenography done by Cajado Filho who staged José Lewgoy's famous dream sequence in 1952's 'Carnaval Atlantida'.
13 July 1960 - new movie by Ankito & Grande Otelo: 'Vai que é mole!'...
21st July 1960 - J.B. Tanko's 'Vai que é mole!' with Ankito, Grande Otelo, Renata Fronzi & Renato Restier...
24 July 1960 - at Cine Marrocos 'O palhaço, o que é?' (What's a clown?) with an all-clown cast headed by Carequinha and Fred, an older clown; with Sonia Mamede, Hamilton Ferreira, Nancy Wanderley, Fabio Sabag and others.
11 August 1960 - Roberto Faria's 'Cidade ameaçada' was shown at Cannes in April and would be the highlight at Marilia's Cinema Festival in September with Eva Wilma, Jardel Filho & Reginaldo Farias.
28 August 1960 - Mazzaropi must have made a lot of money in 1960 judging by the many films he released. Lana Bittencourt, Conjunto Farroupilha and Claudio de Barros sing their latest hits in 'As aventuras de Pedro Malasartes', a folkloric character Mazzaropi put on the silver screen.
11 September 1960 - At Cine Art Palacio another Herbert Richers's production: 'Vai que é mole' with Ankito, Grande Otelo, Jo Soares, Renata Fronzi, Renato Restier, Aurelio Teixeira, Anilza Leoni and the usual cast of suspects. Make sure not to mistake this flick with J.B.Tanko's 1959's 'Entrei de gaiato' in which Linda Baptista sings a song called 'Vai que é mole' (Haroldo Lobo-Milton de Oliveria) and it's a much better comedy.
1st October 1960 - Odete Lara plays a hooker selling her body on the corner of Rua Amador Bueno in S.Paulo.
23 October 1960 - Adults-only Cine Aurea premieres 'Sexo e vida', according to OESP (Estadão) is only a sensacionalist 'local production' looking for a fast-buck. Cizinha Moura a young rock singer who had a mid-sized hit called 'Brotinho Lili' appears as 'who knows what' in this pre-pornography flick.
31 October 1960 - The OESP (Estadão) cinema columnist believes Ronald Golias to be a better comedian than Zé Trindade but time has proved him utterly wrong. Golias movies are unwatchable whereas Zé Trindade's pithy maxims are still funny today, more than 50 years after they've been uttered. What one suspects is regional parochialism on the part of the columnist as Mr. Trindade hailed from Bahia whereas Ronald Golias was from S.Paulo, a supposedly 'better place'. The columnist always enphasizes the difference between films made in Rio (supposedly of a lesser quality) and those made in S.Paulo. That's a lot of bullshit, anyway.
Here's what he writes about Golias and Zé Trindade: ... um grupo de interpretes dos melhores e mais simpáticos que o cinema carioca poderia mobilizar estão em mais esta 'comedia carioca de costumes' feita especialmente para lançar e firmar como cartaz de cinema o cômico de TV Ronald Golias. Em tudo isso há uma vantagem imediata e inegável: o alijamento momentâneo da comicidade tipo Zé Trindade.
Ronald Golias may have been effective on TV but he was terribly boring on the silver screen. Golias's idiosyncratic speech - he munched on his words - got lost in the not-so-good sound-systems of Brazilian movie theatres that were not up-to-date because most of the films shown in the country were spoken in foreign languages anyway so people read subtitles instead of listening to the dialogues - so cinema owners couldn't be bothered to keep their sound equipament in good order. Golias spoke a kind of cant while Zé Trindade spoke his lines with the best articulation possible even if it was a little off-colour.
Ronald Golias had something of an odd-ball in his appearance.
Golias painted his eye-brows like Groucho Marx; see Carlos Tovar, Jece Valadão & Jayme Costa in the background...
8 November 1960 - Carlos Hugo Christensen's 3rd film with Susana Freyre in Rio... 'Amor para três' with Fabio Cardoso yet again playing Susana's romantic interest plus Agildo Ribeiro. Tito Madi sings beautifully...
14 to 20 November 1960 - Watson Macedo's 'Samba em Brasilia' was so magical I still think it's the best Brazilian film I have ever seen. I was 11 years old when I saw it and it took me to fairy land...
27 November 1960 - popular actor Helio Souto produces, directs and stars himself in 'Conceição' where he uses all the tricks in the book to make it pay. Whether it was a hit or not it is hard to tell beacause it has vanished from most reference books available. If one goes by the Estadão's columnist's opinion then one is completely lost for he has got a colonized frame-of-mind praising the foreign stars in the flick (Bulgar actress Miriam Rony and French 'starlet' Anick Malvil) and trying to put down Brazilian 'show girl' (he deams her a 'vedette') Norma Benguel who turned out to be a first-rate dramatic actress when she moved on to the Italian cinema later on in the decade. Colonized minds can only see good when they look up to their colonizers.
Musically it must have been really exciting because it mirrors the 1960 hit parade to the hilt. Fancy watching rock singer Wilson Miranda sing 'Long tall Sally' in Portuguese ('Bata baby') or seeing Paraguayan musician Luis Bourdon play his heavenly harp. Not to mention virtuoso guitarrist Poly playing the background music... that's heaven to my ears.
I should also mention the presence of Walter Avancini who later on became the best TV soap-opera operator in this country and Mario Benvenutti who proved his worth in many Brazilian 'serious' movies.
14 December 1960 - 'Conceição' opens in Rio de Janeiro a few weeks later.
8 December 1960 - Yet another Ankito comedy, 'Sai dessa recruta', with Consuelo Leandro is not as good as some previous ones...
Vera & Henri-Georges Clouzot in 1953.
Simone Signoret & Vera Clouzot in 1954's 'Les diaboliques'.
Paris.
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