Tuesday, 27 January 2015

'A doutora é muito viva' - 1957

15 November 1957 - Friday - A Gazeta Esportiva - 'A doutora é muito viva' is probably Eliana Macedo's only flick shot in São Paulo. 

'A doutora é muito viva' (The doctor is very smart)

premiere in Rio: 11 October 1957
premiere in São Paulo at: 20 November 1957
director: Ferenc Fekete
assistant director: Glauco Mirko Laurelli
scenographer: Pierino Masenzi
producer: Carlos Szili
photography: Rudolph Icsey
music: Rafael Puglielli
screen play: Miroel Silveira & Ferenc Fekete
based on a story by L. Dobos


Eliana (doutora Beatriz)
Francisco Negrão (doutor Ruy)
Augusto Machado de Campos (Machadinho) – (Ribeiro)
Rachel Martins (Hortência)
Irina Grecco (Nélia)
Otello Zeloni (mordomo José)

Maria Dilnah (Lucia)
Renato Murce (juiz)
Carlota de A. Szucs (menina)
Ricardo Bandeira 
Carlos Araújo
José Mercaldi
Luely Figueiró 

Não adianta resistir’ (Rafael Puglielli) – Luely Figueiró
‘Boa noite, senhorita’ (Rafael Puglielli) –
Tudo isso ele pode dar’ (L. Faissal-G. Macedo) – Eliana
Innamorata’ (I.Broock-Harry Warren) – Eliana



'A Noite', 12 June 1957 says 'A doutora é muito viva' was recently shot at Vera Cruz studios and Chacara Três Lagos in São Bernardo do Campo-SP. It was directed by Ferenc Fekete from Hungary and starred by Eliana and Francisco Negrão known as a Tony Curtis look-alike.
24 November 1957 - daily OESP review of 'A doutora é muito viva'; as usual S.Paulo journalists were parochial and they couldn't hide it. This one tries to persuade himself that São Paulo cinema industry is better than Rio de Janeiro's. Fancy that! He goes on and lists all the films made in S.Paulo in the last decade to prove S.Paulo's industry is really good and can only be compared to European and North-American products - it is all written in the very first paragraph. 

'A doutora é muito viva' was made in São Paulo with Eliana Macedo, Rio de Janeiro's brightest star - who plays a barrister (lawyers in Brazil are called 'doctors' like physicians) who will out-fox the other 'doctor' Ruy - played by dashing Francisco Negrão.

Dr. Ruy, the solicitor, even though he is a bachelor, lives handsomely in a huge apartment on a newly finished building on Rua Maranhão called Cinderela. The actual place had just been built in 1956 less than a year before film production started. It still stands proudly today (2015). Here are some photos of the Cinderela.
Lima Duarte, Cacilda Lanuza & Francisco Negrão in 'Chão bruto', directed by Dionísio Azevedo, based on a story by Hernani Donato, released in 1958
Francisco Negrão (*16 October 1932) was a leading man at TV Paulista as of 1956
Cinderela Building in the 1950s before the Apartheid-system was imposed in the city & country.
Edificio Cinderela, Rua Maranhão, 163 on the corner of Rua Sabará, was projected by João Artacho Jurado (1907-1983) who did most of his projects in the 40s and 50s.
João Artacho Jurado (here seen in the 1956) never went to school because his father was an anarchist and didn't want his son to pledge allegiance to the flag - an act that was compulsory in public schools then. 

Sunday, 28 December 2014

'Minha sogra é da polícia' - 1958

Violeta Ferraz & Vera Regina 
Violeta Ferraz & Costinha 
Wilza Carla, Carlos Tovar 

Friday, 19 December 2014

'Briga, mulher e samba' - 1961

As the 1960s advanced the Brazilian musical-comedy was dying fast. 'Briga, mulher e samba' was comedian-turned-producer Ronald Lupo's last film. It was done in 1961, released in December 1961 in Rio but only on 12 August 1962 in São Paulo. I may be mistaken but I'm almost sure it was the last movie in which Violeta Ferraz appears.

Violeta Ferraz põe a boca no trombone... literally... singer song-writer Monsueto is the fellow on the left wearing a hat... Matinhos plays Violeta's husband.
Monsueto & Elza Soares sing 'Ziriguidum' with the local community. 
Violeta supervises her 5 children while Matinhos listens to Ronaldo Lupo.
things do get out of control towards the end of the flick... Lupo thrashes Iório while Luely Figueiró gets hold of Renata Fronzi... while Violeta Ferraz in her pajamas just looks out of place in such a pandemonium.
Renata Fronzi does her thing while Atila Iório watches... Luely Figueiró just being sexy for a middle-aged Ronaldo Lupo.


Musical number by: Elza Soares ('Ziriguidum'), Miltinho, Tito Madi, Ribamar, Francisco Carlos, Moreira da Silva, Monsueto e sua escola de samba e Zé do Norte e sua gente. 

Ronaldo Lupo (Marcelino); Renata Fronzi (Mira)
Luely Figueiró (Teresa); Átila Iório (Valentino)
Violeta Ferraz (Sofia); Matinhos (Simão)
Billy Davis (Cicatriz); Arlindo Costa
Faria Veiga; José Lopes; Yta Wester
Irmãos Valença; Mozael Silveira; Mauricio do Vale (Zé)
Nestor Montemar; Tony Junior.

14 December 1961 - 'Briga, mulher & samba' premieres in Rio de Janeiro on 7 December 1961.

Thursday, 18 December 2014

1 9 6 2 - 'O pagador de promessas' / 'Briga, mulher e samba' / 'O vigilante rodoviário'

It was the highest Brazilian ever got to being recognized internationally... when 'O pagador de promessas' won the Palm d'Or in Cannes in that spring as the best film in the festival. 

5 August 1962 - 'O pagador de promessas' was all the rage after having won the Palm d'Or at the 1962 Cannes Film Festival. Suddenly, Anselmo Duarte who was considered only a middling to fair actor was hailed as the new Fellini or Bergman, showing how flimsy Brazilian journalism has always been. No consistency whatsoever. Not much is said about Dias Gomes's play which was the real winner. Actress Norma Benguel is still treated as a 'surprise' as she was only considered a 'show girl' (vedete). Brazilian journalism was culturally colonized and still is up to date (2014).
12 August 1962 - One could go and watch 'O pagador de promessas' at Cine Ipiranga and then later at 4:00 PM or 9:00 PM go on Teatro Brasileiro de Comedia on Rua Major Diogo, 315 and see Leonardo Vilar in person playing the same character (Zé do Burro). 
Director Anselmo Duarte proudly holds his Palm D'Or, earned as the best movie of 1962, at Cannes Festival in France. 
Anselmo Duarte proudly wields his Palm d'Or, in Santos-SP.
12 August 1962 - 'Briga, mulher e samba' - another Ronaldo Lupo vehicle... with Renata Fronzi, Luely Figueiró, Atila Iório & Violeta Ferraz. 
9 December 1962 - 'O Vigilante Rodoviário'.
9 December 1962 - 'Mandacarú vermelho'