1 9 6 1 (Part one) 'O viúvo alegre' / 'Virou bagunça' / 'Spartacus' / 'Un rayo de luz'

22 January 1961 - The new year starts all fine for Brazilian cinema. It is high summer in South America just a little before Carnaval when the whole country explodes in festivity and gaiety. One can see by the titles of the movies: 'Virou bagunça' (All tuned into a mess-up) or 'O viúvo alegre' (The gay widower) that debauchery (excessive indulgence in sensual pleasures, intemperance) is the best word to explain the spirit of Carnaval and the Brazilian collective mind during the summer time festivities; song, dance, booze and sex... or innuendo. Maybe that's why the 'high brows' in the press hated the Brazilian musical comedy they called 'chanchada' which translates better in German as Schweinnereien (ribaldry, smut).

Zé Trindade was a short, middle-aged fellow from Bahia, in the Northeastern part of Brazil, who personified the Brazilian macho par excellence who is constantly thinking about sex or how to get into the panties of this or that lady. He was not a violent macho... actually he was a paunchy short man who would knuckle under the power of any taller and stronger men.

What made Trindade tick with the crowd was his utterly lecherous facial expressions and the way he looked at the camera and uttered his maxims about sex or the lack of it. This created a sort of bond  with the male audience which made him hugely popular among men. Among women he was seen as a little 'nuisance' but not actually a real threat.

5 February 1961 - One of Watson Macedo's last musical-comedy 'Virou bagunça' is a vehicle to Trio Irakitan (sometimes spelt Yrakitan), comedienne Zezé Macedo and Nadia Maria.  

22 January 1961 - for a moment in the late 1950s it looked like German musical movies were going to really take off. 'La paloma' directed by Paul Martin in 1959, shows a lot of dance-and-song introducing the Kessler Twins to the world; Louis Armstrong does 'Uncle Satchomo's lullaby' in a duet with child-actress Gabriele Clonisch.

Karlheinz Böhm mit Alice und Elen Kessler.

30 January 1961 - Japanese actors Mitsuko Kusabue & Akira Takarada visit São Paulo during Toho Films Japanese Film Festival.

Frigidaire's full-page advertising announcing the presence of Japanese movie stars Mitsuko Kusabue & Akira Takarada who would appear in person in 4 different stores on 4 different days: 30 January 1961 at Futurama on Rua 13 de Maio; 31 January 1961 at Cassio Muniz on Praça da Republica at 4:30 PM; 2 February 1961 at Mesbla on Rua 24 de Maio and 3 February 1961 at Irmãos Sgarzi on Avenida São João, 850.

29 January 1961 - It seemed like the Axis had won WWII... for the German, Japanese & Italian films were doing great business 15 years after the end of the worst carnage this earth had ever seen in the history of mankind. Does that really mean that crime pays after all?

26 February 1961 - Brazilian comedies kept on coming strong in 1961; Ronaldo Lupo's 'Só naquela base' was a vehicle to comedienne Dercy Gonçalves interspersed with musical numbers by Trio Nagô, Luiz Wanderley & others.

8 March 1961 - Sophia Loren still building a reputation for herself as a hot number in 1958's 'The black orchid' (A orquidea negra); at Cine Rio Branco, Sidney Poitier, Dorothy Dandridge & Sammy Davis Jr. star in filming of George Gershwin's 'Porgy & Bess'; German cinema was present with 'Das blaue Meer und du' with Fred Bertelmann and his guitar; epic 'Spartacus' with Kirk Douglas was eagerly waited for 22 March 1961. 

11 March 1961 - Trigueirinho Neto's 'Bahia de Todos os Santos' with Araçary de Oliveira opens on Monday.

11 March 1961 -  Sarita Montiel's 'Mi ultimo tango' was in its 9th week at Cine Olido;  at Cine Apolo, 'O vale da paz' (Slovene: Dollina miru) a 1956 Yugoslavian war film directed by France Stiglic. 'Valley of peace'; it was in competition at the 1957 Cannes Film Festival where John Kitzmiller received the Best Actor award for his role as Sgt. Jim.

34 minute-short 'Le ballon rouge' won at Cannes in 1956 : John Kitzmiller, won as best actor at Cannes in 1957.

11 March 1961 - the closest an X-rated movie-theatre came in 1961 was Cine Aurea, on Rua Aurora, in São Paulo's red-ligth-district. It showed only 'adult films' not allowed to seen by people under 18. Cine Aurea actually showed a lot of good European movies like France's 'Les truants' (Mulheres e malandros) with Eddie Constantine & Claude Borelli and this Swedish film 'Farlig frihet' (Juventude pecadora) directed and acted by Arne Ragneborn in 1954 plus Maj-Britt Lindholm.

19 March 1961 - Every Sunday, an unidentified journalist wrote a piece about the following week's new movies in town: O acontecimento artístico e social da semana é, sem dúvida, o lançamento de ‘Spartacus’, a ‘superprodução’ baseada no livro de Howard Fast, que terça-feira, terá uma ante-estréia de gala, patrocinada por este jornal e cuja renda reverterá em defesa do patrimônio do Museu de Arte Moderna de São Paulo. As apresentações são em numero de 15 assim distribuídas: 5 de procedência norte-americanas (inclusive 2 ‘reprises’), 3 japonesas, 2 italianas, 1 francesa, 1 espanhola, 2 de nacionalidade indefinida (uma meio anglo-ianque e outra meio ítalo-anglo-norte-americana), mais a ‘reprise’ da fita nacional ‘Cara de fogo’ de Galisteu Garcia.

19 March 1961 - daily 'O Estado de S.Paulo' published the credits of all films that would premiere the following week. It was, definitely, the best newspaper for movie buffs. The article was never signed but the journalist was bright in his comments. This particular day he writes about 'Spartacus': 

Como ‘Ben-Hur’, ‘Os Dez Mandamentos’, ‘A historia de Ruth’, os para nós inéditos ‘Exodus’ e ‘Esther e o rei’, eis aqui mais uma demonstração de força do cinema norte-americano no gênero bíblico ou histórico. De duração extraordinária (3 horas e 23 minutos) e enquadrado na voga das produções espetaculares e de alto custo (o desta foi de 12 milhões de dólares), ‘Spartacus’ é obra que foi feita, não só para procurar o tom épico, o tom de grande espetáculo, como também para resultar numa mensagem de fé nos destinos e nos direitos dos homens. Baseada no livro de Fast e cenarizada por Dalton Trumbo, a fita estava destinada a ser dirigida por Edward Dmytryk, chegou a ser começada por Anthony Mann e, afinal, foi retomada e levada a termo por Stanley Kubrick de ‘Fear and desire’, ‘A morte passou por perto’, ‘O grande golpe’ e ‘Gloria feita de sangue’...  It then goes on to describe the cast and lots of detais. 

19 March 1961 - While Sara Montiel’s ‘Mi ultimo tango’ was in its 10th week at posh Cine Olido, Spanish child-actress Marisol was all the rage in Luis Lucia Mingarro’s ‘Un rayo de luz’ about to premiere at Cine Rivoli one block away. Marisol appeared in person on the stage of Cine Rivoli at 7:30 and 10:00 PM every night from Monday through Sunday, dancing flamenco and singing a few songs from the sound-track. Brazilian leading man Anselmo Duarte was there for the premiere and took Marisol on a sight-seeing tour of the city.

19 March 1961 - At Cine Monaco, German teen-age sensation Sabine Sinjen plays ‘Stefanie’ (Stefanie in Rio) in which she looks for her Prince Charming and finds him in the person of Argentine actor Carlos Thompson; at Cine Paisandu, Lana Turner, Anthony Quinn, Sandra Dee & John Saxon starred in 'Portrait in black' (Retrato em negro); at Cine Metro, Ava Gardner was in 'Angel wore red' (Tentação); Alberto Ruschel and Milton Ribeiro in 1958's 'Cara de fogo' tried to repeat their roles in 1953's 'O Cangaceiro'.

German teen-sensation Sabine Sinjen in 1960's 'Stefanie in Rio' with Argentine Carlos Thompson.

19 March 1961 - a 1959 British production with Alec Guiness, 'Our man in Havana' (O nosso homem em Havana) based on Graham Greene book was shot on location in Havana, just 2 months after the overthrow of the Batista regime, and on 13 May 1959, Fidel Castro visited the film crew when they shot scenes at Havana's Cathedral Square. The conservative São Paulo daily's cinema columnist dismisses the movie as 'no good' but it actually was positively received by film critics elsewhere and was nominated for the Golden Globe best picture. Note that this is pre-Revolutionary Cuba, but by 1961 when the movie was released in Brazil the Cold War was high on the agenda of conservative newspaper like ultra-reactionary 'O Estado de S.Paulo'. By the way, the author Graham Greene was banned from entering the United States for his political views.

4 April 1961 - Rene Clement's 'Plein Soleil' (O sol por testemunha) with Alain Delon, Marie Laforet & Maurice Ronet played at Cine Olido; 'Un rayo de luz' with Spanish child star Marisol and Brazilian heart-throb Anselmo Duarte as her uncle, kept doing excellent business for the 3rd week at Cine Rivoli.

16 April 1961 - Roberto Farias' 'Um candango na Belacap' (A Brasilia-local in Rio de Janeiro) is a musical-comedy which deals with the various stages of the new capital city building.  The columnist regrets that Roberto Farias after having directed such a good movie as 'Cidade ameaçada' has gone back to popular comedies again. He only hopes Mr. Farias will be as good a director as J.B. Tanko, Victor Lima or Carlos Manga.

19 April 1961 -  Stanley Kubrick's 'Spartacus' was all the rage at Cine Rio Branco; 'Onze homens e um segredo' (Ocean's Eleven) was especially made to employ the whole Rat Pack: Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Sammy Davis, Jr., Peter Lawford, Joey Bishop and Angie Dickinson to boot; Roberto Farias's comedy 'Um candango na Belacap' with Ankito, Grande Otelo & Vera Regina did good business at the box-office.

23 April 1961 - Saci was a Cinema Award trophy granted by daily 'O Estado de S.Paulo' (OESP) to the best actors, directors, screen-players of the previous year. It had been 10 years now since it started in 1951 and it was eagerly awaited by all.

14 May 1961 - Every single Sunday, 'O Estado de S.Paulo' listed the new films that were starting the following week giving all credits, information and a little 'review'. The columnist unfortunately didn't sign it so we didn't know who he/she was. He raves about the release of John Huston's 'The misfits' (Os desajustados) last picture of respectively Clark Gable, Marilyn Monroe & Montgomery Clift... maybe it should have been titled 'The damned'.

14 May 1961 - 1960's British horror film 'Circus of horrors' *(Circo dos horrores) was sensational at Cine Republica; the film focused on sadism, cruelty and violence (with sexual overtones) as opposed to the supernatural horror of the Hammer films in the same era. 'Look for a star', its theme-song was recorded by everyone & his dog including Ronnie Cord and Roberto Carlos in Brazil; Spanish children star were all the rage ever since Pablito Calvo became world-famous with 'Marcelino pan y vino' in 1955; Rafael Gil's 'Un traje blanco' (...E Deus ouviu suas preces) deals with Miguelito Gil's first communion and his desire to wear a white suit and not having the means.

14 May 1961 - Lima Barreto's 'A primeira missa' (The 1st mass) is the story of a Brazilian orphan boy (José Marianno Filho) who is taught how to read by an old atheist man (Dionisio de Azevedo) and suddenly wants to become a priest.

21 May 1961 - Television was making serious inroads into the cinema audience. This TV Record ad in the movies section simply says: Me? Staying at a long queue to see a film at a theatre? No, thanks. Tonight I'll watch Perry Mason at Channel 7, a 1-hour-movie at the comfort of my own home.

Vladimir Ivashov in 1959's 'A balada do soldado' (Баллада о солдате) at Cine Olido.

25 June 1961 - Teutonic cinema was always present in Brazil in the early 1960s: at Cine Olido, 1954's 'Mädchenjahre einer Konigin' (Os jovens anos de uma rainha) with Austrian Romy Schneider & Adrian Hover; at Cine Maracha 1958's 'Majestät auf Abwegen' (Sua Majestade, o Boemio e o Vagabundo' with children stars Oliver Grimm, Michael Lande & Günther Hoffmann.