Acabaram-se os Otários (partially found Brazilian comedy film; 1929)
An advertisement for the film.
Status: Partially Found
Acabaram-se os Otários is a 1929 Brazilian comedy film directed by Luiz de Barros and starring Genésio Arruda and Tom Bill. The film is considered the first sound film in Brazil.[1]
The idea of making the film, as well as its title, came up in a conversation with a director from Empresas Cinematográficas Reunidas, Barros said he would make a sound film, just joking, but he left with a closed deal and a date set for the film's premiere. Without knowing the technique, Barros went to the Gaumont studios and saw how the cameras recorded the actors' performance while a gramophone reproduced the sound recorded in advance, the name of the device was playback.[2]
Plot
Bentinho Samambaia is a hillbilly from the city of Pindurassaia, but due to heartbreak, Bentinho decides to leave Pindurassaia. On the way, Bentinho meets the Italian Xixilo Spicafuoco, Bentinho and Xixilo decide to go to the city of São Paulo.
A swindler see the hillbillies and tries to scam them. The swindler claims to own the tram and wants to sell it for a very cheap price to the hillbillies, but a police sees them and thinks that the hillbillies are the swindlers. The hillbillies manage to escape the police.
Bentinho and Xixilo come across two beautiful ladies called Vamps, but they also want to scam the hillbillies. The Vamps take the hillbillies to a cabaret, where Bentinho and Xixilo spend their last money.
The police finally arrests the hillbillies. Disillusioned with São Paulo, Bentinho return to Pindurassaia.
Availability
No copies of Acabaram-se os Otários is known, only fragments and some images survive. In 1981, a newspaper called Jornal do Brasil published an article citing someone in São Paulo who had a copy of Acabam-se os Otários, but nothing new appeared.[3]
Reconstruction
A reconstruction of the film was made in 2019 by Rafael de Luna and Reinaldo Carnuto, the reconstruction was shown for the first time at the II Jornada de Estudos em História do Cinema Brasileiro. The reconstruction of the film received the award for the best research.[4]
Gallery
See Also
Brazilian Films
- Kaiser (lost Brazilian animated short film; 1917)
- Luiz de Barros (partially found films from Brazilian director; 1916-1980)
- Presente de Natal (partially found Brazilian animated film; 1971)