O Noivo da Girafa (1957)

*spoilers below*
Aparício is a a simple-minded zoo employee who is picked on by his work colleagues, who have tagged him as 'the giraffe's fiancé' for his affection towards that animal. At the boarding house where he lives he is not well treated either. They complain about his smell and alleged lack of hygiene and when the landlord's young daughter falls ill Aparício is blamed and urged to take a blood test. He asks the zoo's veterinarian to test him for infections. Aparício messes up the blood samples, causing the vet to mistake a terminally sick ape's blood for his. The zoo manager gives Aparício a vacation and instructs the other employees to conceal Aparício's horrible fate from him, and to reveal it to the people at his boarding house with the recommendation that they treat him well but not tell the truth to him. So, they start to treat Aparício well, and even the landlord's older daughter starts to respond politely, though not exactly amorously, to Aparício's courting. The landlord plans to marry her to Aparício before he dies, and thus make her entitled to a huge inheritance from a rich relative of Aparício's. Meanwhile, the ape who was terminally ill dies, and the veterinarian wises up to the blood sample mix-up. Just before the marriage ceremony is completed he shows up at the boarding house and clears up the confusion. Aparício is then subjected to all sorts of insults and is expelled from the boarding house. Two of his fellow boarders solidarize with him: a nightclub performer nicknamed 'Poet' and a young woman who is in love with him but is not loved back. Some time later, his former landlord shows up at the zoo and he is very courteous again to Aparício; he has brought a lawyer with him, who tells the news of Aparício's rich relative's death and that Aparício is the sole heir.
*end of spoilers*

Comedy with a few musical numbers and a sense of humor as simple-minded and childish as its protagonist. A curious thing is how obsessed with the 'easy money' topos Brazilian comedies of the 1950s were. Anyway, it is a watchable movie if you are in an undemanding frame of mind.

Rating: 32