Érase una vez... (1950)

 Based on the short story Cendrillon ou la petite pantoufle de verre, by Charles Perrault, published in the book Histoires ou contes du temps passé, in 1697. That short story was in turn based on earlier versions of the same tale. The whole known chronology is listed in this Wikipedia article, which is very comprehensive but unfortunately does not take notice of the present film version.

Cenicienta loses her mother at a young age and her father remarries. Her stepmother brings along her two daughters; when Cenicienta's father goes away on a trip they turn her into a house servant.

This animated version (with one live-action sequence) of the Cinderella story came out on the same year as the more famous Hollywood version; the most notable original feature of it are the protagonist's collection of friends who in a way play a similar role to the seven dwarfs in Snow White; in one notable sequence they disguise themselves as ghosts and try to scare Cinderella's enemies, chief among them the Italian master of ceremonies, another funny character this film invents. Another notable sequence has the stepsisters' carriage's horses going crazy after mistakenly being given a potion which was originally supposed to be given to the stepsisters. Among other things, they perform an interesting ballet. All in all, a well done and entertaining variation of the famous story.

Rating: 51

Minha Namorada (1971)

 Maria is an adolescent girl. She has a boyfriend (Fernando) whom she knows since childhood and who is from a well-off family. She meets Pedro, who is from a different state and is in Rio on a scholarship. They fall in love with each other.

Purportedly realistic portrayal of the love-related afflictions and elations of early 1970s youth. The film leaves a lot to be desired in its character depiction, being more than a bit superficial. These young people seem to have nothing to say about anything. And on some occasions the camera adopts a bird's eye view and does not show us what they are saying, e.g., when Maria is breaking up with Fernando. That being said, it's a decent film compared with the average Brazilian productions of that period. And the young actors do a decent job considering they were completely inexperienced. Curiously for a film which advertised itself as "a young film for young people", upon its release its viewing was not allowed for people under 18.

Rating: 39

Abraham Lincoln (1930)

It recounts Lincoln's early life, presidency, and death.

Biographical drama; the main interest in this president's life stems of course from the American Civil War, which he started. He appears to have been a very unhappy man; maybe this moved him to abbreviate the lives of more than half a million others (and, if you think Freudian theory has any worth, his own). Anyway, the movie entertains sufficiently and the central performance is truly remarkable.

Rating: 52

Felices Pascuas (1954)

 A man thinks he has won the lottery but finds out that his wife exchanged his ticket for a raffle ticket whose prize is a living lamb, which she wins. Their children become attached to the animal and thus they don't have the nerve to kill it. The lamb is stolen and they search for it.

While this dramatic comedy isn't badly directed, and has nice production values, somehow the result is considerably dull; some of its comic ideas are just not funny, e.g. the vegetarian slaughterhouse worker, and some sequences border on incomprehensibility, e.g. the soldier's dream. Overall, a majorly flawed film. An important note: some sites say this film's international English title is Happy Easter. That title would be completely wrong! The story develops at Christmastime, and Felices Pascuas, at the time of the film's release, meant Merry Christmas. This article explains this in detail.

Rating:34

The Importance of Being Earnest (1952)

Based on the play by Oscar Wilde, first performed in 1895.

Ernest reveals to his city acquaintances that he is the guardian of a young woman who lives in the country. Things get complicated when a friend of his decides to visit said woman; the complication compounds when Ernest's fiancée decides to do the same; and the visits keep coming...

Entertaining comedy which satirizes Victorian melodramas. The screenplay puts most of its energy on the witty dialogue. The two young female characters seem to be utterly absurd, which may result funny at times, but is ultimately frustrating. Visually, the film is very attractive in terms of sets, costumes and even the country house garden's landscape in beautiful Technicolor. The one plot point which may shock modern audiences is the Victorian emphasis on lineage which posed a problem for the protagonist's marriage plans. It comes to nothing dramatically, of course, as the film does not seem interested in discussing controversial social issues.

Rating: 51

Um Caipira em Bariloche (1973)

 An old man is convinced by his family to sell his ranch. It turns out the buyer is a crook who is in cahoots with the rancher's son-in-law.

A mix of drama and comedy. The main comic set-piece is set at a costume ball. The film explores the conjugal conflicts between the protagonist and his wife, and his regrets about selling the ranch and coming to live in the city; another comic interlude is set at a ski resort, with the protagonist trying to learn how to ski. The climax pits the protagonist and his friends against the two criminals who stole his ranch and who eventually get into conflict between themselves. Technically, the film has some flaws, looking as if it was made in a hurry. Overall, it's a pretty poor film, not really worth viewing except for completists of the comic star and nostalgics of 1970s Brazil.

Rating: 23

Thunder in the City (1937)

An American executive quits his job and moves to England. He makes contact with some ruined aristocrats, one of whom has an African mine he wants to sell. The American makes an offer on the mine against that of a local banker.

This film has a marginal interest for being a rare one whose main theme is business. The plot has two strands: a business-related one and a romance-related one. The business-related strand has a somewhat improbable premise which develops in a rather logical and a bit predictable manner; the romance-related strand has an acceptable premise which develops in a rather illogical and (given cinema's usual disregard for reality) quite predictable manner.

Rating: 37