Proezas de Satanás na Vila de Leva-e-Traz (1967)

 A poor village is shaken when oil is found in its vicinity. An artificial town is built around the exploration site, and all young healthy men move there, leaving only some women, old people and the invalid in the village. In the wake of that revolution, strange occurrences take place in the village. A stranger arrives into town who is revealed to be the devil himself.

Parable about economic development which makes use of popular literature and music from the Brazilian Northeast region. It's curious as an idea, but not very creative or exciting. The criticism towards it has been more of a political nature than one which would address its obvious artistic limitations.

Rating: 34

Fearless Frank (1967)

 Frank is a naïve young man who leaves his parents' farm to try his luck on the big city. Upon arriving there, he is killed by criminals belonging to a gang and revived by a scientist, who employs him in the fight against crime. That same gang hires another scientist who produces an evil replica of Frank.

Cartoonish comedy. It is a sort of parody of Frankenstein, Dick Tracy, and Superman, but the campy style is more reminiscent of Batman, the TV series, though the film reportedly was filmed before the airing of that series. Although it seems intent on annoying the viewer, it does not entirely succeed, and a few of them found it varying degrees of amusing.

Rating: 35

L'ibis rouge (1975)

 English title: The Red Ibis

Based on the novel Knock Three-One-Two, by Fredric Brown, in turn an expansion of his short story Night of the Psycho, both first published in 1959.

Raymond is in debt with a loan shark and asks his wife for her jewels, but she wants to divorce him and sell the jewels to open a hair salon. Meanwhile, a serial killer of women is on the loose.

Dark comedy. The plot has some details which do not make sense, e.g., why did the restaurant owner need the jewels at all  -- Raymond would give them as collateral in a loan -- when he could simply use his money directly to buy the house? Anyway, this is a film where the comicity comes from the characters, so the plot is not exactly the most important thing in it.

Rating: 57

A Marcha (1972)

Laerte is the son of a landowner in 19th-century Brazil. His father is notorious for his mistreatment of slaves. Laerte joins the abolitionist movement, but hides his identity under a series of disguises. A side plot has a freed slave helping slaves to escape.

While vaguely interesting for its depiction of an important historical period, it's decidely ridiculous from a dramatic point of view. The color cinematography is good, though.

Rating: 35