the
bride in the sky
by Douglas Messerli
Vittorio Verga
(screenplay), Luiz de Barros (director) Augusto Anibal Quer Casar (Augusto
Anibal Wants to Get Married) / 1923 [Lost film]
Luiz de Barros
(1893-1982) was one of the major Brazilian filmmakers of the silent era
who continued to work after the shift to
sound, producing from 1914 to the late 1970s over 80 works of cinema. He was
known for his complete control of nearly all aspects of his films.
In his premiere work he played a
character intent upon marrying a young woman named Yara Jordão, following her
in his car before she slips away to join her other women friends. Noticing that
she is now in the company the other beauties, he follows them to the Gávea
beach, where he has an accident, being thrown from the car, and resulting in a
concussion. Suddenly he sees all of the female bathers as dancing nymphs and
attempts to join them in their romps, evidently proposing to marry each of
them.
When they return to the city, the girls
decide to take revenge upon him for his seeming marriage “mania,” and they pay
a transvestite named Darwin to pretend to marry him.
Once they are falsely “married,” Darwin
escapes, while “her” still slightly brain-damaged husband Anibal speeds off to
the sea, flying away in a seaplane in an attempt to find his bride in the sky.
I might add that the above represents the
first English language description of the plot, which I translated from an
obscure Portuguese-language source.
This now lost film is recognized as the
first portrayal of an LGBTQ character in Brazilian cinema history.
Los Angeles, March 30,
2021
Reprinted from My
Queer Cinema blog and World Cinema Review (March 2021).
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