Tuesday 5 May 2015

Films released in Brazil

19 June 1967 - Lina Wertmüller's 'Rita la zanzara' (Rita, o mosquito) is finally released in Sao Paulo at Cine Metropole.
Monthly 'Melodias' # 118, July 1967 with a 2-page article about 'Rita, o mosquito' (Rita la zanzara) featuring scenes in which Pavone impersonates Charlie Chaplin and Carmen Miranda
8 January 1968 - the sequel to 'Rita o mosquito' , 'Non stuzzicate la zanzara' (Não brinque com o mosquito) is released in Sao Paulo barely 6 months after the original drew a great public to it. But this time there was no proper advertising and being released during summer vacations didn't bode well for it. It looked like the film distributor didn't even tell RCA Victor they were releasing it so RCA didn't bother to release its sound-track album either. A total PR disaster compounded with the Italian pop-music vanishing act. 

The musical numbers staged by Lina Wertmüller were first-rate. Even the newspaper ad claimed: 'A resposta italiana aos shows de Hollywood' (Italians answer to Hollywood's musicals). Conservative newspaper Estadao was lenient with both Pavone's movies but even so 'Não brinque com o mosquito' (Do not tease the mosquito) had the shortest run possible soon disappearing at suburbs's theatres differently from Gigliola Cinquetti's 'Dio come ti amo' that played at suburbs's packed houses for 5 straight years... a real breakthrough. 
... and when everyone thought there was enough of Rita Pavone at the movies... Fama Filmes announces 'Rita no West'... soon at Cine Olido...
15 July 1968 - but actually 'Rita no West' was shown at Cine Maraba instead... and Cine Regencia on Rua Augusta and Cine Goiás in Pinheiros... plus all those movie-houses shown in the movie-ad. Rita Pavone was competing with 'Bonnie & Clyde' and '2001 a space odyssey'... and dozens of Italian so-called spaghetti-westerns...

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