Black Orpheus

Orfeu Negro / Black Orpheus, Great Britain-France-Italy (GB-FR-IT) 1959, col, 107 min.

dir Marcel Camus pro Sacha Gordine sc Marcel Camus, Jacques Viot ph Jean Bourgoin mus Luiz Bonfá, Antonio Carlos Jobim ed Andrée Feix cast Breno Mello, Marpessa Dawn, Marcel Camus, Fausto Guerzoni, Ademar Da Silva, Lourdes de Oliveira dis Hollywood Classics

A retelling of the Orpheus and Eurydice myth, set during the time of the Carnival in Rio de Janeiro. Orfeo, engaged to Mira, is a trolley conductor and musician. During Carnival week, he sees Eurydice, who's fled her village in fear of a stalker: it's a love at first sight. Serafina, Eurydice’s’ cousin, with whom she stays in Rio, is a friend of Orfeo and Mira, so the lovers paths meet again. Later, during the revels, wearing Sarafina's costume, Eurydice dances a provocative samba with Orfeo. Mira is furious when the identity of the rival is revealed. Eurydice is in danger. Hunted not only by Orfeos’ fiancée’s wrath, but also by Death itself. Will Orfeo ensure her safety?

Trailer: see

Marcel Camus (1912)

French film director and scriptwriter. Debuted simultaniuesly with New Wave – “Fugitive in Saigon” breaking taboo of colonial war in Indochina. He became famous thanks to “Black Orpheus”. His other films: “L'Oiseau de paradis”, “Le Mur de l'Atlantique”. At the end of his life he worked in TV.