1h 40min | Drama, Fantasy, Music | 12 May 1959 (Cannes Film Festival) | Color, fs
Director: Marcel Camus
Stars: Breno Mello, Marpessa Dawn, Lourdes de Oliveira.
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0053146/
This is not a musical, and it's not American. But I own a copy because it's in the set Essential Art House: 50 Years of Janus Films.
Several songs listed in the Soundtracks, some performed by Orfeo, some in the score. Because this is Carnivale, we get a lot of rhythm, though not songs per se except from Orfeo. The dancing is made to look amateur, since it's carnival celebrants and groups of rehearsed but amateur performers.
Unless I missed something, the Orpheus myth is not well-represented here. The primary point of Orpheus is that he could not resist looking back to confirm that Eurydice was still with him as he was leading her out of Hades. This despite the condition that he would only succeed if he didn't look back.
In the film, Orfeo kills Eurydice differently: he accidentally electrocutes her when trying to rescue her from the masked man (Death) stalking her. Then Orfeo dies when jealous Mira throws stones at him while he's carrying Eurydice's corpse, and knocks him over a cliff.
I don't appreciate this film on any level. It's either too arty for me, or perhaps the emperor wears no clothes.
indie international, dir. Camus; 6
