Cinema
Verdejo gasta un millón
Eugenio de Liguoro · 1941
Synopsis
Juan Verdejo, a barrel-organ player and a character from the satirical magazine Topaze, receives from a millionaire a cheque for a million pesos, on condition that he spends it all in six months. Banking speculation makes him quadruple the sum, and he tastes the luxuries of the day, cars with radios and plush apartments. Mubi presents it as the Chilean Brewster's Millions. Eugenio Retes plays Verdejo, and Malú Gatica makes her screen debut there.
Context
Released in 1941 in Italo Chilena cinemas, the film takes up Verdejo, whom the poet Héctor Meléndez had brought to life in Topaze; Gabriel Sanhueza, a former editor of the magazine, wrote the story at Liguoro's request, according to the critic Carlos Ossa Coo. El Diario Ilustrado praised its unity and its dialogue sprinkled with witticisms. Mario Godoy regards it as the most profitable film of the sound period, and it is regarded as the greatest box-office success of its decade.
Who it is for
A popular comedy, which assumes some familiarity with Chilean satire of the forties; no French or English version.
Prizes and reception
A popular triumph, drawn from a character whom the satirical press had made familiar to the whole country.