Cinema
O Costa do Castelo
Arthur Duarte · 1943
Synopsis
André, son of a rich aristocratic family, falls in love with Luisinha, a young bank clerk without fortune. To see her every day, he takes a room in the boarding house run by his godfather and godmother, takes another name and passes himself off as a chauffeur. In the same house lodges Simplício Costa, known as Costa do Castelo, a lazy, easygoing guitarist and something of a swindler, whom everyone adores.
Context
The film is drawn from a play and poems by João Bastos, who wrote its dialogue; Fernando Fragoso wrote the screenplay. Produced by Tobis, it opened at the São Luiz, in Lisbon, on 15 March 1943, and the quality of its sound recording, then uncommon, was noted. The plot rests on an old device, the hidden identity; what has lasted is the continual movement of the characters and the liveliness of the dialogue. It opened a series of popular comedies by the director with the young Milú; the singer Hermínia Silva, who made only five films, sings two fados in it.
Who it is for
A black-and-white comedy, in Portuguese, of over two hours; it proceeds by sketches, and the pleasure lies in the types and the lines.
Prizes and reception
Regarded as its director's best film, a critical and commercial success, and one of the most popular Portuguese comedies of all time.
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