Carnival in Brazil 1942 Brazilian music & Elsie Houston shown on an Eiki 16mm projector

This short feature film depicts Brazil and entertainers from the early 1940's. This is a one of several shorts that are spliced together on a 60 minute reel of film. This is one of ten I purchased at an estate sale for only 25 cents each a few months ago. One is a full length b/w motion picture. The others range from British war films, foreign dancers, American war related entertainment. I also have many other 16mm films containing close to 100 soundies, which are 3 minute movies of popular orchestras and singers. Soundies were made for scopitone jukeboxes in the 1940's that showed music videos instead of playing records, similar to the music videos we have today. They are several reels over an hour running time with 3 minute music videos. The flicker in the film is caused by the mismatched timing of the projector and the camcorder. This is not present when viewing the film directly from the projector.

Category:

Entertainment

Tags:

• carnival
• in
• rio
• brazil
• south
• america
• latin-america
• fun-in-brazil
• 1930's-
• 1940's
• eiki
• projector
• 16mm
• film
• vintage
• films
• elsie
• houston
• fernando
• alvarez
• don
• alfonso
• orch
• vintage-16mm-films

[gullcity]

This was directed by Leslie Roush and released in 1942. Here's an excerpt from a review in Variety:

"Sock Latin-American one-reeler, lacking a dull moment... Singing of Elsie Houston, Brazilian soprano, fits nicely into the opening sequence while the wild gyrations of Jose and Lolita Vega are nearly as primitive as some of the Brazilian stepping captured (but a mere flash) by the newsreel camera... Exciting enough to make on want to visit Rio at carnival time."

[maynardcat]

Hi gullcity. Thanks for the information, on the vintage film, and I will correct the date to 1942.

[Homoclassicus]

@Rentinrio Brazilian people, especially in music and other arts, used trill "r" instead of the various sounds that are now used in Brazil instead of that "Spanish-like" /r/. Other features of accent and pronunciation also changed from the 30's and 40's to our days in Brazil, so I think that explains why it sounds kind of "artificial" to current Brazilians. All artists of that time sang and spoke that way.

[andup123]

Wow dude this is real cool thanks for sharing ;)

[75capriceconvertible]

Interesting to see Rio in the 1940s! I've always wanted to see that icon of Christ and was never aware just how long it has been there. Love the scenes of the beaches... great shots of the carnival and entertainment! Awesome footage in this short movie. I see what you mean about the flicker but actually it just adds to the whole experience.

[LE3C]

THANK YOU for posting this video with the great singer Elsie Houston. Is there any more footage of her anywhere? It is sad that this film was released in the year that Elsie Houston died...

[shulamitegirl]

I guess blacks didn't exist lol they were better dancers and singers anyway the people in the video are nothing to get excited about I would rather see real talent back in those days not whitewash glamour!!!! It kind of sad if that was really rio or brazil lol

[Rentinrio]

I find a few things fascinating in this. 1. It says a lot about the US n the 40's. Notice that there is not a black face in the Paramount video. I guess this would not be acceptable at that time. Also, listening to the accent, it seems more Portugal than Rio - I wonder about the evolution of the Rio accent. See the movie "It's Not All True" about Orson Wells in Brazil at this time. It adds some perspective to this.

[brcmano]

Well, my grandmother's lived through the forties, and she said that dancing tango was very common in Brazil on those days. My grandpa used to love to go to dance clubs to watch and listen to tango music, in Sao Paulo.

[charlesbonares]

It's a miracle to see Elsie Houston.

[HunterMann]

great film footage! I hope to find this on 16mm or even a very good DVD copy. Such great music & dancing and old images of Rio.