Esse Milhão É Meu

The government employee and family man Felismino Tinoco (Oscarito) is awarded with one million in his job due to his assiduity, and his colleagues force him to go to a night-club to celebrate the prize. The showgirl Arlete (Sonia Mamede) and her smalltime crook boyfriend decide to steal the money from the naive Felismino, plotting a scheme with a fake murder and then blackmailing Felismino. When his greedy family finds that her earned the prize, his wife and his mother-in-law decide to spend the money in luxury. Meanwhile, his smart niece Sueli (Miriam Teresa) discloses the fraud and she is kidnapped by the bandit.

This chanchada is delightfully naive and silly, but has action and many funny lines, specially for Brazilians. Following the standard of this popular Brazilian musical comedy of the 40's and 50's, there are many critics hidden in the jokes that are still valid in 2007. The civil servant awarded with a huge prize just because he is never absent of his work; when he believes that the police is chasing him, he comments that he does not have parliamentary immunity; the consumption dream of the financially repressed middle-class, these are only some samples of a sharp criticism to the ethics and behavior of our society. Unfortunately the VHS released in Brazil has troubles with the sound in many parts, being impossible to understand many dialogs. My vote is six.

Title (Brazil): "Esse Milhão É Meu" ("This Million Is Mine")

The chanchada was a sort of popular comedy/musical movie in the 40´s to 60´s brazilian cinema. This one is one of my ten best ever made. The story is about of a man who wins 1 million as a premium for being the only brazilian public servidor (is that the term?) who really work in his job. Two crooks try to steal his money in an attempted fake-murder-extortion scheme (who was clearly inspired in Edward G. Robinson´s misadventures in The Woman in the Window), and it´s only the beginning of the action and jokes!