A Grande Vedete

Very nice chanchada, old light-hearted musical comedy, but with a drama element. It shows an ageing musical theater diva who does not accept to lose her still ongoing stardom status in spite of the fact that her body does not allow her to do the same things she used to. Dercy Gonçalves goes well in the leading role, but I consider that she was even better in other chanchadas, such as Sonhando com Milhões, Cala a Boca Etelvina, and Absolutamente Certo. By the way, this is the best performance by Zezé Macedo I have ever watched, with very funny gags despite her minor role. Argentine actress and ballerina Marina Marcel is charming here too. Humberto Catalão and John Herbert complete competently the leading casting. I also liked art direction. The end is moving, in a different way from the one in Sunset Boulevard.

After leaving Atlântida Studios, where he made his name as Brazil's most commercially successful director of popular musical comedies or "chanchadas", Watson Macedo formed his own production company and (in association with producer Oswaldo Massaini) directed 3 films starring the irrepressible, foul-mouthed, hilarious music-hall comedienne Dercy Gonçalves: "Depois Eu Conto" (1956), "A Baronesa Transviada" (the best of the trilogy, 1957) and this "A Grande Vedete" (1958).

In "A Grande Vedete", Dercy boldly enters dramatic territory, in this rip-off of Billy Wilder's "Sunset Boulevard". She plays Madame Janete (her name is a joke on French-Brazilian theatrical legend Mme. Henriette Morineau), an aging music-hall star who fails to acknowledge her fading fame, because her devoted impresario (Humberto Catalano) keeps her "fans" on the payroll. She falls in love with a struggling young playwright (John Herbert, in the William Holden role), who in turn is engaged to young ballerina Vilma (Marina Marcel, in the Nancy Olson role). But the young writer sees in Janete an opportunity to have his play produced. The dramatic setting is there, but don't worry: this is a chanchada, and nobody's hurt in the proceedings -- the world is a big laugh.

The film is painfully stale and predictable, with a dismal pace, and you can outguess every plot turn. Dercy, as usual, plunges head-on in her role, but she's unredeemably misfit; as a dramatic actress, she's embarrassing. However, "A Grande Vedete" is worth watching for two hilarious scenes: the ballet lesson scene, where plump and flat-footed Dercy, impossible to describe in her collant and tutu, drives the maître de ballet crazy with her side-splitting elephantine steps; and the ballet rehearsal, where she, with her ballistic jetées and pas de bourrées, drags her unfortunate partner down on the floor with her -- it's a physical comedy tour-de-force. Dercy's wildly funny, caricature mugs and outrageous burlesque "choreography" can be compared to the best of the uncomplicated clowning of Jerry Lewis, Martha Raye or Louis de Funès. These 5 minutes alone are worth the DVD rental.