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Tuesday, March 2, 2010

ROGELIO DE LA ROSA AND NORMA BLANCAFLOR IN "VICTORY JOE" (1946): A FILM BY MANUEL SILOS


"Victory Joe" (1946)- Stars Rogelio de la Rosa, Norma Blancaflor, Art Cantrell, Jose Cris Soto, Monang Carvajal, Justina David/ Directed by Octavio Silos


Victory Joe, set during the Liberation time, was one of the first movies to come out after the war. It tells of two military officers, a Filipino named Eduardo (Rogelio dela Rosa) and an American, Bob (Art Cantrell) vying for the love of Rosie (Norma Blancaflor), a pretty country girl.

Eduardo, Rosie 's boyfriend and an officer in the Philippine army, was part of the contingent fighting the advancing Japanese forces in Bataan. After the war, with no words about him, Rosie accepts an American suitor, a GI named Bob, part of the liberating American forces. She becomes an object of gossip and to dispel such nasty rumors going around, her mother sends her to a relative in Manila. However, Bob follows her.

Believing and fearing that Eduardo is killed, Rosie finally says yes to the persistent and determined Bob. But things get complicated when Eduardo, who turns out to be alive, comes home. Rosie, who is still in love with Eduardo, is now in a delicate position on how to tell Bob about it. On the other hand, Eduardo feels betrayed when he finds out that Rosie is dating and going out with the American GI.


On how Eduardo and Rosie settle their differences and finally reconcile can be viewed on the short clip below---


Courtesy of LVN Pictures

Plus... Enjoy the song and dance scenes as Rosie reminisces her good times with Eduardo (see clip below).


Courtesy of LVN Pictures

4 comments:

TheCoolCanadian said...

Simon:

Another fun film clip.

Now I have sampled lovely Norma Blancaflor's acting. It's okay, but nothing close to Lolita Rodriguez or Charito Solis.

And the siniguelas – my favorite fruit. The country used to export this fruit here, but for some reason, it stopped coming. One produce store in Chinatown told me that there's not enough supply of it, for the country is concentrating more in growing mangoes and calamansi.

Manuel Silos' scene showing Rogelio de la Rosa up the siniguelas tree with his shoes on, gave the scene that dream-like quality, because in reality, one would surely take off his shoes to climb a tree. Seeing one up the tree with his shoes on is a "stuff that dreams are made of", so to speak, for indeed, dreams are quite notorious for being illogical.

What I have been noticing in the old Filipino films is the toned down set decoration. In those days, the designers used very realistic "look" by using materials as close to real life as possible: paper buntings, chopped banana trees, some palm leaves, and other natural objects found in the barrios.

However, during my time in the 1970s, the set decorators have always gone overboard when it came to decorating the sets. They seemed to have developed a fetish for glitzy, gaudy shiny things, and bygollywow, flowers, tons and tons of flowers. Most of them were not available locally either, that Mother Lily had to allot a huge budget for them, sometimes ordering them from Hongkong. You'll see them lining the handrail and balusters of stairs, on walls, on the table, on window sills, and practically in every entrance to a room.

I wonder if these 70s set decorators have gotten the hint from Imelda Marcos who made sure to have lots of expensive flowers in her surroundings everyday.

:)

enadurata said...

Ang ganda ni Ms. Norma Blancaflor.
Thanks Simon!

Rodolfo Samonte said...

JM, Simon,
Not to mention ripping his barong tagalog climbing that tree. Must have been a tough scene to shoot, and still keep his barong intact. (Or am I that naive to think that he actually climbed a tree, hahaha. Must have been shot on the ground with the branches brought down to him.)
In one scene when Rogelio approaches the crowd to dance with Norma Blancaflor, he towers above everybody. The guy must have been at least 6'4"
I love that dancing scene. Norma not only looks tall, but also beautiful and slender. She was suppose to have one of the most beautiful face, with a face shaped like a heart.

TheCoolCanadian said...

Simon, Rod and James:

I like the dance number myself. It rather looks sweet and innocent, even dream-like. It actually made me feel warm inside. And the attire of the cast looks uniquely Filipino.

Unlike these days, every time I watch TFC (The Filipino Channel), the young actors are wearing hooded fleece, toque, leather jacket, even trench coat! What's really painful to see is that all of them are sweating like hell!

I am absolutely flummoxed why they would wear such get up in a tropical country where the heat of the sun can be awfully oppressive?

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