FILM REVIEW: REVITALIZING ROMANTICISM (TATLONG KASAYSAYAN NG PAG-IBIG), The Weekly Nation Magazine, February 1966

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"TATLONG KASAYSAYAN NG PAG-IBIG"

Release Date:  January 19, 1966/Dalisay Theater

Production:  AM Productions

Direction:  Gerardo de Leon

Screenplay:  Pierre Salas

Music:  Tito Arevalo

Camera Direction:  Mike Accion

Stars:  Amalia Fuentes, Romeo Vasquez

 with special guest appearances of Tito Galla,

Nancy Roman, Mary Walter and Connie Angeles

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Read the full article:

REVITALIZING ROMANTICISM

Spotlight by Ophelia San Juan

The Weekly Nation Magazine, February 1966

TATLONG Kasaysayan Ng Pag-ibig, as its title suggests, is made up of three romantic stories.  Just how romantic they are may be gleaned from the essential contents of each story:  a young girl of college student age discovers love for the boy next door -- after both have gone steady with other partners; a very rich woman develops a strong passion for a very tainted playboy-gangster, and prepares to throw away her fortune and her high-society life for the chance to live with him; a girl of the night supporting an invalid boyfriend and his poor family is led to marriage and respectability by him when he learns of the sacrifice she is making for his sake.

The best realized, the last episode is clear, realistic, cogent, and cohesive.  Tina (Amalia Fuentes) is an unlettered waif who finds herself a hardworking, poorly paid, and often amorously assailed waitress in a Chinese-owned restaurant after a childhood of poverty and parentlessness.  When a student (Romeo Vasquez) drops in to take his unluxurious snack, Tina immediately begins to like him, to solicit his friendship openly and without much timid modesty.  An easy, casual relationship between the two ensues in which no word about love is said, no mention about a binding romance is made.  Yet when Vasquez injures himself and becomes a cripple as he is sideswiped by an onrushing truck, Amalia is unable to stand his plight:  she gives in to the Chinese restaurant owner's long-standing proposition for two hundred pesos, the exact price of a hospital room's down payment for Vasquez, and goes on to ply a prostitute's trade as she strives to give him worthy sickbed presents and, later, his sustenance as well as his family's (composed of a palsied, aging grandmother and a grade school-age sister).

Her self-sacrificing action may perhaps be explained by the fact that Vasquez's injury results from his own spontaneous, self-forgetting gesture to save her from the destructive path of the truck as she stands on the street calling his attention to a forgotten textbook -- in which case this becomes a logical and realistic entry in life's balance book of values; and again it may be an impulsive and recklessly romantic notion of a female in love to still give her idol the most prized offering she can (her womanhood) while ostensibly exchanging it for his material needs -- in which eventually this turns out to be a more complicated flight of fancy than O. Henry's The Gift of The Magi.  The story of Tina in Tatlong Kasaysayan Ng Pag-ibig hints of equal elements of both realism and romanticism.

Blending these two becomes Director Gerardo de Leon's pleasant, if at times difficult, task -- and the result is highly pleasing cinema whose only defect is its being too polished when it can be erratically and roughly truthful as life actually is.  Whereas the modern cinema, as exemplified by the productions of the cinema verite' movement, throws a natural, undiffused, and unfiltered look at life, the world of De Leon, so thoroughly examined in this trilogy about three young and beautiful women, is a lovely panorama, and even prostitution is divested of its gnarled visage, its sting of life, its chill breath of death.  His is the romantic world of the Mary Magdalena, washed of sin by love and pure as driven snow -- and the young lovers can cross the Santa Cruz bridge of sighs to the ringing of church bells.  Or a heavenly choir, perhaps.

The same out-of-this-worldliness inherent in Tina's tale pervades the story of Cynthia, the rich socialite who would willingly give up wealth and identity just to be loved and possessed by her triggerman-lover.  Again a very improbable story, and equally as romantic as the one about Tina, Cynthia's downward path to love is dramatically stopped by love's own sacrifice.  Her triggerman-lover, who had been originally ordered and set to divest her of her wealth prior to his terminating her life, turns about and as in all the tales of the romantics sacrifices himself for love.

 The story is apparently De Leon's meat -- and he gnaws at it with verve and gusto.  The result is a rather startling movie, full of blood and streaked with perversity -- the romantic concept of the violent life as led by gangsters in marzotto.  But the realism that De Leon eschews gives the movie its attractive sheen, and one is almost dazzled by Amalia's shining eyes as she looks, with wondrous blindness through her bejewelled world, at the nether zone of a lust-infested gangdom.

The world of Betty, the teenager who takes a bit of time to discover that love is living only next door, is no less romantic.  This time the setting is suburbia, with its lovely bungalows, wide terraces, gravelled sidewalks, swimming pools, and jam sessions.

Though the story is basically sophomoric -- about the romantic theme of first love and its heart-rending discovery -- the details used in bringing about the realization of love's awakening are quite striking and contemporary.  The scene of Teroy de Guzman, just for one example, where he ogles the enraptured couple (Amalia and Romeo) inside a stalled taxicab is one of the most refreshingly new and originally acted sequences in Filipino movies.  Above all, the characterization by Miss Fuentes of a bespectacled, rather gawky teenage girl getting more enamoured by the minute of the somewhat clumsy boy next door is almost like a closeup of a rosebud opening.

In fact, the entire film of Tatlong Kasaysayan is a study in acting, wherein Amalia Fuentes, who has always been better known for her sweet-faced beauty, presents a revealing inventory of her talents.

Not only did she write the original story, on which Pierre Salas based his script, but she also, by dint of sustained acting excellence, gives corporeal life to the characters which her imagination had created.

She can look and act like sweet sixteen, stand and preen herself like a diamond queen, and sway her hips (sometime her handbag, too) like a common streetwalker.  Her portrayals of Tina and Betty are specially notable, as they almost embody the entire sphere of womanhood -- from the birth of love to its death and, ultimately, it's rebirth.  And through all the phases, Miss Fuentes is in full control, utilizing every nuance of glance and gesture, every inflection of word and voice, to communicate her thoughts and meanings.  She does all this with an ease that almost traipses on the borderline of calculated coolness.  If this is not true acting, somebody has to come up with something better yet.

Director De Leon's smooth and polished style is the only intrusion that occasionally reminds one of the make-believe quality of this motion picture.  A bit of the cinema verite' in places where the realistic and candid view is effective -- as in the whorehouse sequence and in the slum settings -- would have made Tatlong Kasaysayan a film worthy of any international film festival competition.

However, as it is now, the sophisticated Tatlong Kasaysayan ng Pag-ibig is already a film to reckon with when the next Famas awards and the Asian Film Festival come around.  It is far and above the quality of most Filipino movies.  The camera work of Mike Accion, who has felicitously collaborated with De Leon in two other significant films, Noli Me Tangere and El Filibusterismo, succeeds in evoking the proper moods and atmosphere for the scenes of the three stories.  The background music written and directed by Tito Arevalo, while not specially arresting because of the lack of luster that good background music project in modifying and emphasizing a scene as an adjective does a verb, is unobtrusively correct. 

But perhaps the domination that Amalia Fuentes exercised is enough for a movie, even for one with three stories like Tatlong Kasaysayan.  Excepting for some rare moments in the Tina story, wherein Mary Walter as the palsied grandmother watching with death-knowing eyes the evolving relationship between her crippled grandson and the virtuous prostitute gets in a few licks, Miss Fuentes dominates all the actors, including her leading man for all the three episodes -- Romeo Vasquez.  She emerges as a compulsive actress, projecting a multi-faceted, full and compelling image on the dim and narrow confines of today's Philippine movie screen.

With this kind of picture, the Filipino film might begin to discover its real metier -- not the world of the pseudo-Western, nor of the tiresome secret agent's, nor even of the glorified travelogue, in which Miss Fuentes herself has been badly exploited, but the true world of everyday people, even if made somehow glossier by the romantic outlook of such filmmakers as Gerardo de Leon and Miss Fuentes:  the world of love, sacrifice, nobility, and death -- the world of humans.

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FERNANDO POE, JR.: ISA PA RING MANGANGALAKAL SA DAIGDIG NG PELIKULA (Tagumpay Magazine, Mayo 27, 1964)

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CHARITO SOLIS: 1967 ASIA'S BEST ACTRESS (Asia Film Festival - Tokyo, Japan)

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COMING HOME VICTORIOUS IN THE ASIAN FILM FESTIVAL, SHE GETS ROYAL WELCOME 

by Jose V. Liza, Jr.

AND out came the decision.  Charito Solis, that lustrous star, has won the best actress award in the Asian Film Festival recently held in Tokyo, Japan.

Her triumph was not unexpected.  Her dramatic performance in Nepomuceno Productions' Dahil Sa Isang Bulaklak, opposite Ric Rodrigo, was really highly commendable.  Out of the possible 10 points Charito garnered 9.3 points when the board of judges made their selection for the best actress award in the Tokyo festival.  Her closest rival was very much behind in the ratings.

The news of her victory was received with great pride and rejoicing by the Philippine movie industry and the public.  Hence a glowing welcome was prepared for her on her homecoming.

Charito was met at the airport not only by her movie colleagues but also by Atty. Ricardo Balatbat, president of the Philippine Motion Picture Producers Association, and throngs of fans.

After an interview session at the VIP room of the airport she was ushered to a waiting topdown Thunderbird which led a motorcade along the Nichols route, out to Taft avenue, straight to the Escolta and ending at the city hall where she received a plaque of appreciation from Mayor Villegas and a reception was held in her honor.

Her Trip To Japan

Charito departed for the land of the cherry blossoms last Sept. 20 with Conching Morato, her hairdresser.  Although it was predicted she would be nominated for the best actress award, Charito was not expecting much.

"Who will not wish to win such an honor?" she said when interviewed at the airport before her departure.  "But I'm attending the festival as a representative of the Filipino artists, movie artists I mean.  And while there, during cocktail parties or important gatherings, I'm sure I'll be meeting new friends whether connected with the moview or not.  If I win, so much the better.  If I lose, it will not be hurting at all because I am not expecting too much."

To project the true image of a Filipina Charito brought with her her exquisite ternos.

"I know they will admire them," she said, "like the Americans did when we attended the Oscar Awards in Hollywood."

Another subject which Charito was able to talk about though briefly before she boarded the ramp of her plane was Langit Sa Lupa, her second picture for Nepomuceno Productions.  

"Charito, is it true that Langit is more highly dramatic than Dahil?", someone asked.

"Yes, doubly so, I think."

Questions were made about a published item concerning her and a scene in Langit which had to be re-taken.

With the thought that she was not able to give her best, Charito felt extremely disappointed.  In an outburst of dismay she pulled at her hair and bet her legs.  Spectators present on the set were caught speechless.  But those who understood the situation -- the cast and the crew -- they knew that it was a perfectionist's way of expressing her frustration.  Charito really gets upset whenever any highly dramatic scene has to be repeated before the cameras.

But once she gets any difficult scene in one take you can be sure it's perfect.  In fact you cna be moved to tears by it.

Her Achievements

Charito's accomplishments in Philippine movies are hard to equal.  She has three FAMAS statuettes to her credit and she is considered an international star by virtue of her having appeared in Buddha and The Princess And I for Japan's Daiel Motion Pictures, as well as in a Thai movie, Adventures of Captain Yuth.

Charito was also the first Filipino star to attend the Oscar Awards in Hollywood as a guest of the Academy.

She is expected to star in at least one Hollywood picture by next year.

Charito started her movie career very young and has appeared in more than 40 pictures.  Born Rosario Solis in Manila she came from a well-known family.  Her father was an editor of the Spanish-language Vox de Manila and once candidate for governor.

Her classic profile features and peach complexion first captured the public imagination in LVN's Nina Bonita, a picture directed by her uncle.

Last year after being away from the cameras for two and a half years she made seven pictures in a period of six months, all of them boxoffice hits.  She is extremely enthusiastic about being a part of a movie toward the upliftment of the Filipino movie industry.  She signed an exclusive contract with the Nepomuceno Productions for an undisclosed amount reaching seven figures.

In the next Asian Film Festival, Charito expects to have three pictures of her entered, Ang Langit Sa Lupa, Bathala and Igorota.

Ref.:  The Weekly Nation Magazine

          October 30, 1967

          Article written by Jose V. Liza, Jr.

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JUAN TAMAD GOES TO CONGRESS (Release Date: September 22, 1959, State Theater)

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SIMULA NGAYON SA STATE NG 'JUAN TAMAD'

Unang Pelikula Sa Kasaysayan Ng Panoorin Sa Pilipinas Na Magdaos Ng Paunang Pagtatanghal

(Taliba, Miyerkoles, Sept. 22, 1959)

Kagabi kasabay ng pagsisindi ng nakasisilaw na liwanag sa lobby ng Sine State ukol sa pelikulang "JUAN TAMAD GOES TO CONGRESS" ay muli na namang nabuksan ang panibagong kabanata sa kaunlaran ng industriya ng pelikula sa bansa.  Kagabi ay idinaos ang natatanging paanyayang "preview" ng "JUAN TAMAD GOES TO CONGRESS" at s araw na ito ay sisimulan ang unang tatlong araw ng paunang pagtatanghal.  Taglay ng pelikulang ito ang maraming "una" sa larangan ng paglilibang.  Ito ang unang pelikulang Tagalog na magkakaroon ng paunang pagtatanghal sa State simula nang ito ay pasinayaan noong 1936.

Nangunguna sa talaan ng nagsisiganap ay sina Manuel Conde, Tessie Quintana at ang bagong tuklas na si Adorable Liwanag.  Subali't higit na malaking kaunlaran sa kasaysayan ng pelikula ang kanyang produksiyong ito na naganap na sa ikatlong pagkakataon.  Noong una, si Manuel Conde ay kinikilalang ama ng pelikulang katatawanan na noong mga panahong iyon ay hindi pinahahalagahan ng mga prodyuser.  Subali't pinatunayan ni Conde ang pagkakamali ng marami at ipinakilala niya iot sa pamamagitan ng kanyang "Maginoong Takas" na naging "hit" sa takilya.

Mula sa kanyang tagumpay sa "Maginoong Takas" ay isinapelikula ni Conde ang balita sa daigdig ng "Genghis Khan" na lumikha ng katangian sa Venice Film Festival.  Dahil sa kanyang nagawang ito ay natitik sa buong daigdig ang pangalang Manuel Conde at pinatunayan niyang ang pelikulang Tagalog ay marapat din sa pagtatanghal sa iba't ibang bansa.  Katunayan, hangga ngayon ay ipinamamahagi pa rin ng United Artist Corporation ang "Genghis Khan".

MGA KAHANGA-HANGANG TANAWIN NG BANSA NA ITINATAMPOK SA PELIKULA

Lahat ng pinakamagagandang tanawin sa Pilipinas ay makikita s unang pagkakataon na nilakipan ng likas na kulay sa pamamagitan ng "Juan Tamad Goes To Congress" na sisimulan sa araw na ito sa Sine State.

Sa isang nababagong kaparaanan ay igagala ang tanawin ng mga manonood ng prodyuser na si Manuel Conde sa pambansang pagmamasid sa Pilipinas na higit na mabilis kaysa aeroplanong "jet" na pumapaimbulog sa papawirin.  Ito ay sa pamamagitan ni Adorable Liwanag na ipakikitang nagpapalipat-lipat sa iba't ibang pook sa pagsisimula ng kasaysayan.  Siya ay makikita sa mga pook na katulad ng magandang Bulkan ng Mayon, ang nakabibighaning Lawa ng Taal sa may Tagaytay, ang kahanga-hangang Hundred Islands, ang bagong katutuklas na Magdapio Falls, ang ika-8 kababalaghan sa daigdig na Banaue Rice Terraces, ang mabalikong Ilog ng Magat sa Cagayan at marami pang mga pook na siyang kinaiinggitan ng mga ibang bansa sa tropiko dito sa Pilipinas sa larangan ng kagandahan ng kalikasan.

BUOD NG KASAYSAYAN NG 'JUAN TAMAD'

Bunga ng malaking pagkakautang ni Juan Tamad ay napilitang kumandidato sa pagka-representante dahil sa mahigpit na kahilingan ng kanyang mga pinagkakautangan.  Bagama't nag-aalinlangan, sinimulan ni Juan ang kampanya.

Bagama't isang baguhan sa larangan ng pulitika, si Juan Tamad ay nakarating sa Kongreso, at tinalo niya ang kanyang mga kalabang pawang mga batikan na sa larangan ng pulitika.  Sa kongreso ay natuklasan niya ang maraming "kakuwanan" ukol sa buhay ng isang kongresista na pawang natatamasa dahil s bisang tinataglay ng kanyang tungkulin.

Pagkaraan ng apat na taon ay umunlad ng malaki ang kabuhayan ni Juan subali't wala siyang nagawang anuman para sa kanyang mga kababayan.  Ninais niyang mahalal na muli kaya nagbalik siya sa kanyang kinakatawang "distrito".  Subali't nang dumating siya roon ay sinalubong siya ng galit na galit na mamamayan.  Pinagbabato at sinaktan siya.

Ang kasaysayan ay nagwawakas sa pamamagitan ng isang kapuri-puring katapusan nang si Juan Tamad ay magparinig ng makabagbag-damdaming talumpati na siyang kalatas na tinataglay ng buong pelikula.

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MGA DAING SA LIBINGAN (Release Date: April 25, 1961/Center Theater)

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"MGA DAING SA LIBINGAN"

(Released Date:  April 25, 1961/Center Theater)

A DZAQ Radio Serial

Written by Mario Mijares Lopez & Johnny de Leon

Production:  Tamaraw Studios

All Star Cast

Episode 1:  "MADRASTA"

Lilia Dizon, Alfonso Carvajal

Director:  Armando de Guzman

Episode 2:  "KAMPON NI HUDAS"

Amado Cortez, Lyn D'Amour, Vic Diaz

Director:  Gil de Leon

Episode 3:  "SALOT"

Gloria Sevilla, Willie Sotelo

Director:  Jose Miranda Cruz

Episode 4:  "ASUWANG"

Mat Ranillo, Lydia Resma, Jose Garcia

Director:  Jose Velasco

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PAGSAPIT NG HATINGGABI (Release Date: September 28, 1960, Center Theater)

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MGA ALAMAT NG SANDAIGDIG (Release Date: December 28, 1960-January 8, 1961, Center Theater)

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"MGA ALAMAT NG SANDAIGDIG"

A DZAQ Radio Serial

With an All Star Cast

Production:  Tamaraw Pictures

4 Shocking Horror Legends!

"ALAMAT NG BUTIKI"

Oscar Moreno, Lilia Dizon, Ben David

"ALAMAT NG PANIKI"

Willie Sotelo, Bert Olivar

"ALAMAT NG UNGGOY"

Pugak, Jose Cris Soto, Chichay, Rita Moreno, 

Ric Bustamante

"ALAMAT NG WATER LILY"

Myrna Delgado, Gloria Sevilla, Lilian Leonardo

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ANG KAMATAYAN NI ANDRES BONIFACIO (Taliba, May 10, 1960)

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Sinulat ni Arturo Ma. Misa

Taliba, Mayo 10, 1960

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VEINTE OCHO (28) DE MAYO (1960)

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"28 de Mayo"(1960)

(Vera-Perez Pictures, pinangunahan nina Van de Leon, Amalia Fuentes, Romeo Vasquez, Rosa Mia, kasama sina Bella Flores, Naty Santiago, Jose Morelos, Maria Luisa Straight, Pablo Raymundo at Isa Rinio, story ni Jose Leonardo, screenplay ni Emmanuel H. Borlaza at direksiyon ni Jose de Villa)

(Movie Ad courtesy of  Simon Santos, Video 48)

Ang pelikulang drama ng Vera-Perez Pictures na base sa tunay na naganap noong ika-28 ng Mayo 1960 sa Maynila at karatig-pook.  Isang malagim na pangyayaring ikinasawi ng daang katao nang malunod sa baha dulot ng bagyong si "Lucille".  Narito ang ilang "clippings" ng pahayagang TALIBA na nagbabalita sa pangyayari.

Taliba, Mayo 29, 1960

Taliba, Mayo 30, 1960

Taliba, Mayo 31, 1960

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MGA KUHANG LARAWAN MULA SA PAHAYAGANG TALIBA (MAYO 29-HUNYO 2, 1960)

Avenida Rizal, Manila

Azcarraga, Manila

 

Sampaloc, Manila

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