Os Óculos do Vovô

1913 Comedy 4 minutes (surviving print) Directed by Francisco Santos

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About Os Óculos do Vovô

A boy paints the lenses of his grandfather's glasses while the old man sleeps. The grandfather wakes, thinks he has gone blind, and the household comes apart around him.

Cast & crew

More about Os Óculos do Vovô

Francisco Dias Ferreira dos Santos, a Portuguese director, made it in Pelotas for Guarany. It opened on 1 May 1913. It is the oldest Brazilian fiction film that still survives. Players billed with it include Jaime Cardoso, Mário Santos, Graziela Diniz, Jorge Diniz, and Santos himself.

Themes

  • Painted spectacles
  • A grandfather who thinks he is blind
  • A house in confusion
  • grandfather
  • glasses
  • Pelotas
  • Francisco Santos
  • Brazil
  • silent comedy

Music

Silent.

Preservation

Fragments recovered in the 1970s. The preserved version runs just over four minutes.

Notes

  • Wikidata lists a 15-minute duration, against a surviving copy of just over four minutes.
  • Fragments were recovered in the 1970s.
  • It is not a lost film, and it is not described as the first Brazilian fiction film. It is the oldest one still preserved.

Scenes

  • The boy paints the lenses while his grandfather sleeps.
  • The old man wakes and behaves as if he cannot see.

Also available

  • Wikimedia Commons (Os Óculos do Vovô (1913).webm)