ABSTRACT
The theme of this chapter is the Brazilian film Coisas Nossas [Our Things], directed by Wallace Downey in 1931. The original film and copy were lost, a situation which unfortunately is common in the history of Brazilian cinema, especially with regard to films produced in the first decades of the 20th century. Besides this Brazilian political context, discussion of Coisas Nossas should consider Souza's reference to the inspiration of American musical comedies such as Hollywood Revue evident in the film's lack of a specific plot or narrative thread. By the time he landed in Brazil, Wallace Downey had already had experience in the area of music recording. According to a note published in Variety, on September 1, 1922, Downey, who was then twenty years old, had just resigned from Cameo Records in New York, where he had directed the recording laboratory, to invest in this area on his own.
