O Pátio das Cantigas is a Portuguese

Portugal

Portugal , officially the Portuguese Republic is a country situated in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula. Portugal is the westernmost country of Europe, and is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the West and South and by Spain to the North and East. The Atlantic archipelagos of the...

 film from 1942, directed by Francisco Ribeiro

Ribeirinho

Ribeirinho, stage name of Francisco Carlos Lopes Ribeiro was a Portuguese actor and director....

, "Ribeirinho", that takes place in a typical Lisbon

Lisbon

Lisbon is the capital city and largest city of Portugal with a population of 545,245 within its administrative limits on a land area of . The urban area of Lisbon extends beyond the administrative city limits with a population of 3 million on an area of , making it the 9th most populous urban...

 neighbourhood during the Popular Saints festivals, through a maze of misunderstandings and innuendos, with Vasco Santana

Vasco Santana

Vasco Santana was a Portuguese actor, one of the most renowned of the classical era of Portuguese cinema....

, António Silva

António Silva

António Maria da Silva was a Portuguese actor. He accumulated over 40 credits over his more than 50 years in acting.-Early life:...

, Laura Alves and Ribeiro.

The film also stars António Silva

António Silva

António Maria da Silva was a Portuguese actor. He accumulated over 40 credits over his more than 50 years in acting.-Early life:...

, António Vilar, Armando Chagas, Barroso Lopes, Carlos Alves, Carlos Otero, Eliezer Kamenesky, Francisco de Castro, Graça Maria, Maria da Graça and Maria das Neves.

One of the most beloved comedies of the Portuguese cinema, O Pátio das Cantigas represents the convergence of top talent of the time, most notably Ribeirinho who directed, his brother, António Lopes Ribeiro

António Lopes Ribeiro

António Filipe Lopes Ribeiro was a Portuguese film director.Son of Manuel Henrique Correia da Silva Ribeiro and wife Ester da Nazaré Lopes, he was the older brother of actor Ribeirinho.-Filmography:...

 who produced and, joining both brothers on the writing credits, Vasco Santana

Vasco Santana

Vasco Santana was a Portuguese actor, one of the most renowned of the classical era of Portuguese cinema....

. It was the first these three stars worked together and also the only film directed by Ribeirinho.

The script is based upon a set game of witty dialogues rife with innuendo and "double entendres", that admirably captured the atmosphere of a Lisbon neighbourhood and popular through the Saints celebrations, from a set of archetypical characters, meddling in their quarrels, confrontations and ambitions.

Plot

In a typical Lisbon "pátio", or courtyard, by the Popular Saints festivals, a handful of plain people live their day-to-day, their dreams, disappointments, passions, jealousies and joys in an almost enchanted atmosphere. Alfredo is a good lad whose brother Carlos, flirts with frivolous Amália. Her sister, Suzana, is in turn in love with Alfredo. Narciso, Rufino's father and his partner in the neighbourhoods café, is a chronic drunkard and a guitar virtuoso. Rosa, a merry widow that sells flowers, is in turn courted by Narciso and by the unpleasant and arrogant Evaristo, the grocer, father to envious and spoiled Celeste. The rivalry between Narciso and Evaristo reaches its height in a dance night at the courtyard that ends in a veritable camp battle. At long last all is settled between the several loving couples and life goes on serenelly in the courtyard.

Popular culture

Some gags became household references, such that of Vasco Santana returning home drunk and trying to light his cigarette from a street lamp, that will guide him to bed, or the teasing of António Silva with "Evaristo, tens cá disto?".