Black Orpheus

It is amazingly exciting -- sometimes, with the quick voluptuous beat of the music, and the mad gusto of the costumed dancers, the pace seems unbearable in its speed and passion. There is realism and imagery; fantasy and truth.

The picture represents a beautiful and touching concept of the old legend.

A stunning example of ingenuity and art.

[Breno Mello and Marpessa] Dawn are exceedingly well chosen to be the romantic principals.

The film is often beautiful, a swirl of color and music and movement almost from first to last.

Black Orpheus is a magnificently photographed picture rich in the carnival atmosphere that is its background.

...the Brazil of the film is a European fantasy (it was a French-Italian-Brazilian production and director Marcel Camus was French)...but the music is real and so is the talent of the performers...

Black Orpheus brings this story into the contemporary world, utilizing the carnival as a metaphor for the supernatural world.

Black Orpheus (Orfeu Negro) is the most imaginative, colorful, and lyric expression of French “new wave-ism” to reach North American screens at this writing.

The amiability and sincerity of Marcel Camus are not in question. But then, does being amiable and sincere suffice to make a good film?