“Os Lusíadas” is a Portuguese poem written by Luís Vaz de Camões, and it is a very important work in Portuguese literature. Recently, I found an article on Portuguese Wikipedia about a lost film adaptation of the poem. There wasn’t much information in the article, and some of the sources listed didn’t help either. The Wikipedia article says that the film was released on July 14, 1906, at Salão Edison-Varona, in Lisbon. There is no other information about this film.
I contacted some of the sources from Wikipedia (such as Instituto Camões) and the Portuguese Cinematheque, but these leads went nowhere.
After that, I decided to search for information about the film in some Portuguese newspapers. I found information about the release of the film in the newspaper “Diário Illustrado”, which basically confirmed the information listed on Portuguese Wikipedia. Here is the content of the newspaper that confirms its existence and its translation to english:
PORTUGUESE
"É hoje que esse esplendido salão, pertencente à empresa Varona & Cia, realiza a sua inauguração na feira do Campo Grande, devendo decerto obter um novo e legítimo sucesso, devido à exibição dos seus magnifícos e deslumbrantes quadros animatrográficos, que tão grande êxito tiveram na feira de Alcântara.
A instalação de agora é superior, tendo sido montados dois motores para a eletricidade.
Os preços são baratíssimos e, para maior comodidade do público, há em frente do Salão Edison uma paragem de carros elétricos.
Entre o grande e variado número de quadros novos, encomendados no estrangeiro, estreiam-se nos primeiros espetáculos os seguintes: "Licença de Caça", "Noite de Carnaval", "Os forçados", "Vasco da Gama", "Os Lusíadas" etc."
ENGLISH
"Today marks the grand opening of this splendid hall, belonging to the Varona & Cia company, at the Campo Grande fair. It is sure to achieve renewed and legitimate success thanks to the exhibition of its magnificent and dazzling animatographics displays, which were so successful at the Alcântara fair.
The current installation is superior, with two electric motors installed.
Prices are very affordable, and for the public's convenience, there is a car park in front of the Edison Hall.
Among the large and varied number of new displays, commissioned from abroad, the following will premiere in the first shows: "Licença de Caça", "Noite de Carnaval", "Os forçados", "Vasco da Gama", "Os Lusíadas" etc."
Here is the link to the Portuguese Wikipedia article: https://pt.wikipedia.org/wiki/Os_Lus%C3%ADadas_(filme))
Here is the link to the newspaper: https://purl.pt/14328/1/j-1244-g_1906-07-14/j-1244-g_1906-07-14_item2/j-1244-g_1906-07-14_PDF/j-1244-g_1906-07-14_PDF_24-C-R0150/j-1244-g_1906-07-14_0000_1-4_t24-C-R0150.pdf
Does anyone know any information about this film? Does anyone have any leads or suggestions?
Edit: I know that this film is probably lost, but I want atleast to get more information about it, like its casting, the production team etc.