THE FIFTIES # 373: PARALUMAN, VAN DE LEON, AMALIA FUENTES, JUANCHO GUTIERREZ IN MARS RAVELO'S "RODORA" (1955-56): KOMIKS SERIAL AND MOVIE ADAPTATION/ Re-posted

"Rodora" (1956)
Sampaguita Pictures
Release Date August 7-19, 1956/ Dalisay
Story Mars Ravelo
Serialized in Pilipino Komiks
Direction Mar S. Torres
Cast Paraluman, Van de Leon, Amalia Fuentes, Juancho Gutierrez, Cesar Reyes, Chichay, Justina David, Ven Medina, Martin Marfil, Romeo Vasquez/ Introducing Meldy Corrales

Based from the novel by Mars Ravelo, Rodora tells of the sad plights of a mother and a daughter separated by fate; the mother who has no memory of a child she bore and the child (a daughter) who hopes of finding her long lost mother.
Clara (played by screen legend Paraluman), a mother of two (a boy and a girl), is left for dead dumped in an isolated river bank by her jealous husband, Don Gustavo (Van de Leon) after she was brutally beaten (see the first film clip below).

Courtesy of Sampaguita Pictures

A farmer, Damian (Ven Medina) finds her, takes her home and treats her injuries. When Clara wakes up, she can’t remember anything--- a victim of amnesia. She assumes new identity, falls in love with Damian, marries him and bears a child, Rodora.

In a sudden turn of events, Clara regains her old self, goes hysterical and runs away. Damian, in pursuit, is killed in the process when he is run over by the speeding train. Clara comes home to her old house surprising Gustavo. Clara is herself shocked when told the she is away for a year and she can’t explain nor remember what transpired in those months she is absent. Clara begs to stay and Gustavo, still mean and harsh to Clara decides not to take her in, but change his mind when Clara warns of legal actions against him on the custody of the children. She is treated by Gustavo more of a servant and the children are made to believe that their mother is long dead.
Years passed, the grown-up Rodora (Amalia Fuentes), in the care of her drunkard grandfather, Mang Adiong (Martin Marfil), decides to go to the city in search for her mother. Gustavo now dead and the two grown-up kids are making life hard on their mother and Clara believes that time will heal all wounds and her two children will soon come to realize their mistakes.
Rodora ends up working in Clara’s household (in all places). Celso (Juancho Gutierez), Rodora’s boyfriend, learns from Don Gustavo and Clara’s former servant (Chichay) who happens to be Celso’s guardian that the wedding photo and the diary of Don Gustavo she stole, is the same woman he saw in the framed photo hanging in the house of Rodora. At that moment, Clara’s son, who has a lustful desire on Rodora, which is supposed to be his half sister, tries to rape her. That exciting climax can be viewed in the second clip below---

Courtesy of Sampaguita Pictures

Pilipino Komiks/ 1955/Unang Labas
Nobela ni Mars Ravelo/ Guhit ni P.Z. Marcelo

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---Ika-13 na labas---

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Komiks materials---
From the private collection of Steve Santos