''Roberta'' is a 1951 Filipino drama film based on the ''Tagalog Klasiks'' character of the same name by

Mars Ravelo Marcial "Mars" Ravelo (October 9, 1916 – September 12, 1988) was a Filipino comic book cartoonist and graphic novelist who created ''Darna, Dyesebel, Captain Barbell, Lastikman'', '' Bondying'', ''Varga'', ''Wanted: Perfect Mother'', ''Hiwa ...

. Directed by Olive La Torre, it stars child actress

Tessie Agana Tessie Agana (born May 16, 1942) is a Filipina former child actress of the 1950s. She is best known for her role as the titular character in the 1951 film ''Roberta'', which was then the highest grossing Philippine film of all time. Her mother was ...

as the titular character, alongside Van de Leon,

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, Maria Cristina,

Rosa Mia Rosita Quinto Stecza (1925 – November 28, 2006), known by her screen name Rosa Mia, was an award-winning actress and one of the few female directors in the Philippines. She was known as the "Queen of Tearjerker Movies" for her work mostly on the ...

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and Tony Cayado. Produced by

Sampaguita Pictures Sampaguita Pictures was a Philippine film production company. It was named for the Philippine national flower, sampaguita. Though no longer functioning, the company's Sampaguita Compound remains in Quezon City. History Sampaguita Pictures was es ...

on a low budget after a fire destroyed the studio's film library, it was released in 1951, and was an unprecedented box office success. It won two

Maria Clara Awards The Maria Clara Awards is the first formal film industry award-giving body of the Philippines. It was established in 1950 by a group of writers from the Manila Times Publishing, Co., which included National Artist Dr. Alejandro Roces, regarded ...

, for Best Supporting Actress (Mia) and Best Cinematography (Higino Fallorina), and has since been credited with propelling the studio's revival in the early 1950s.

Cast

as Roberta *

Van de Leon A van is a type of road vehicle used for transporting goods or people. Depending on the type of van, it can be bigger or smaller than a pickup truck and SUV, and bigger than a common car. There is some varying in the scope of the word across ...

as Roberta's father *

as a bar girl * Maria Cristina *

* Tony Cayado *Candida Valderrama *Pablo Raymundo *Ric Flores *Pablo Naval *Helen Miraflor *Batotoy

Release

Released in theaters in 1951, ''Roberta'' achieved unprecedented box office success, becoming the highest-grossing Philippine film of all time and holding the record for nearly ten years. It has been credited with reviving

which at the time was attempting to recover from low finances after a fire destroyed thousands of film reels stored in its library. A remake was planned in 1990, with Ice Seguerra as Roberta and Bibeth Orteza as screenwriter, though it did not come to fruition.

Accolades

and Higino J. Fallorina won the

for Best Supporting Actress and Best Cinematography respectively.

References

External links

*{{IMDb title} 1951 films 1951 drama films Tagalog-language films Films based on Philippine comics Philippine drama films Philippine films based on comics