Villaflor’s comedies examined social classes

There had  been comedies in the early years, like “Ay, Monang,” and  characters like “Bondying,” “Jack and Jill,” “Mambo Dyambo,” “Baby Bubut,” “Gorio at Tecla” and “Kaming Mga Talyada,” but after director Romy Villaflor entered the picture, Sampaguita and VP films were never the same again.

His merit as a director lies in his antic appreciation of the “usual.”  He didn’t take it for granted! Take the character of “Susanang Daldal,” played by the glamorous Susan Roces, the first picture that Villaflor directed, in 1962.

Endearing

There is no glamour in being a talkative person, but Susan’s character was so endearing that she was loved by the people.

But, what happens when she meets Amaliang Mali-Mali (Amalia Fuentes, in another film) – and they are pitted against each other?

To portray a mali-mali person is even more daunting, because she gets startled and flies off the handle at the slightest provocation.  This is “very Filipino” and there is one in every barrio, but she’s certainly not as beauteous as Amalia – but Villaflor rose to the challenge! He directed “Amaliang Mali-Mali Vs. Susanang Daldal” for his second assignment, in 1963. Given his acceptance of the “unusual” being “usual,” it was up to him to create the comedic situations to make his film hilarious.

True to type

His leading characters ran true to type, but no two were exactly the same.  There is an equally strong sense of society as a whole.

Another VP film which he directed from his own screenplay was “Hi Society (1954).”  Here, we find Villaflor at his best, manipulating the events in a situational comedy where he focuses on Panchito Alba, as the distressed father of three “high society” girls who arrive from the USA, played by Susan, Liberty Ilagan and Meldy Corrales. They do not know that their father had gone bankrupt and is playing his last card, a millionaire who is crazy in love with his eldest daughter (Susan).  He expects her to marry him and go back to the States with her sisters to continue living the “high society” life they have been used to.

Villaflor also directed Nida Blanca in two films at Sampaguita-VP Pictures,  “Sosayting Tindera (1963)” and “Bumunot Ka’t Lumaban (1964).” During the ’70s, he was busy directing films for other producers.

After the demise of Dr. Jose Perez in 1975, he moved on to RVQ Productions, where he directed Dolphy in “Stariray (1981),” “Mga Anak ni Pacifica Falayfay (1987)” and  “Da Best in the West (1989),” a spoof on “The Wild, Wild West.”