Ibong Adarna (The Adarna Bird, Manuel Conde and Vicente Salumbides, 1941)

Songbird

What Filipino hasn't heard of the Ibong Adarna, the magical bird whose sweet singing puts the unwary listener to sleep and whose droppings turn said listener into stone? Narcisa 'Dona Sisang' de Leon (grandmother of filmmaker Mike de Leon) certainly did, and knew just how much Filipinos loved the story-- so much so that she was willing to risk money on a lavish (for Filipinos anyway) film adaptation. She was right too-- the production was a hit, the first Filipino film to gross over a million pesos. 

Aladin; In Despair; Hantik; Lupang Pangako; Senorito

Notes on a few LVN Films

Dona Sisang was the rare studio chief who 1) was a woman and 2) ran a commercially and artistically successful film studio as if condition #1 was irrelevant. Comedies, dramas, period epics, fantasies--her studio and stable of talents produced year after year, entertained millions with each title, made money in the bargain. She was reluctant to fund prestige dramas but found herself doing so (Badjao and Anak Dalita being the more noted examples), insisting on a touch of Filipino culture (the awit; the corrida; the folk dance) along the way. Anak failed at the boxoffice but won an armful of awards; Dona Sisang was unimpressed, asking if said awards could ever feed anyone. That said, she continued to make the occasional serious project, including Malvarosa, Kundiman ng Lahi, and Biyaya ng Lupa.