7:14 mins., b&w, silent
Source : Penn Museum. This footage can be viewed here
These outtakes from the material shot for Matto Grosso, the Great Brazilian Wilderness primarily concern dances, though there is also a fascinating sequence in the middle of men operating bull-roarers.
The first two minutes of the material concern the night-time dances around a large bonfire that are a striking feature of Matto Grosso and also the more abbreviated version of the more ethnographic material, viewable here. Here you can see that the dancers are being led by a player of the panna calabash trumpet. The dance also appears to be taking place at one side of the baimanagejeu, the men’s house.
There then follows about a minute of two men whirling bull-roarers. Unlike the other sequences in these outtakes, no part of this material was used in either of the Matto Grosso films, which is surprising, particularly in the case of the more academic short film, since the material is well-shot and such sequences are comparatively rare in Amazonian ethnographic film. The sound of the bull-roarer, on the other hand, was used in the longer film to cover some of the dancing shots.
The remainer of the outtakes again concern dancing, but this time during the day. Again, it is men wearing magnificent headdresses who are dancing. Initially, they are led not by the panna, but by one, or sometimes two, men shaking maracas. The women sit beyond on the ground and behind them is the baimanagejeu. Later, the panna returns, however, and a man playing both the panna and a maraca leads the dancing.
It is quite clear that the situation has been set up for the camera. There are several takes of the same dance and for most of these takes, the cameraman’s assistant comes into shot to hold up an identifying slate (see above).
Also noticeable is that as the takes proliferate, the dancers, presumably because they are getting hotter, throw off the pieces of cloth that that they have been using as loincloths, and instead dance dressed in the traditional manner, which as far as the genitalia are concerned, means no more than a penis sheath.
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