Umbra: Manuel Conde’s ‘unfinished masterpiece’

In 1953, Manuel Conde did the pilot episode of a 13-part television series, Umbra. It was the first-ever produced locally for American television. Umbra was a south sea saga about a Sulu prince, a dashing sea raider who mastered the journey from Celebes to the South China Sea in the pre-Spanish times.

Then the tropical saga was popular in Hollywood. At about the same time, Conde was enjoying popularity as the actor-director-producer of Genghis Khan which made waves at the Venice International Festival and was picked for Hollywood release.

The script was by a ‘Hollywood import,’ Rolf Bayer, who Conde met through Joan Page, she appeared in local movies, including Sampaguita’s Ang Asawa Kong Amerikana with Oscar Moreno. Acting with Conde were Edna Luna, the original Dyesebel, and a relative newcomer, Rita Gomez.

Initial feedback to the pilot episode was very good. V.R. Generoso proclaimed it was one picture he would like to see in marquees of foreign theaters as ‘made in the Philippines by Filipinos.’ But United Artists executives decided Umbra would be better as a film rather than a TV series. Dr. Ciriaco Santiago of Premiere agreed to bankroll the movie, but it was shelved when he passed away. And so Umbra turned out to be Manuel Conde’s ‘unfinished masterpiece,’ just like another project, Sarangani, which also met financial difficulties. Shown on this page are stills from Umbra, with Conde and the young Rita.