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Basic Information: Direction, Screenplay and Original Story: Ishmael Bernal; Cast: Romeo Vasquez, Vilma Santos, Mat Ranillo III, Ana Gonzales, Anita Linda, Fred Montilla, Mary Walter, Laila Dee, Roldan Rodrigo, Ann Villegas, Ernie Zarate, Catherine Santos, Val Mallari, Oscar Miranda, Ursula Carlos, Rene Magno, SOS Daredevils, Danie Ramirez, Danny Franco and Rheez Chua’s Models; Art Director: Bobby Bautista; Assistant Art Directors: Emiliano Gonzales, Virgilio Sanchez, and Bert Isleta; Electricians and Gripmen: Corpuz, Romeo Dueñas, Narsiso David, Mariano Guzman, Irinio Flores; Unit Driver: Jose Maigapo; Color Processed: LVN Laboratory; Director of Cinematography: Nonong Rasca; Assistant Cameraman: Felizardo Anastacio; Sound: Luis Reyes; Field Soundman: Jose Fortuno; Boomman: Alberto Dueñas; SFX Technician: Jun Martinez; Film Editor: Nonoy Santillian; Senior Editor: Ruben Pantua; Assistant Editors: Rico Salas, Ariel Quicho, Jun Calaguan; Music: The Vanishing Tribe; Theme Songs: “Puso’y Alinlangan” performed by Vilma Santos, “Torn Between Two Lovers” performed by Gracie Rivera, Dyna Records; Guest Choroeographer: Peter Estocado; Make-up Artists: Dading Ravela and Virgie F. Capulong; Legman: Rodolfo Basco; Publicities: Teresa Santos Blas, Beth Castillo; Stills: Ben Nollora and Lito Morales; Layout Artist: Hannibal Cambel; Title Designer: Marvin B. Panganiban; Production Manager and Assistant Director: Dante Javier; Production Staff: Nelson Sia, Ruben Fernandez, Gloria B. Agustin; Administrative and Sales: Jon Santos Blas, Estrella T. Mendoza, Lea Santos, Fidelio Santos, Julie S. Enriquez; Executive Production: T. Buhain Santos; Executive Producer: Emilia Santos Blas; Produced by Lea Production; 15th Years Anniversary Production; Film Poster Archived: Video48

Plot Description: Dalawang Pugad, Isang Ibon is a 1977 drama film directed by Ishmael Bernal. The film analyzes adultery in a mature way and presents reasons why many modern marriages in bourgeois families slowly dissipate into alienation and lead to adultery. The movie’s main plot involves a fashion model (Vilma Santos) who is torn between two men: her young boyfriend, who is a self-centered, airheaded fashion model (Mat Ranillo III), and an older married man (Romeo Vasquez), who is estranged from his domineering wife (Anna Gonzales). – Wikipilipinas

Film Achievement: 1977 Gawad Urian: Best Director – Ishmael Bernal; Best Editing Nomination – Nonoy Santillan; Best Picture Nomination; Best Production Design Nomination – Bobby Bautista; Best Screenplay Nomination – Ishmael Bernal; Best Sound Nomination – Luis Reyes; Best Supporting Actor Nomination – Mat Ranillo III

Film Review: “…Bernal, testing the tensions of triangular love (for geometry books, one of his characters wittily says) for some time now, plunges deeper into character analysis and metaphorizing… In Lumayo, Lumapit ang Umaga, the triangle was unevenly explored: the first love was sketchily drawn. Dalawang Pugad, Isang become a choice for a more stable relationship. Walang Katapusang Tag-araw was a strange reverse of characters for two women and an unusual development of love into hatred and hatred into love, where therefore the triangle was essentially illusions. Ikaw ay Akin finally sets an interlocked triangle on its bases and looks at it (from all 3 angles) squarely in the face…” – Petronila CletoPelikula, Atbp (READ MORE)

“…Her metamorphosis began in late 1976 when she agreed to be kissed by Rudy Fernandez in Makahiya at Talahib. It was a “feeler” of sort and when the public clacked its tongue in obvious approval, Vilma shelved her lollipops-and-roses image and proved that she, too, could be a woman – a wise move indeed because at that time her career was on a downswing and her movies were not making money. Then she did Mga Rosas sa Putikan for her own VS Films where she played a country girl forced into prostitution in the big city. The movie did fairly well at the tills. Good sign. And came her romance with Romeo Vasquez, boosting both their stocks at the box office (thier two starrers, Nag-aapoy na Damdamin and Pulot-Gata where Vilma did her own wet style, were big moneymakers). The tandem, although it did help Vilma, actually helped Vasquez more in re-establishing himself at the box office (without Vilma, his movies with other leading ladies hardly create any ripple). In Susan Kelly, Edad 20, Vilma played a notorious-woman role that required her to wear skimpy bikini briefs in some scenes, following it up with two giant sizzlers (Dalawang Pugad, Isang Ibon and Masarap, Masakit ang Umibig) that catapulted her as the newest Bold Queen. Then came Burlesk Queen…” – Ricardo F. Lo, Expressweek Magazine January 19, 1978 (READ MORE)

“Sometime in the mid 70s, matinee idol Romeo Vasquez returned to the movie scene after a long absence, his movie career in limbo after his failed marriage with popular actress Amalia Fuentes. His teamup with Vilma Santos somehow rekindled and revived his career. Their first movie together, Nag-aapoy na Damdamin in 1976 turned out to be a big hit. Despite their age gap, reel and real life sweetheart, Romeo, 34 and Vilma, 23, soon became the hottest love team, doing one hit movies after another…” – Video 48 (READ MORE)

“…Romeo Vasquez is an oddity in Vilma’s life. Hindi akalain ng lahat na ang isang notorious playboy and balikbayan actor would capture the heart of the then elusive Ate Vi. Nagkaroon sila ng affair which lasted for more than a year. Kilala si Bobby sa pagiging bohemyo kaya naman walang kakilala si Ate Vi na bumoto sa aktor. Ate Vi was love struck at talagang na head-over heels in love. Nagsimula ang kanilang affair sa set ng kanilang pelikulang “Nag-aapoy na Damdamin”. True to this title, nagliyab silang dalawa at tunay ngang nag-apoy ang kanilang damdamin. May plano pa nga sila ni Bobby na magpakasal sa Europe. Talagang Ate Vi was ready to give up her life as an actress and would settle with the actor abroad. And with herb relationship with Bobby, nag-surface ang bagong Vilma Santos.Ate Vi realized that she cann’t sacrifice everything for love. Nagising siya sa katotohanan at nagkamali kung kaya nagdesisyon siyang kumalas sa bohemyong aktor…” – Willie Fernandez (READ MORE)

“…But it was with handsome actor Romeo Vasquez that Vilma Santos had her most controversial relationship. Romeo was the former husband of Philippine movie queen Amalia Fuentes. He and Vilma first paired in the movie Nag-aapoy na Damdamin (1976). It was also during this year that they became a couple. They made several movies together, all of which did well at the box-office. Vi and Bobby (Romeo’s nickname) became the most-talked about reel and real love team at the time. The relationship was always on the pages of showbiz magazines and tabloid entertainment section pages because of the intrigues and the personalities who got involved with them…” – Rommel R. Llanes (READ MORE)

The first nine months fo 1977 saw the release of bad local movies that are unbelievable for their sheer contempt of the moviegoer and even more unbelievable for their increasing popularity. The few decent ones include Robert Arevalo’s Hubad na Bayani, Eddie Romero’s Sinong Kapiling, Sinong Kasiping, Manuel Cinco’s Hostage…Hanapin si Batuigas, Briccio Santos’ Manikang Papel and Luis Enriquez Malayo Man Malapit Din. These are films that respect their audiences and treat them not just paying patrons but also as thinking individuals. For the past two weeks, however, a film that say something and says it right have been packing moviehouses in competition with the James Bond movie, other “adults” local picture and the Dolphy-Nida comedy. This is a cheerful occassion for the local movie industry because rarely does a director hit two birds with one stone; that is Dalawang Pugad…Isang Ibon, a love-triangle drama that was a pre-sold on account of the publicity generated by the oprivate lives of its two principal stars. Its director and scriptwriter, Ishmael Bernal, however, deserves the greater part of the credit for the picture’s commercial and artistic success. For Beranal has done what was dismissed before as an impossibility – a good Vilma Santos-Romeo Vasquez movie. Dalawang Pugad is not just a good movie, it is a superior movie and the year’s best so far (and take this from one who earlieer wanted to avoid the movie like the plague). It has uniformly good performance by the cast, which includes Mat Ranillo III, Anita Linda, Fred Motnilla, Anna Gonzales, Laila Dee, Mary Walter, Ann Villegas, and the two lead, Vasquez and especially Vilma Santos who has done a surprisingly intelligent and affecting character portrayal.

Not since Romero’s Sinong Kapiling have we seen screen characters who think and behave and react to situations and problems like mature, sensitive and intelligent people. The characters do give way to occassional hysterical outbursts, but they somehow wake up to their senses before they forget themselves completely. And they are people in believable situations with real problems and genuine emotions. When they talk, they are seldom silly, and when they are silly, they are aware of it. But even when they’re silly or trite, they are never unsympathetic. Their conversations, in fact, are the most sophisticated heard in a local movie in a long time – shrewd, wry, loving, crisp and smart. You have to hand it to Bernal for making even a casual advertisement for motorcycle brand sound so much like an indispensable part of the dialogue. The story is simple enough, but the details can be so complicated. Twenty three year old Terry (Vilma) abandons her immature boyfriend and runs away with a married man against the vehement protestations of her parents. This is a common plot reworked to death in other movies. In another writer-director’s hans, the story would walk the tightrope between stale romantic melodrama and sensationalized New Morality expose, but Bernal invests it with such subtlety, sympathy, affection and full understanding, though inevitably with some slight cynicism, too, that he actually elevates the story into a search by intelligent people for meaning in human and personal relationships. – Mario A. Hernando, The Philippines Daily Express, Oct 21 1977 (READ MORE)

“…The 1977 Urian Awards further established the reputation of the Manunuris as discoverers of new or ignored talents. Word spread around that “you don’t have to spend a cent for PR to win in the Urian” after Daria Ramirez (Sino’ng Kapiling, Sino’ng Kasiping) bested formidable co-nominee Vilma Santos (Burlesk Queen) for the best actress plum. The choice of Ramirez was not a popular one either, for her portrayal of a middle-class wife was devoid of the “pang-FAMAS” hysterics usually equated with good acting in Philippine movies. The most significant event of 1977, however, was the debate on which criterion should take precedence in choosing the best film: cinematic style or filmic content? It had been decided before that if two films were equally well-made, the film with the more significant content would be chosen. But the application of the criterion became very difficult with the two films being deliberated on: Robert Arevalo’s Hubad na Bayani and Ishmael Bernal’s Dalawang Pugad, Isang Ibon. Hubad is a truthful portrayal of the peasant uprisings of the 30’s, but it was marred by technical flaws. Dalawang Pugad, centering on the problem of infidelity, was narrower in scope but was just as truthful in its portrayal. Hubad had its good moments but was uneven as a whole, while Dalawang Pugad had a tighter orchestration of cinematic elements. Which film should be given more weight? To an observer, the answer would have been obvious, but, taken in context, at the time when so many tired formula films on “the other woman” were being made, the achievement of Bernal’s film could not be underestimated. The upshot was that Hubad won as best picture and Bernal was awarded best director for Dalawang Pugad…” – The Urian Anthology 1970-79, Video 48, 24 May 2011 (READ MORE)

RELATED READING:

• Wikipedia: Ishmael Bernal
• Ishmael Bernal (1938-1996)
• Remember The Face: Bernal Film Director
• The Bernal-Santos Collaborations