Released in 1946, Gilda de Abreu's O Ébrio (The Drunkard) is one of Brazil's biggest box-office hits of all time, reaching the mark of 8 million spectators by the end of that decade (Paiva 1989; Pizoquero 2006). Featuring Abreu's husband, the tenor Vicente Celestino, in the title role, O Ébrio resulted from a partnership between the couple and the production company Cinédia. The company was owned by Adhemar Gonzaga, filmmaker and editor of the famous magazine Cinearte, and was the first major Brazilian studio to be built on the industrial model of Hollywood. It produced Brazilian classics, such as Ganga bruta (Rough Gang, Humberto Mauro, 1933) and Bonequinha de seda (Silk Little Doll, Oduvaldo Vianna, 1936), as well as successful carnival comedies. The O Ébrio project satisfied Cinédia's key industrial demands, by consolidating Vicente Celestino's position in the star system, meeting the highest technical level in the hands of Brazil's top film professionals (including the experienced cinematographer Afrodísio de Castro) and paying back the major investment with popular acclaim.

The film's storyline revolves around the fortunes and misfortunes of Gilberto (Vicente Celestino). A voiceover introduces him as an impoverished medical student, wandering aimlessly through the streets of Rio de Janeiro, hungry and homeless. His relatives have turned their backs on him, yet, thanks to the help of a priest, he manages to win a musical contest and become a radio star. After graduating, Gilberto marries the opportunist nurse Marieta (Alice Archambeau), who flirts continuously with his cousin José (Rodolfo Arena). José seduces Marieta, with an eye on Gilberto's fortune, and persuades an accomplice, the dancer Lola (Júlia Dias), to pass herself off as Gilberto's lover. As a result of this set-up, Marieta leaves her husband for José, who steals her money and flees to the US, leaving her and Lola behind. In his despair after finding himself abandoned and betrayed by his wife, the doctor–singer swaps his identity with that of a recently deceased homeless man and goes back to roaming the streets, now as a drunkard. At the film's end, José's three victims meet at a dingy bar. Gilberto sings the film's theme song, telling the story of his life. On encountering Marieta, now penniless, he forgives her but decides to follow his own path, in solitude and poverty.