Portuguese Film, 1930-1960

This book is a major achievement, but it is difficult. Most readers will be intimidated: they will not know the films; the films are not very good ('too heavily invested in disseminating the values of the regime'); and few readers have the history of Portugal at their fingertips. Vieira (Georgetown) puts Salazar in the Mussolini/Hitler category. Hideous aspects of cruel tyranny mark every regime-approved film. Salazar, the ruler of Portugal's so-called New State, wanted to combat lies, error, slander, and ignorance. See the film A Revoluo de Maio, or The May Revolution (1937). He believed that good rural life, agriculture, is humanity's call (A Cano de Terra, or The Song from the Earth, 1938). Virtuous women (i.e., women obedient to men) are the foundation of society. The Portuguese are spiritual (Ftima Terra de F, Fatima, Land of Faith, 1943). What about colonies?They are necessary, democratic, and Christian (Feitio do Imprio, Spell of Empire, 1940). Colonizing is spiritual, protective, civilizing (Chaimite, 1953). The best supplement to this intensity study is not a history of Portuguese movies, but a consideration of propaganda, like Toby Clark's Art and Propaganda in the Twentieth Century: The Political Image in the Age of Mass Culture (1997). Summing Up: Highly recommended. Graduate students, researchers, faculty.-- -- P.H. Stacy * CHOICE * With an interesting sociological approach, Vieira intelligently applies the works of Kracauer, Freud and Weber to the study of a basic, yet relatively unknown, aspect of Salazar's regime: propaganda ... A concise and well-researched text. -- Javier Jurado, Universite Paris X, France * Historical Journal of Film, Radio and Television * This extremely well-researched book gives the reader, for the first time, a thorough understanding of how the ideology of the New State pervaded, in varying degrees, three decades of Portuguese film production. Patricia Vieira deserves applause for the rigour and balance of her approach, but also for her unflinching commitment to a political cause. -- Lucia Nagib, Professor of Film, University of Reading, UK This meticulously-researched and well-written book represents a major contribution to Portuguese film historiography. Drawing from a broad range of official documents, critical reviews, and a diverse array of films - ranging from comedy and folkloric films to overt propaganda - it offers a theoretically sophisticated, in-depth analysis of the relationship between cinema and the fascist New State in the period between 1930 and 1960 as well as a model for the discussion of film and politics. -- Randal Johnson, Distinguished Professor of Spanish and Portuguese, UCLA, US Salazar's New State and his nationalistic and imperialistic 'Portuguese-style fascism' figure heavily in Portuguese cinema from the 1930s to the 1950s. In her fascinating book, Vieira brings this staging into sharper focus and provides us with a valuable new contribution to the field. -- Lus Reis Torgal, University of Coimbra, Portugal, and editor of O Cinema sob o Olhar de Salazar

Patricia Vieira is Assistant Professor in the Department of Spanish and Portuguese, in the Comparative Literature Program, and in the Film and Media Studies Program of Georgetown University, Washington, USA.

Acknowledgements Introduction: Cinema in the New State 1. Propaganda in the New State: The May Revolution (A Revoluo de Maio) 1.1. Propaganda in Portuguese Cinema 1.2. Salazars Truth as Ideology 1.3. The Primacy of Art: Antnio Ferros Politics of the Spirit 1.4. The Staging of the Leader 2. Poets on the Silver Screen: Bocage, Cames, and the Heroes of the Regime 2.1. Literature and Film in the Politics of the Spirit 2.2. The Heroes of the New State 2.3. Against Political Inconstancy: The Hero as a Serious Man 3. Rural Life in Cinema: In Defense of a Natural Society 2.1. Regional and Folkloric Films 2.2. A Natural Cinema 2.3. The Countryside and the City 2.4. Capitalism, Communism, Corporatism 4. The Miracle of Salazarism: Ftima, Land of Faith (Ftima, Terra de F) 4.1. Ftima in the New State 4.2. Reason, Faith and Politics in Film 4.3. Balancing Reason and Religion 4.4. Beyond Reason and Faith: The Danger of Nihilism 5. Gender Stereotypes in New State Cinema 5.1. Women in New State Films 5.2. Singing as a Transgression 5.3. Fado, Fatalism and the Portuguese Femme Fatale 6. The Empire as Fetish: Spell of the Empire (Feitio do Imprio) 6.1. Portugal and its Colonies 6.2. The Magic of Africa 6.3. The Empire as a Fetish 6.4. Spell of the Empire and Colonial Propaganda 7. The Spirit of the Empire in Chaimite 7.1. Spirituality and Materiality in Salazarism 7.2. The Spirit of Portuguese Colonization 7.3. The Politics of the Spirit in Chaimite Epilogue: New State Cinema Today Bibliography Index