Spanish fiction films under examination by the Portuguese censorship of the Estado Novo (1950-1974)

In the 1950s, the Spanish government signed fourteen new film exchange agreements with different countries to reduce the high cost of importing foreign films and, in addition, obtain benefits from the investment made in its own production. These agreements facilitated the distribution of Spanish cinema in the international market. Under the Economic Cooperation Agreement signed with Portugal in 1949, and until 1974, more than 154 fiction films were exported to that country. Like the rest of the imported films, they were submitted to the rigorous opinion of the Portuguese cen-sorship. In keeping with the Salazarist ideology, 127 of them suffered cuts of different consideration and nature, from the elimination of some shots or the suppression of certain words, to the final ban for five films. The Portuguese Censor Commissions had full powers to reject the films or lighten those sequences and statements that, in their opinion, could undermine the moral and political principles of the New State; The Portuguese Constitution itself considered a mission of the State to protect society in order to keep it away from any considered harmful influence. Already in 1970, during the so-called << Primavera Marcelista >>, when a greater opening was expected, two di-vergent phenomena occurred that increased control over Spanish production. While the latter was adapting to the Western opening canons, the fear of fashions and ideas that could question the regime in Portugal increased. This paper presents an analysis of the three elements that made up the distribution of Spanish films to Portugal: the Portuguese censorship structure and its action on the films; the film exchange system established between both governments and, finally, the result of the application of the Portuguese censorship rules on the already masked, metaphorical and inhibited Spanish films, made by directors experienced in circumventing the censorship of their own country.