'A promessa' e outros filmes: a censura no Portugal marcelista

Abstract

Through the study of the censorship report from the film A promessa (1972), directed by Antonio de Macedo, and of other reports of the same period, as well as the Atas da Comissao de Censura, I intend to study the way how these filmes were censored and, in what A promessa is concerned, all the relationship established between the director, the distibutor and the Comissao de Censura. Through the analysis of some of the censored Portuguese filmography in Marcello Caetano’s time, I intend to help to understand the way how the Comissao de Censura operated in relation to the Portuguese films of that period what, by the way, may lead to a broader understanding of mentalities in Portuguese history. The present investigation is based on a study of the archives of the Secretaria de Estado da Informacao e Turismo (SEIT). All the information produced by the Comissao de Exame e Classificacao de Espectaculos under the Estado Novo is to be found in the relevant section of the Arquivo Nacional da Torre do Tombo (ANTT), in Lisbon. As well as looking at the handling of the censorship of films, this investigation is also based on the study of the Atas da Comissao de Censura corresponding to the period from 1971 to 25 April 1974.