Sympathetic collaboration and the made-for-US Philippine films of the 1950s to 1970s

Abstract

Between the 1950s and 1970s, the Philippines became a prolific producer of low-budget films that were made almost exclusively for American audiences, as an array of subgenres such as war films, jungle horror, blaxploitation and women-in-captivity films found their way to drive-ins and grindhouses. Conscious of the tastes of exploitation film aficionados, these films pandered to their viewers by adopting the familiar conventions of stereotyping villains and heroes, exploiting storylines and genres popularized by mainstream cinema, and featuring the usual gore, hyped-up sex scenes and ‘schlock’ factors found in their American counterparts. They notably also appeared to narrate from the perspective of the white cinematic gaze, often participating in the self-orientalization of Southeast Asian wilderness and tribal life. Considering the highly international nature of Philippine cinema and the historical circumstances that shaped its postcoloniality and reactions to previous imperial encounters, the existence of these export films should not be entirely surprising. Notwithstanding Andrew Leavold’s observation that most Filipino pictures were produced for domestic consumption,1 the Philippine film industry, at least up to the 1980s, was arguably the most internationally oriented within Southeast Asia, with the country serving as the location for big-budget Hollywood productions, and with Filipino filmmakers making films featuring content conscious of international and intercultural contact. The export films2 can therefore be understood as a logical outcome to these industrial developments. By going into partnership with American producers and distributors, Filipino filmmakers seized on competitive advantages, such as lower production costs, the existence of skilled cinematic labour and, more importantly, the ability to shoot on location with sizeable numbers of locally hired extras. In this way these export films boasted higher production values than their American counterparts, especially when there was a requirement for exoticized settings and visual aesthetics.