A look at silent cinema in Portugal

Aurélio da Paz dos Reis was an amateur photographer and floricultor, and also “a person with strong critical, social and political characteristics”, according to José de Matos-Cruz. He presented his cinematograph in Oporto – he called it the Portuguese Kinematograph – showing his short features at the Teatro do Príncipe Real (Teatro Sá da Bandeira), on 12 November of 1896.

WORKER'S EXIT FROM THE CONFIANÇA SHIRT FACTORY*
Aurélio da Paz dos Reis | 1896

Inspired by Auguste and Louis Lumière's Workers Leaving the Lumière Factory/La Sortie de l'usine Lumière à Lyon (1895), Aurélio da Paz dos Reis directs Worker's Exit from the Confiança Shirt Factory (1896), the first Portuguese film, shot in Oporto.

*This movie title translation was employed after Encyclopedia of the Documentary Film, published in 2006 by Routledge - Taylor and Francis Group, and edited by Ian Aitken.

Manuel Costa Veiga entered the exhibition business in the late 19th century. In 1899, he made Views of the Cascais Beach, his first film. He later founded Portugal Film, the first Portuguese production house.

In 1909, Portugália Film was established in Lisbon by João Freire Correia and Manuel Cardoso Pereira. In the same year, Júlio Costa and João Almeida founded the Empreza Cinematographica Ideal, aiming to ensure the production and distribution of Portuguese films.

Lusitania Film was a production company founded in 1918 and run by Celestino Soares and Luís Reis Santos, who remodeled the former Portugália Film studio in São Bento. Lusitania Film competed directly with Invicta Film, a production company founded in 1910 in Oporto. Invicta Film was founded by Alfredo Nunes de Mattos, who initially gave it his name; only in 1912 the company added “Invicta Film” to its corporate name.

Initially, Invicta Film produced propaganda newsreels and documentaries, but after 1917 expanded its ambitions.
Acquiring new technical material and constructing studios and laboratories, Invicta Film begins the production of full-length feature films. In this context, foreign directors are hired to work at Invicta Film – such as Georges Pallu, Rino Lupo, Maurice Mariaud or Roger Lion.

Invicta Film was responsible for producing a significant number of relevant films in Portuguese cinema history. But the company shut down in 1928 after financial problems.

Also in the 1920s, new production companies were founded in Lisbon. Caldevilla Film, was founded by Raul de Caldevilla, Fortuna Films, was founded by Virgínia de Castro Almeida, and Pátria Film, was founded by Henrique Alegria after he left Invicta Film, in collaboration with Raul Lopes Freire.

THE MAN WITH CROOKED EYES*
Leitão de Barros | 1918

The Man with Crooked Eyes is one of the three debut films by Leitão de Barros (the others are Mal de Espanha and Malmequer). According to José de Matos Cruz (1999), this film was destined to be part of a series of nine parts, but was interrupted by the financial problems of Lusitania Film. Keeping with the tradition of the French serial film, this picture has idiosyncratic characteristics, such as mystery, suspense and the thematics of blackmail and criminal investigation. The film remains unfinished to this day.

*We couldn't find an official or recurring movie title translation, so we have employed the method of literal translation of the original Portuguese title.

AN OVERVIEW OF GEORGES PALLU'S FILMS

In the video clip, we can see an excerpt from Amor de Perdição/Doomed Love (1921).

Other movies directed by Georges Pallu:

Frei Bonifácio/Friar Bonifácio (1918)

Os Fidalgos da Casa Mourisca/The Noblemen of the Moorish House (1920)

O Destino/Destiny (1921)

O Primo Basílio/Cousin Bazilio (1923)

WOMEN OF BEIRA*
Rino Lupo | 1923

This film marks Rino Lupo’s directorial debut at Invicta Film. It is a melodrama set in the municipality of Arouca, adapted from Abel Botelho's novel of the same name (1898). Similar to The Wolves/Os Lobos (1923), also directed by Rino Lupo, it has dazzling visuals - in fact, in Luis de Pina's History of Portuguese Cinema, Rino Lupo is described as a filmmaker who “painted with light”.

*We couldn't find an official or recurring movie title translation, so we have employed the method of literal translation of the original Portuguese title.

THE WOLVES*
Rino Lupo | 1923

Rino Lupo's The Wolves is a portrait of the ancient structures of Portuguese rurality, prevalent at the beginning of the 20th century: a village where “the woman occupies herself with the caring of the household or the collecting of wood(…) [and] the man takes care of the flock of sheep or the cutting of trees that will produce coal”, in the words of José de Matos-Cruz (1999). In this scenario, the village's population is surprised by the arrival of a fugitive.

*We couldn't find an official or recurring movie title translation, so we have employed the method of literal translation of the original Portuguese title.

THE DANCE OF THE PAROXYSMS
Jorge Brum do Canto | 1929

This is an experimental film heavily influenced by French Impressionist Cinema. It is inspired by the poem Les Elfes by Leconte de Lisle, following the journey of a Knight (Gonthramm) in search of the Holy Grail. It is a radical visual experience in Portuguese cinema, with a very innovative use of the faux raccord, the moving camera and the overlapping of images. According to José de Matos Cruz (1999), this is the first Portuguese film to use the technique of panchromatic emulsion.

LISBON, ANECDOTAL CHRONICLE
Leitão de Barros | 1930

Lisbon, Anecdotal Chronicle is inspired by the city-symphony movies, such as Walter Ruttman’s Berlin - Symphony of a Metropolis/Berlin - Die Sinfonie der Großstadt (1927). Directed by Leitão de Barros, this movie follows the daily life of Lisbon’s inhabitants.

MARIA OF THE SEA
Leitão de Barros | 1930

Following Nazaré’s fishing community, this film has an indisputable place in Portuguese cinema. According to many authors, such as José Manuel Costa, one of the most important triumphs of the work was to manifest clear influences from the current European avant-garde movements. It is an unsettling narrative about the human condition and the harsh adversities faced by the fishing community, in which the maritime landscape propels the cycle of hatred and reconciliation.