Journal of Film Preservation - FIAF

conceived for its spectators in the colonies, and did not even
consider it necessary to design specific legislation in this regard, the
non-existence of a sustained and coherent colonial cinematographic
policy should not be confused with mere lack of interest. The simple
reiteration of African motifs in the Spanish cinema of the forties and
the fifties should suffice to make us suspect an extremely favourable
disposition on the part of the regime in this regard. However, in the
decade of the fifties, the times were no doubt changing, and the
public was no longer very receptive to the colonial epics.
Decolonisation was imminent and the progressive elimination of the
ideological element from the Africa-oriented cinema of the fifties –
evident in works such as La Corona negra (Luis Saslavsky, 1950) –
would translate into a cluster of espionage and adventure films in
which Morocco would be seen solely as an exotic setting. Misión en
Marruecos (Carlos Arévalo, 1959), an intrigue centred on the
interests of the multinational petroleum companies, reflects most
aptly the new sign of the times,
recruiting two of the most popular
actors of the moment, Fernando Rey
and Alfredo Mayo, to play two
Moroccans in a film displaying very
little sensitivity in the portrayal of
those who, just a few years earlier,
were still our brothers to the South.
The universe of Romancero marroquí or
La Canción de Aixa was already a thing
of the past.
35 Journal of Film Preservation / 63 / 2001
La llamada de África, César Fernández Ardavín (1952).
Courtesy of the Filmoteca Española, Madrid