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State–Corporate Relations, Film Trade and The Cold War: The Failure of Mpeaa's Strategy in Spain, 1945–1960

2009; Routledge; Volume: 29; Issue: 4 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1080/01439680903360590

1465-3451

Pablo León Aguinaga,

Cinema and Media Studies

Click to increase image sizeClick to decrease image size Notes Notes 1. I want to thank José Antonio Montero and Lorenzo Delgado Gómez-Escalonilla for their vital suggestions and encouragement. 2. Emily S. Rosenberg, Spreading the American Dream. American Economic and Cultural Expansion, 1890–1945 (New York, 1982), 99–102; Ian Jarvie, Hollywood's Overseas Campaign: the North Atlantic movie trade, 1920–1950 (Cambridge, MA,1992); John H. Trumpbour, Selling Hollywood to the World: U.S. and European struggles for the mastery of the global film industry, 1920–1950 (Cambridge, MA, 2002), 17–62. 3. Will H. Hays (President, MPPDA), Our Government's Activities on Behalf of Foreign Markets for American Motion Pictures (September 23, 1943), 4. MPAA Special Collection at the Margaret Herrick Library (AMPAS), Los Angeles. 4. Clayton R. Koppes and Gregory D. Black, Hollywood Goes to War: how politics, profits and propaganda shaped World War II movies (New York, 1993). 5. J. A. Aberdeen, Hollywood Renegades. The Society of Independent Motion Picture Producers (Los Angeles, 2000). 6. Committee of Consultants to the Department of State, The Mass Media and UNESCO (September 20, 1946). Records of the Interdepartmental and Intradepartmental Committees, Records Group 353, Files of the Freedom of Information Committee, box 97, National Archives, College Park, MD. 7. IMGP-History Project: A History of the Information Media Guarantee Program, Washington DC (July 25, 1971). Records of the United States Information Agency, Records Group 306, Subject Files, box 184, National Archives, College Park, MD. See also, Reinhold Wagnleitner, American cultural diplomacy, the cinema and the Cold War in Europe, in: David Ellwood and Rob Kroes (eds), Hollywood in Europe: experiences of a cultural hegemony (V.U. University Press, 1994), 197–212. Had the film industry not been included in the IMGP, it could have properly claimed discrimination against other cultural industries as the Editorial sector. 8. See Kenneth A. Osgood, Total Cold War: Eisenhower's secret propaganda battle at home and abroad (Lawrence, KS, 2006), 225; David N. Eldridge, ‘Dear Owen’: the CIA, Luigi Luraschi and Hollywood, 1953, Historical Journal of Film, Radio and Television, 20(2) (2000), 149–165. 9. The Paradigmatic cases were those of France and the United Kingdom, see Jean-Pierre Jeancolas, L’arrangement: Blum Byrnes a l’épreuve des faits. Les relations (cinématographiques) franco-américaines de 1944 a 1948, 1895, 13 (December 1993), 3–49; Patricia Hubert-Lacombe, L’accueil des films américaines en France pendant la guerre froide (1946–1953), Revue d’Histoire Moderne et Contemporaine, 31 (1986), 301–313; Paul Swann, Hollywood in Britain: the postwar embargo on exporting feature films to Britain, in: B. A. Austin (ed.), Current Research in Film: Audiences, Economics and Law, 3 (Norwood, UK, 1987), 105–120. 10. The role of the US Government in promoting the export interests of the American film industry on the multilateral economic forums is waiting for further research, especially in relation with the activities of the Committee on Invisible Transactions of the OECD in the 1960s and the 1970s. The only case analyzed so far has been that of the funding sessions of the GATT, see Paul Swann, The little State Department: Hollywood and the State Department in the post-war world, American Studies International, XXIX(1) (April 1991), 2–19. 11. See Pablo León Aguinaga, El cine norteamericano y la España franquista, 1939–1960: relaciones internacionales, comercio y propaganda (Ebook, Ph.D. Dissertation, Universidad Complutense de Madrid, 2009), 33–53. 12. MPPDA, Total Estimated Annual Losses of World Revenue to Industry under Present Conditions, New York (June 6, 1942). AMPAS, MPAA Collection. 13. Sources: Eduardo Moya, En torno a la industria cinematográfica española, Revista de Estudios Políticos, VII(2–3) (1956), 112; Ramón del Valle (ed.), Anuario español de cinematografía, 1955–1962 (Madrid, 1962), 683–685; Informe sobre la Industria Cinematográfica española, Madrid (February 1954), Archivo del Ministerio de Industria Turismo y Comercio (hereafter AMITC), Gabinete de Cinematografía, 5562, Madrid; Reparto de licencias de importación y doblaje, 1958–1963, Madrid (1964?), Archivo General de la Administración (hereafter AGA), 6, 35.18/213, Madrid. 14. Pablo León Aguinaga, El cine norteamericano, 68–98. 15. Pablo León Aguinaga, El comercio cinematográfico como instrumento de la acción norteamericana en España durante la segunda guerra mundial, Cuadernos de Historia Contemporánea, 28 (2006), 303–322. 16. See Aurora Bosch and Fernanda Del Rincón, Dreams in a dictatorship. Hollywood and Franco's Spain, 1939–1956, in: Reinhold Wagnleitner and Lary May (eds), Here, There and Everywhere (Hanover, NH, 2000), 101. 17. Sources: H. G. Torbert Jr. (Secretary, US Embassy) to the Secretary of State, Spain-Motion Pictures, Entertainment, 35 mm., December, 1949 and January, 1950, Madrid (February 16, 1950), RG 59, DF 852.452/2-1650; Ivan B. White (Economic Counselor, US Embassy) to the Department of State, Motion Pictures—Entertainment 35 mm., Madrid (March 31, 1952), RG 59, Decimal Files 852.452/3-3152. These statistics were elaborated by the local affiliates of Hollywood companies in Spain and the economic section of the US Embassy, which kept doing so until 1951. There are not official figures for box office revenues for the whole period covert by this article, though the majority of the interlocutors agreed that the share of American films in the box office remained around 70% through the 1950s, though slightly diminishing during the second half of that decade. 18. See Hélène Liogier, Le cinéma français en Espagne, 1939–1975 (Unpublished Ph.D. Dissertation, Université de Grenoble, 1997), chapter II. 19. Daniel Fernández, El antiamericanismo en la España del primer franquismo: el Ejército, la Iglesia y Falange frente a Estados Unidos, Ayer, 62 (2006), 257–282. 20. Pahle (Motion Picture Officer, USIS) to the Secretary of State, Submission of Essential Information Relative to USIS-OIC Motion Picture Production, Madrid (January 15, 1947), 2. Records of the Department of State, Records Group 59 (hereafter RG 59), Decimal Files, 811.42700 (F) /1-1547, National Archives, College Park, MD. 21. Pablo León Aguinaga, El cine norteamericano, 281–316. 22. By the end of World War II, six of the big eight Hollywood companies had local affiliates in Spain: Universal Pictures; 20th Century Fox; Loew's, Warner Brothers, Columbia and RKO. 23. Ralph Ackerman (Commercial Attache, US Embassy) to Fayette W. Allport, Madrid (November 2, 1945). Annex to Ackerman to the Secretary of State, American Motion Pictures Negotiations, Madrid, November 2, 1945. RG 59 Decimal Files, 852.4061 MP/11-245. 24. Philip Bonsal (Chargé D’Affaires) to the Secretary of State, Madrid (January 16, 1946). RG 59, Decimal Files 852.4061 MP/1-1646. 25. Hays, 6. 26. Johnston Urges U.S. Strengthen Ties With Spain, Chicago Daily Tribune, October 9, 1948; Johnston Urges Full Relations With Spain, The Washington Post, October 9, 1948. 27. Daniel M. Braddock (First Secretary, US Embassy) to the Secretary of State, Visit of Mr. Frank McCarthy, European Manager of the Motion Picture Producers Association of America, Madrid (October 27, 1948). RG 59, Decimal Files 852.6061MP/10-2748. 28. See Anthony J. Ceffarati (Commercial Attache, US Embassy) to the Secretary of State, The Motion Picture Industry in Spain, Madrid (February 8, 1960), 24–26. RG 59, Decimal Files 852.452/2-860. 29. See Pablo León Aguinaga, El cine norteamericano, 446–470. Classic Hollywood movies only began to appear on American Houses and Binational Centers in Spain in the 1960s. 30. What triggered the inner conflict within the MPEAA was the business model adopted by United Artists in 1951. See Tino Balio, United Artists, the Company that Changed the Film Industry (Madison, WI, 2008). 31. For his experience in public service, see Stanton G. Griffis, Lying in State (Garden City, Double Day, 1952). 32. See Spyros Skouras to Eric Johnston, Beverly Hills (January 16, 1951). AMPAS, MPAA Collection. 33. For the day to day negotiations between 1950 and 1955, see Pablo León Aguinaga, El cine norteamericano en España: las negociaciones para su importación, 1950–1955, Hispania, 222 (2006), 293–334. 34. Stanton Griffis to the Secretary of State, American Motion Pictures in Spain, Madrid (April 13, 1951) p.1. RG 59, Decimal Files 811.452/4-1351. 35. Dean Acheson to Stanton Griffis, Washington DC, June 19, 1951. RG 59, Decimal Files 852.452/5-2151. 36. Stanton Griffis to John McCarthy and the Secretary of State, Madrid (January 14, 1952). Records of the Foreign Service Posts of State, Records Group 84, Madrid, Classified General Records 600.31, National Archives, College Park, MD. 37. White (Secretary, US Embassy) to the Secretary of State, Transmittal of Note to Spanish Ministry of Foreign Affairs Relative to Motion Picture Agreement, Madrid (February 11, 1952). RG 59, Decimal Files 852.452/2-1152. 38. Eric Johnston to Manuel Lequerica (Ambassador to the United States), Spanish–American Film Agreement, New York (February 26, 1952). AGA, 10, 54/12300. 39. The pictures were widely published in Spain, see for instance Primer Plano, 721 (August 8, 1954). The MPEAA presented The Black Shield of Falworth (Rudolph Maté, Universal; USA, 1954) and the short The New Venezuela (20th Century Fox). 40. Eric Johnston to Jaime Argüelles (Sub-Secretary of Foreign Commerce), Madrid (August 24, 1955). Annex to Notas sobre la situación actual de las actividades cinematográficas con Estados Unidos, Madrid (August 28, 1955). AMITC, Gabinete de cinematografía, 5562. 41. American Civil War in Spain, Variety (April 3, 1957). 42. Waters (Secretary, US Embassy), to the Secretary of State, Motion Picture Association of America: Distribution of American Films in Spain, Madrid (September 14, 1957), 2- 3. RG 59, Decimal Files 852.452/11-1457. 43. Motion Pictures Developments in Denmark, Germany and Spain, Washington DC (August 12, 1957), 2. RG 59, Decimal Files 800.452/8-1257. 44. Areilza (Spanish Ambassador to the United States) to Fernando Castiella (Minister of Foreign Affairs), Pregunta estado negociaciones cinematográficas hispano-norteamericanas, Washington DC, January 1, 1958. AGA, 10, 54/12668. 45. MPEAA's delegation at the Festival was its most distinguished ever. Kirk Douglas and Alfred Hichtcock defended Vikings (Richard Fleysher, Bryna & Curtleight; USA, 1958) and Vertigo (Alfred Hitchcock, Hitchcok & Paramount; USA, 1958). Furthermore, Anthony Mann was named president of the jury, and Ambassador Lodge paid an official visit to the event, making visible the support of the US Government to the new atmosphere of understanding. 46. For Samuel Bronston's empire in Spain, see Neal M. Rosendorf, The life and times of Samuel Bronston, builder of Hollywood in Madrid: a study in the international scope and influence of American popular culture (Unpublished Ph.D. Dissertation, Harvard University, 2000); Jaime García de Dueñas, El Imperio Bronston (Madrid, 2000). 47. Thomas Guback described the new Spanish protectionist formula initiated in 1960 as the most successful in avoiding Hollywood's monopolistic practices in Western Europe, see Thomas Guback, The International Film Industry: Western Europe and America since 1945 (Bloomington, 1969), 93–110. 48. Ceffaratti (Commercial Attache) to the Secretary of State, U.S. Motion Pictures in Spain, Madrid (January 1, 1961). RG 59, Decimal Files 852.452/1-561.