## I. INTRODUCTION The 1930s were a transformative decade for both Brazil and Spain, marked by significant political, cultural, and artistic developments. In both countries, the intersection of politics, cinema, and music played a critical role in shaping national identity and cultural expression. In Brazil, the rise of Getúlio Vargas and the establishment of the Estado Novo regime promoted nationalism, which was reflected in the arts, particularly in the development of Brazilian cinema and popular music, such as samba. Similarly, in Spain, the tumultuous period leading up to and including the Spanish Civil War saw the use of cinema and music as powerful tools of political propaganda and social commentary, with various factions vying for cultural dominance. This era witnessed the blending of art with political ideologies, as both authoritarian and revolutionary movements sought to harness the power of media to influence public opinion and promote their respective agendas. In this context, cinema and music became platforms not only for entertainment but also for the expression of national struggles, cultural heritage, and political messages. By examining the parallels and divergences between Brazil and Spain in the 1930s, we can better understand how these cultural forms were instrumental in reflecting and shaping the political landscapes of the time. Talking about Brazilian and Spanish 1930s cinema requires special attention and a historical survey considering the political events that have befallen the European countries and, as a consequence, Latin America and the United States. Political tension, governmental instability, capitalism global crisis, totalitarian movements and constant threats from the rising totalitarian governments are some of the hallmarks of the 30s. Among the above-mentioned factors, the totalitarian movements were possibly the ones that contributed most to radical changes in political, economic and cultural scenarios, both in Europe and Latin America. With Joseph Stalin in the Soviet Union, Benito Mussolini in Italy and Adolf Hitler in Germany, the Stalinism, Fascism, and Nazism rose to power, putting an end to civilian liberties and to any trace of democracy. No less important, Antonio Salazar in Portugal and Francisco Franco in Spain were protagonists of major changes that affected the nation in all society's segments, including the artistic and cultural movements. In Brazil, significant movements and changes in the political and economic areas also marked the 30s; many of them inspired by the scenario of global changes. The integralist movement, for instance, influenced by the Italian fascism, performed an important function in the national political scenario. According to researcher João Fábio Bertonha (2001): It was impossible not to recognize in Integralism a series of influences from Italian Fascism and from other European fascist movements. These influences have passed especially in the ideological field, as corporate doctrine, disbelief in democracy, prioritization of the state in relation to society, etc., but they have also manifested in seemingly secondary items, such as mysticism and symbology (BERTONHA, 2001, p.85). The integralists played a decisive role in the dictatorship of the New State, a regime implanted in Brazil in 1937, however planned since 1930 with the so-called Revolution of 30, revolutionary movement that overthrew the Old Republic. For some scholars, the 30s were watersheds for Brazilian economic and cultural development. With an accelerated process of urbanization and a more structured education plan, the bourgeoisie and, consequently, the artistic class begin to participate more in the political life of society, contributing to an actual cultural and educational revolution, in contrast to the Old Republic. In this context, although on the margins of artistic movements, the cinema industry was affected by the atmosphere that encompassed the entire artistic field, as Cardoso (2015, p. 338) indicates: "If Brazilian society was, as a whole, a stage for violent conflicts in the 1920s and 1930s, why would it be different in the art field?". Many of these conflicts had as a starting point the emerging modernist movements, especially in the Modern Art Week in 1922. From the revolution of 30, the modernist representatives have come into conflict with the most expressive and renowned artistic institutions, and founded in 1932 the Pro-Modern Art Society (SPAM), which gathered the main participants of Brazilian modernism. Although excluded or not remembered by the modernist idealizers, the cinema adepts continued their activities and used the moment of changes to present new trends, expanding to other regions and beginning a process, though slow, of nationalization of Brazilian cinema. According to Paulo Emilio Gomes (1980), this process of regionalization, also known as regional cycles (1914 a 1929), boosts the national productions, resulting in an expressive number of films, when compared to the previous period: Between 1923 and 1933, approximately one hundred and twenty films were completed, that is, double of the former decade. Qualitatively, the advance was even more considerable, with the outset of our classics of silent cinema in this period. The coexistence of silent and spoken cinema from 1929 to 1933 certainly justifies the extraordinary fact that about twenty tapes were made in 1930. The spoken cinema has actually played a stimulating role in our production, but before 1934, when there was a collapse almost as radical as the ones of 1911 or 1921 (GOMES, 1980, p.59). It is worth emphasizing that, at that moment, the cinema productions were not exclusive activities of the great centers as São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro anymore. Back then, there were structures spread in various cities, such as Porto Alegre, Campinas, Recife, Belo Horizonte and some cities in the countryside of Minas Gerais. Among the regional cycles, the one from Recife seems to have been the most productive and lasting, reaching the production of 12 feature films and 25 short films, from 1923 to 1931. In this regard, it is possible to say that the beginning of the 30s has been marked by some sort of optimism in Brazilian cinema context, since Hollywood films have not found in Brazilian screening rooms the required structure for their huge productions – both in terms of equipment and linguistics – encouraging the national productions as a result. Therefore, the Cinédia[^3] and Brasil Vita[^4] companies come up, responsible for a great number of productions and for the development of the genre Chanchada, which has become popular in Brazil, since the second half of the 30s. It would be no exaggeration to say that the Vargas Era (1930 - 1945) has changed the course of Brazilian cinematography. Known as "the father of Brazilian cinema", Getúlio Vargas was responsible for the law that obliged the exhibition of national films, enacted in 1932, and for the regulation of the profession of film production technicians, a claim of the working class. He also contributed to the foundation of the National Institute of Educational Cinema (INCE), whose function was to document and disseminate in schools the scientific-cultural activities carried out in the country, in a way that all had access to the means of communication. Vargas knew how to use cinema in his favor like no other Brazilian president, even declaring in a speech: [...] cinema is among the most useful factors of instruction available to the modern state. A culture element, directly influencing reasoning and imagination, it sharpens the observation qualities, enhances the scientific knowledge and disseminates the knowledge of things [...] Cinema then will be the book of luminous images in which our beach and rural populations will learn to love Brazil, adding confidence in the destiny of the homeland. For the mass of illiterate people, it will be a perfect pedagogical discipline, easier and impressive. For the literate ones, for those responsible for the success of our administration, it will be an admirable school (VARGAS, s.d.: 187-188). It is possible to notice in Vargas' speech an explicit statement of his support for the cinema, although carrying undeniable political intentions. The government's support was undoubtedly responsible for a growing wave of national cinematographic productions. In 1932, the filmmaker Otávio Gabus Mendes directed "Onde a Terra Acabou", a film adaptation of José de Alencar's literary work "Senhora". Following it, Humberto Mauro's "Ganga Bruta" (1933) and "A Voz do Carnaval" (1933), Armando Louzada's "Favelas de Meus Amores" (1935) and Wallace Downey's "Alô, Alô, Carnaval" (1936) were released. Some critics consider Downey's film as the greatest success of Brazilian cinema of all-time. In addition, there were some essentially nationalist films as "O Descobrimento do Brasil" (1937), directed by Humberto Mauro, who was also responsible for more than 300 short-film documentaries over three decades. In order to gain space and public, the national producers sought what was more popular in the art and "appealed to the Brazilian big names of radio and theatre, to the strength of Carnival and to the reputation of the comedians from the Teatro-revista[^1]", as Silvia Finguerut (1980, p.07) pointed out. Thus, there was the union of music and theatre, quite often resulting in literary adaptations filled with comedy and parody, besides the remarkable presence of Carnival rhythms. Therefore, the foreign productions began to face some competition, though subtle, from a genuinely Brazilian style, the Chanchada, a genre that became popular and internationalized the actor and singer Carmen Miranda. Regarding this new genre, Alex Viany (1987) observes that in 1933, [...] Cinédia finally opens the cycle of carnival and music with A Voz do Carnaval, in which Carmem Miranda has made her debut in cinema. From then on, it is possible to say that there was not a year without her carnival film. Soon in 1935, Carmem Miranda established herself as a star in Alô, Alô, Brasil along with her sister Aurora and with other popular names from the radio and theatre. [...] In the next year, with a script by two great popular composers, João de Barro and Alberto Ribeiro, one of the best representatives of the genre, Alô, Alô, Carnaval, would come with some funny and authentically Carioca jokes (VIANY, 1987, p.90). Unquestionably, Carmem Miranda played a prominent role in cinema and in Brazilian popular music of the 30s, influencing the future generations of national and international artists, given the fact of her success in many countries of Latin America and the United States. Not much different from Brazil, Spanish cinematographic context in the 1930s suffered foreign influence at all levels, especially in relation to music. The sound films arrive in Spain during the Second Republic (1931-1939), when the new political situation adopted the liberal modernism and valued the development of cultural activities that converged with those presented by the cinema. Throughout the first half of the decade of 1930, the documentary and amateur cinema productions were improved. Apparently, a more spontaneous and collective cinema emerges with an increasing desire for existence, independent of foreign production. Even though, in the years that preceded the war, there is a suspension, almost absolute, of the national cinema production activities. In this period, the North-American producers emphasized their interest in the Spanish market and started producing films with passages in Castilian. According to Fernandez (2017), the simple fact of containing a pair of phrases in Spanish was enough to transform an ordinary film in an extraordinary season premiere. The commercial exploration of films, from the Hollywood industry to the Barcelona International Exposition of 1929, demonstrates the high level of interest in the Spanish territory in the commercial cinematographic environment. Since subtitles and dubbing were not common at that time, there was the need of filming the same work in different idioms: English, French, German, Italian and Spanish, emphasizing especially the films spoken in the last idiom. The first Spanish expression produced in cinema was heard from the lips of Soledad Jiménez in "In Old Arizona" (1929), by Raoul Walsh and Irving Cummings. Thenceforth, the simultaneous filming in various languages was placed as a constant in the Hollywood industry. The films were produced in English and taking advantage of the set, the tools and technical equipment, they were filmed in Spanish with other actors. For this purpose, teams were created in Hollywood and in Joinville, in France. In this context, despite the political and social crisis that was spreading in the country and, consequently, of the little investment in the artistic field as a whole, two great Spanish producers played important roles to the survival of the Spanish national cinema. According to García Carrion (2013), Cifesa and Filmófono, the two main national producers during the Second Republic, despite their ideological differences, have substantially contributed to the national productions: both produced films with significant budget, collaborated in the configuration of a structured system of production and presented popular themes in their narratives, accommodating the folklore of virtually the entire nation. As in Brazil, those producers have boosted the emergence of a new cinematographic national genre, the folkloric musical, as Laura Miranda (2016) remarks: "The two producers collaborated on the emergence of a new genre, the folkloric musical, influenced by the cuplé, the revista and the zarzuela as much as by the American musicals and aesthetic advances of the German and Soviet film industries (p.3). Although it was a result of the union of elements from different nationalities, the new genre had authentically Spanish characteristics and it became as appealing as the foreign productions. During the Spanish Civil War (1936-1939), the cinema was so popular that many people left their houses prepared to watch more than one session to avoid the dangers of the streets taken by soldiers and insurgents. According to Triana-Toribio (2003), some viewers refused to leave the movie theaters during the bombing, insisting that the film continued. Nevertheless, this popularity divided the opinion of critics and intellectuals: Many republican intellectuals and film critics had condemned the Spanish cinema industry of the 1930s for failing to exploit the medium's educational potential and for presenting a false image of Spain derived from folkloric musicals and comedies that perpetuated a hierarchical world order. The war that was fought against those who sought to put the clock back to that world, would, in theory, offer the opportunity to put their criticism to the test using Weimar and Soviet cinema for inspiration (TRIANA-TORIBIO, 2003, p.40). For many scholars, the Civil War was the great villain in the process of national cinema development, because it caused direct impacts in the transition from silent to spoken cinema; the consequences remain hitherto and explain the reason why the Spanish cinema does not excel, compared to other American or European cinematographies. According to Benito Martínez Vicente (2011): La revolución del sonoro sería en España más una revolución commercial que una revolución artística, si bien en elultimate tramo de la produccion republicana (1934-1936) se produjo un Signalsado progreo artisteico, que alumbro algunos filmes de gran interes y enorme popularidad, como Nobleza baturra (1935) de Florian Rey, La verbena de la Paloma (1935) de Benito Perojo, Morena Clara (1936) de Florian Rey y El bailarin y el trabajoor (1936) dirigida por Luis Marquina. Pero these tittulos ya no pertenecen, en rigor, al momento del transito del mudo al sonoro2 (VICENTE, 2011, p 384). In this perspective, it is known that the civil war has divided not only the nation but also the vision of the national cinematographic productions. Also according to Trina-Toribio, the desire for a radical social transformation influenced the anarchist cinema activities, and the belief in this new society was directly connected to the development of creative and novel ways of expression. Thus, the National Confederation of Labor (CNT), the most powerful anarchist organization, had the monopoly of the film productions and their exhibition during the first years of the Spanish Civil War. Equipment needed for the productions were nationalized and collectivized. It is possible to say that the anarchist productions were split into two ideological and aesthetic different periods. In the initial period, the cinema activities reflected a utopian vision of culture, future and, politics, appealing to experiments and visual improvisations with the purpose of revolutionizing both society and the cinema as popular art. Examples of this work are the films "Aurora de Esperanza" (1937) by Antonio Sau and "Barrios Bajo" (1937) by Pedro Puche. It is worth mentioning that, at the moment, cinema served as a stage for the dissemination of anarchist political values and ideologies. According to Tatjana Pavlovic (2008): There were also many short films with telling titles that that were indicative of their director' or creators' political beliefs, such as Reportaje del movimento revolucionario (Report on the Revolutionary Movement), La toma de Siétamo (The Taking of Siétamo), La batalla de Farlete (The Battle of Farlete), Bajo el signo libertario (Under the Libertarian Sign), 20 de noviembre (The 20th of November), El acero libertario (Libertarian Steel), and En la breve (In the Breach) (PAVLOVIC, 2008, p.41). While this first wave of anarchist films aimed for the dissemination of revolutionary ideas and manipulation of public opinion, the second wave of production was more focused on business purposes, hence adopting more popular genres, such as comedy and musicals. Although the comedies were not empty of anarchist ideologies, they were seen as irrelevant and inappropriate within the social and political context prevailing. It is understood at this point that an important approach point between Brazilian and Spanish cinema productions is the use of music as a popular appeal. Although the music has been a faithful partner since the silent cinema, when it was used to follow the scenes, with the sound of small orchestras or pianos, it was in the 30s that this partnership became more efficient. In the words of Randal Johnson e Robert Stam: The thirties also witnessed the birth of a very Brazilian genre: the chanchada. Partially modeled on U.S. musicals (and particularly on the "radio broadcast musicals) of the same period, but with roots as well in the Brazilian comic theater and in the "sung films about carnival, the chanchada typically features musical and dance numbers woven around a backstage plot. The chanchada as such begins with sound and especially with Adhemar Gonzaga's Alô, Alô Brasil (1935) and Alô, Alô Carnival (1936), both of which featured Carmen Miranda, already quite popular from radio performances and records (JOHNSON; STAM. 1995, p. 26). Unquestionably, the musical films occupy a prominent place in the history of Brazilian cinema and they had strengthened the relationship of the popular Brazilian music with the seventh art in all aspects, in a way that it is very hard to think about Brazilian musical cinema without highlighting the important contribution of music in this field. It is worth mentioning that the film Coisas Nossas (1931) by Wallace Downey, and music by Noel Rosa, is considered by some critics as the first Brazilian musical (MAIA; RAVAZZANO, 2015), fostering the emergence of the so-called "músicarnavalescos" produced by Cinédia, before the prominence of Chanchadas. According to Johnson and Stam (1995), hundreds of Chanchadas were produced in Brazil between the 1930s and the 1950s, benefiting the popularization of cinema, at the same time that an often false picture of Brazil was disclosed. Although this genre has promoted an idealized and inconsequential image of Brazil and Brazilian people, crystallized in a Rio de Janeiro of eternal fun, these images helped to establish an authentic cultural bond amid Brazilian people, popular music, and the national cinema. As previously stated, not much different from Brazilian cinema, the Spanish cinema in the 30s was nurtured by the popular attraction that arises from music. The Spanish musical cinema was born in a partnership with the strong musical tradition of that time, the styles already renowned of Zarzuela, Cuple, copla, flamenco among others. The musical was a genre that has established in Spain amidst the turmoil of the demonstrations and the uncertainties provoked by the political context of that time. Different from the French and Italian cinematography, even though they were superior in quantity and quality, the Spanish one has sought in the musicals a way to popularize the national production, and perhaps, to develop an authentically Spanish genre. With the popularity of musical cinema in the 1930s, there is a need to recruit an increasing number of music professionals, demanding policies and incentive measures for this class of professionals. According to Miranda (2016), among the measures adopted, the most important was the recruiting of a large number of conservative professionals trained in classical music to create soundtracks. Miranda adds that: [...] there were already composers working in the industry during the Second Republic, but always in discrete collaborations. No academically accredited professional composer would have thought to devote himself exclusively to the creation of music for the cinema. The most important factor for that change was the economic one: the situation in Spain during the war was becoming even tougher and academic activity was not well paid. The film industry became a lucrative means which also allowed social mobility (MIRANDA, 2016, p.3). Given the economic situation of the country and the few possibilities for growth in the artistic field, the new wave of film production emerges as a unique opportunity for the Spanish music industry. The transnational anarchist transformation project sought ways to build an alternative image of Spain, which could come from the partnership of music and film. Among many composers who stood out at that time there were Juan Quintero, Manuel Parada, Jesús García Leoz, José Ruiz de Azagra, Salvador Ruiz de Luna and José Muñoz Molleda, considered the most prominent composers of that period. Only Quintero and Parada were responsible for the songs of about 500 films, which meant an uninterrupted work of productions. According to Miranda (2016), composers did not hesitate to use some of the models of musical theater in their productions, which many authors called clichés such as: galloping horses, wind in a storm or shot of rifles. The excess of appeal to feelings, descriptions of places, events or people with a clear emotional role, changes of time, feelings and situations are constant in these productions. The following chart illustrates the major film productions in Brazil and Spain in the 1930s and reveals the important partnership of cinema and music, without which the history of the seventh art in these two countries would have been quite different. Chart 1: Comparison of Cinematographic production in Brazil and Spain in the 1930s <table><tr><td>Year</td><td>Brazil</td><td>Spain</td></tr><tr><td>1930</td><td>Lábios Sem Beijos, by Ademar Gonzaga</td><td>L'Âge d&#x27;or, by Luis Buñuel</td></tr><tr><td>1931</td><td>Coisas{nossas, by Wallace Downey; Limite, by Mario Peixoto; Alvorada de Glória, by Victor del Picchia</td><td>-</td></tr><tr><td>1932</td><td>Onde a Terra Acabou, by Otávio Gabus Mendes; Mulher, by Ademar Gonzaga</td><td>Las Hurdes3, by Luis Buñuel</td></tr><tr><td>1933</td><td>Ganga Bruta, and A Voz do Carnaval, by Humberto Mauro</td><td>Tierra sin pan, by Luis Buñuel.</td></tr><tr><td>1934</td><td>Favela dos meus amores, by Humberto Mauro</td><td>La hermana San Sulpicio, by Florián Rey;</td></tr><tr><td>1935</td><td>Bonequinha de seda, by Oduvaldo Viana; Fazendo Fitas, by Vittorio Capellaro; Alô, Alô Brasil by Wallace Downey; Favelas de Meus Amores, by Armando Louzada,</td><td>Don Quintín el amargao, by Luis Marquina, Nobleza baturra, by Florián Rey; La verbena de la Paloma, by Benito Perojo; La hija de Juan Simón, by José Luis Sáenz de Heredia</td></tr><tr><td>1936</td><td>Alô, alô, Carnaval, by Adhemar Gonzaga and Wallace Downey; Cidade Mulher, Humberto Mauro</td><td>Morena Clara, by Florián Rey; Carmen la de Triana, by Florian Rey and Benito Perojo; Aurora de esperanza, by Antonio Sal; El bailarín y el trabajoador, by Luis Marquina; and a number of documentaries such as: Reportaje del movimento revolucionesario, La toma de Sétamo, La batalla de Farlete, Bajo el signo libertario, 20 de noviembre, El acero libertario, En la breve.</td></tr><tr><td>1937</td><td>O Descobrimento do Brasil, by Humberto Mauro; Samba da Vida, by Luiz de Barros;</td><td>Nuestro culpable, by Fernando Mignoni; Aurora de esperanza, by Antonio Sau; Barrios bajes, of Pedro Puche; Industrias de guerra, by Antonio del Amo; Sanidad, by Rafael Gil; Nueva era en el campo, by Fernando Mantilla; Tesoro artístico nacional, by Angel Villatorio.</td></tr><tr><td>1938</td><td>Alma e Corpo de uma Raça, by Milton Rodrigues.</td><td>La canción de Aixa, by Florián Rey and Benito Perojo; La mujer y la guerra, by A. M. Sol (Sollin).</td></tr><tr><td>1939</td><td>Banana da Terra, by Wallace Downey</td><td>Los hijos de la noche, by Florián Rey and Benito Perojo</td></tr></table> The above chart does not present the film productions of that time in their exhaustion but reveals an important point of artistic convergence between these two countries. Although the number of works produced in Spain is much higher than the Brazilian production, music is an element that drives the emergence of a more national and less foreign production in both countries, allowing a transformation, both in quality and aesthetic value, as well as in the artistic-cultural alignment, within the national territory. For some critics, however, the Spanish political context did not allow great advances in terms of the art nationalization. Although between 1932 and 1936, 109 sound films were produced in Spain, the progressive and culturally innovative impulses of the republic did not provoke a radical change in the cinematographic practices and the artistic expressions, since films based mainly on conservative cultural models, inherited from the previous period, continued to dominate local industry (PAVLOVIC, 2008). It is also worth mentioning a growing wave of documentary films, especially in the years 1936 and 1937, as presented in the chart, showing a considerable political investment that greatly contributed to the propagation of revolutionary ideas. In Brazil, the production of documentary films did not create the same impact nor did it perform the same function as in Spain. Although Humberto Mauro produced a considerable number of documentaries, only the so-called "The Discovery of Brazil" was more prominent in terms of audience, but still did not reach the expected result. It is also possible to verify that documentaries in Brazil had a more educational and social integration function, as researcher Rosana Catelli (2012) points out: The advancement of broadcasting systems and cinema has contributed to the irradiation and transmission of culture. In this way, the new media could fulfill the role of integrating society, establishing contacts between differentiated segments: artist and audience, coastal and backwoods, national and foreign, popular culture and erudite culture, poor and rich (CATELLI, 2012, p.08). In fact, Vargas and his supporters encouraged and sponsored the development of film activities connected especially to music. This has spurred an increasing wave of professionals in the fields of music and cinema, and gave rise to a new concentration of artistic activities: more construction of permanent exhibition halls, including in schools; creation of cinema schools, companies, documentary productions, sung films, operettas; publication of specialized magazines; elaboration of censorship and laws that would support such activities. All these events point to the Vargas Era as the period of greatest effervescence of cinematographic activities in Brazil. ## II. FINAL REMARKS From the above, it can be inferred that the 1930s was a period of advances and controversies for cinematographic activities in Brazil and Spain. If on the one hand the totalitarian governments of that time have imposed their antidemocratic ideologies and policies, on the other hand these policies have impelled the restructuring and regularization of cinematography as a whole. Policies to encourage film production were responsible for a pronounced demand for new professionals, thus increasing the access of the lay population to activities previously considered to belong to the nobles or intellectuals. It is worth emphasizing here the important contribution of music in the period in focus, since it was the element that led to a new cinematographic narrative genre. Compared to the previous period, in which cinema used literature to establish itself in the national productions, it can be said that music played the role of reviving the traditions, at the same time inspiring the producers with what was more popular in Brazilian and Spanish artistic culture, therefore contributing to the production of films less influenced by the foreign industry. [^3]: Later it would become Tierra sin pan _(p.5)_ [^1]: A popular theatrical genre importance in the history of performing arts, both in Brazil and in Portugal, until the middle of the nineteenth century. It is characterized by the frequent appeal to sensuality and social and political satire _(p.2)_

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