Amália Rodrigues & Le Cinéma

Fado – the soul of Portuguese melancholy – has been inspiring cinema from its beginning. But the encounter between the two arts was particularly focused on Amália Rodrigues’ career. Tiago Baptista, curator at the Portuguese Cinémathèque of Lisbon, claimed, “The links between Fado and cinema were born with silent cinema. At this time, Fado musicians accompanied the screening of some Portuguese films.”

Fado – the soul of Portuguese melancholy – has been inspiring cinema from its beginning. But the encounter between the two arts was particularly focused on Amália Rodrigues’ career.
Tiago Baptista, curator at the Portuguese Cinémathèque of Lisbon, claimed, “The links between Fado and cinema were born with silent cinema. At this time, Fado musicians accompanied the screening of some Portuguese films.”
In the 30’s, filmmakers often recruited their actors in the Fado community, which also was the setting of many films’ scripts. The first Portuguese talking picture (1931) was precisely dedicated to Maria Severa, the first Fado singer to be famous in the 19th century.
The International cinema also was interested very early in this music genre, integrally linked to Lisbon’s history. In 1956, English filmmaker Ray Milland directed Lisbon: the story of a smuggler who sets himself up in the Portuguese capital city. But French Henri Verneuil marked better than anybody else the history of Fado in cinema by offering a part to Amália Rodrigues in The Lovers of Lisbon. She previously had played in many Portuguese films. She began in 1946, in Capas Negras (Black Capes) directed by Armando de Miranda: this is the most watched film in Portugal so far. She also had a big success the next year with Fado, História d’Uma Cantadeira, a musical drama by Perdigão Queiroga. She starred again in Leitão de Barros’ Vendaval Maravilhoso (1949) and in Augusto Fraga’s Sangue Toureiro (1957).
Preferring to focus on her singer career, she made a few appearances in films by Tito Davison and Wim Wenders, among others. She also played in a few TV productions and documentaries.
But we can easily confirm that The Lovers of Lisbon – starring Amália as herself – was an unrivalled springboard for her International career.