NODE

The Spanish Film Newsreel, better known as NO-DO (acronym for Newsreel and Documentaries) or node, as recorded by the dictionary of the Royal Spanish Academy, was a weekly propaganda newscast of the Franco regime that was shown in Spanish cinemas before the film itself, between 1942 and 1981.

Background

NO-DO came to replace the series that, lasting approximately half an hour, preceded the screening of the film (feature film). This series included a newscast to choose from among the ten that were produced weekly in Spain (to which the room's businessman was a subscriber), a cartoon film and another comedy or a documentary. The weak post-war economy, the scarce development of the film industry in Spain and the imposition of the NO-DO «to save foreign currency» meant for the short film, an already underestimated genre, its virtual disappearance and with it the possibilities of school that meant At the same time, newscasts by specialists outside the official payroll stopped being produced.

The most established news programs in Spain before the NO-DO were the Spanish-German Actualidades UFA, which had been created in November 1940; the American Fox Movietone and the Italian Luce. Fox broadcasts were seen as too pro-liberal for the Franco regime, the German newscast was considered inappropriate as the government tried to distance itself from the Nazi regime as the world war progressed. These could be, in part, the reasons that pushed the Francoist authorities to assess the creation of their own news bulletin. The attack on Begoña, in August 1942, which was recorded only by UFA cameras, was also an element that also contributed to Gabriel Arias-Salgado, vice-secretary of Popular Education, and José Luis de Arrese Magra, national secretary of the Movement, will promote the creation of a unique news program in Spain.

History

After a previous stage during the Spanish civil war in which it was simply called Noticieros, the state agency NO-DO (Noticiarios y Documentales Cinematográficos), was created on September 29, 1942 by agreement of the Vice-secretariat of Popular Education of the dictatorship of Francisco Franco. By resolution, of that vice-secretariat of December 17 of the same year, (BOE 12-22-1942), that body was granted absolute exclusivity for the preparation of news and documentary film reports and It also established the obligatory nature of the projection of NO-DO in all cinemas in Spain, "in order to maintain, with its own impulse and adequate guideline, national cinematographic information". The broadcasts began in January 1943. projection of the NO-DO was onerous. In February 1943, by order of the Ministry of Industry and Commerce, the Entidad Noticiarios y Documentales Cinematográficos No-Do was authorized to charge, for the exhibition of its "Noticiario Español", the prices that said entity deemed appropriate.

NO-DO was born from the technical media and professionals from the Germanophile UFA News. The first screening was held on January 4, 1943. The first images it broadcast the NO-DO were the Report of War (written) informing of the fall of the troops opposed to Francisco Franco and, later, images of the prisoners who were arrested. The invasion of Poland by German troops was also reported. The Franco regime used the NO-DO to present a peculiar vision of Spain and the rest of the world, with no possibility of contrast on the part of the spectators. In its initial period until 1946, one or two weekly editions were produced intermittently. As of that year, the two broadcasts were systematized, which became three weekly in 1960. Between 1967 and 1977, the two editions returned. In recent years, already in democracy, a version in Catalan was also made.

In addition to the newscasts, monographic documentaries were also shown, which were called "Images", also produced by the NO-DO. During its existence, it maintained exclusivity regarding the reports shown in movie theaters. In September 1975, by Ministerial Order, the projection of NO-DO was no longer mandatory.

Starting in 1968, with the arrival of competition from television and the immediacy of its information, it was renamed "Revista Cinematográfica", changed its traditional format and introduced the "Página en Color", in which the news is replaced by reports of an artistic, monumental or tourist nature, with a more permanent interest, in which they commented and illustrated the already known events and curiosities were discovered.

Since July 4, 1977, the NO-DO, already transformed into a Cinematographic Magazine, began to be carried out entirely in color. By Law 4/1980 of January 10, the Radio and Television Statute that established the former Public Entity Radiotelevisión Española, NO-DO, was extinguished as an autonomous body and was fully absorbed by RTVE. The historical archive of NO-DO's broadcasts is jointly guarded by the Spanish Film Library and the Documentation Department of Radiotelevisión Española. These NO-DO archives contain much more material than what was shown in movie theaters.

In December 2012, RTVE's Interactive Media digitized and launched the complete No-Do on the RTVE website, being able to be consulted in its entirety for the first time by users from all over the world and not only by researchers. Only five missing newsreels are missing.

Content

Francisco Franco together with various military authorities during a maneuver in 1946. Franco was one of the most prominent protagonists in the NO-DO emissions.

In the entire life of the NO-DO, 4,016 newsreels were produced (2,909 in black and white, 908 mixed, and 199 entirely in color) and 498 documentaries in color and 1,219 in black and white. Each newsreel had between five and ten news depending on the period. Its average duration was approximately ten minutes.

One of the characteristic elements of the newscast was the archaic aesthetic of the masthead, which was slightly modified in 1960, 1963 and 1968, evoking the reign of the Catholic Monarchs, another of the outstanding elements and which has endured in the memory of the Spaniards is its peculiar tune, which was composed by Manuel Parada, composer of soundtracks such as The Last of the Philippines or El escándalo.

In general, the news was shot without direct sound and the locution was added after the fact. Direct was used only in some interviews and statements on camera. Thus, there is a significant absence of original sound documents, compared to the great historical value of the images broadcast.

Francisco Franco used to star in each broadcast and with him, peace as a victory, commemorations of the homeland, the presence of the Catholic Church or visits from international figures. They were also offered related to sports, bullfights, fashion shows, art decoration, crafts or folklore. On the contrary, the absence of information regarding the horrors of the civil war and its consequent poverty and misery stands out, neither the repression nor the discontent of the population, in short, all the news that could contribute to giving a negative image of Francoism.

Franco and the NO-DO according to Sheelagh M. Ellwood

The cinematographic career of the Generalísimo is divided into three distinct phases, which maintain a remarkable parallelism with many other stages of the political and economic development of the regime. Between 1943 and 1960, Franco appeared irregularly in the NO-DO and generally the number of appearances was lower than the annual average of 27, recorded throughout the period 1943-1975.

It only had an upward trend in the four years between 1951 and 54, the time of the return of foreign ambassadors and the signing of the economic and military agreement with the US. U.S. Between 1960-1969, Franco was the star of the NO-DO reports, longer and more detailed, often growing, reaching its peak in 1965, around the time when the propagandist apparatus celebrated the 25 years under Franco's peace. The inaugurations of the public works, 55 median news during that period, helped Franco, opening swamps, to remain unbeatable in the collective memory of the Spanish people. Between 1965 and 1975, the last decade of the regime, gradually diminished apparitions. In 1970, Franco's physical decrepitude was already undeniably visible.

A regime that for thirty years had boasted of the superhuman qualities of its head could not allow the cinematographic chamber to demonstrate its inexorable mortality.

Sheelagh M. Ellwood

Digital file

• General Digitalized Archive of the Spanish Filmoteca: all NO-DO available for dates and themes in rtve.es
• Documentary «The years of NO-DO» in rtve.es
• NO-DO head and tune on YouTube