Abstract

During the Estado Novo (1933-1974) in Portugal, many films were banned, others mutilated through cuts to images and scenes, Subtitles were suppressed and manipulated. In many cases, what reached the public was an ideologically clean version of the original. Adopting a descriptive-comparative approach, the CENSUB model analyses the censorship of subtitled films on three levels. First, historical, political and ideological aspects, as well as regulations and general censorship procedures in the target culture are explored on the metalevel. Then, the documents kept at the Torre do Tombo National Archive in Lisbon, which include the correspondence between censors and distributors, as well as the subtitles typed on paper, are examined at the macrolevel. Finally, at the microlevel, the censors’ instructions and the subtitle lists are analysed and compared with the original film, revealing the extent of the alterations made to a film by the translator.