Crimes of Diogo Alves

1911 CrimeDrama 23 minutes Directed by João Tavares

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About Crimes of Diogo Alves

Diogo Alves, a Galician newly in Lisbon, and his gang rob and kill along the Aqueduto das Águas Livres, throwing bodies from the walkway, and they raid houses. The short follows the denunciation, the arrest, the sentence, and the execution. Alfredo de Sousa plays Alves. Amélia Soares plays his lover, Parreirinha. One killing is of a child on the aqueduct, a crime the popular story says Alves regretted.

Cast & crew

More about Crimes of Diogo Alves

João Tavares directed this second Portuguese fiction film, from a script by João Freire Correia and Lino Ferreira based on a story by Barbosa Júnior. An earlier version had been left unfinished in 1909; Tavares, who had acted in that attempt, shot the new one in the summer of 1910. It opened on April 26, 1911, at the Salão da Trindade, and played the Paraíso de Lisboa from May 19. Voices behind the screen made a "spoken" version, with the Guarda Nacional Republicana orchestra under Artur Fão.

Themes

  • Murders on the Lisbon aqueduct
  • A gang's house raids
  • Arrest and the gallows
  • Diogo Alves
  • Aqueduto das Águas Livres
  • Parreirinha
  • Lisbon
  • execution
  • Portugália Film
  • true crime

Background

The film opened in the first year of the Portuguese Republic, a few months after the October 1910 revolution.

Audiences

Contemporary accounts say the public response beat expectations, and the film was brought back, as a paying attraction, from 1911 through 1914.

Look

João Tavares, João Freire Correia, and Manuel Cardoso Pereira filmed on the Aqueduto das Águas Livres while people could still walk its course.

Music

At the 1911 shows the Guarda Nacional Republicana orchestra, conducted by Artur Fão, played live, and speakers behind the screen supplied a spoken version.

Preservation

A print survives, including the aqueduct scenes shot while the walkway was still open to pedestrians.

Notes

  • The historical Diogo Alves was hanged for crimes in Lisbon in 1841. His preserved head is still kept at the Faculty of Medicine in Lisbon.
  • Photography is credited to Manuel Cardoso Pereira, João Freire Correia, and João Tavares.
  • Maximino Abranches wrote the intertitles. Manuel Cardoso Pereira was executive producer.
  • Companhia Cinematográfica de Portugal handled distribution.
  • A surviving shot shows the child on the aqueduct smiling at the camera before the fall.

Scenes

  • The gang throws victims from the aqueduct walkway.
  • A child on the parapet smiles toward the camera before being thrown.
  • Alves and Parreirinha are sentenced and executed.

Influenced by

  • Barbosa Júnior's story of Diogo Alves and his gang