Introduction by the Co-editors

Abstract

This issue gathers together seven articles that analyse filmic re-readings of the past, or themselves offer alternative perspectives on hegemonic discourses or established versions of film history. Dolores Tierney ’ s attention to the appearances of Emilio Fern (cid:1) andez — a canonical figure of Golden Age Mexican cinema — as an extra in Hollywood productions demonstrates the rewards of this literal and figurative attention to the edges and backgrounds of the filmic frame. The article shows how the extra can function to both counter and reinforce stereotypes and calibrate the (particularly racial) identities of the films ’ stars, enriching our understanding of Hollywood in its transition from silent to sound cinema. In a parallel move, Michelle Murray re-examines the work of Mariano Ozores, the prolific creator of Francoist-era sex comedies, foregrounding the brief portrayals of Afro-descendent characters in < C (cid:1) omo est (cid:1) a el servicio! in order to reveal how race and gender intersect to produce concepts of national purity. The analysis of gender in relation to genre continues in Consuelo P (cid:1) erez-Colodrero ’ s and Desir (cid:1) ee Garc (cid:1) ı a-Gil ’ s article on the early-twentieth-century adaptation of two well-known zarzuelas for the cinema, in which they demonstrate how particular film genres served to construct both national and gender identities at the time. Xavier