The Spanish Earth (1937)

Director:

Joris Ivens

Writers:

John Dos Passos (English narration) (part one)
Ernest Hemingway (English narration) (part two)

Release Date:

20 August 1937 (USA)

Genre:

Documentary | War

Plot:

A documentary showing the struggle of the Spanish Republican government against a rebellion by ultra-right-wing forces led by Gen. Francisco Franco and backed by Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy. |

Plot Keywords:

Italy | Germany | Francisco Franco | Peasantry | Irrigation

Cast

Manuel Azaña	...	Himself (President of Spain)
José Díaz	...	Himself (Parliamentarian)
Dolores Ibárruri	...	Herself (as La Pasionaria)
Enrique Lister	...	Himself (Republican Army)
Commander Martinez de Aragón	...	Himself (Republican Army)
Gustav Regler	...	Himself (German writer)
Orson Welles	...	Narrator (English version) (later replaced by Ernest Hemingway) (voice)

Also Known As:

This Spanish Earth

Runtime:

52 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English | Spanish | German

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Brazil:18 | Sweden:15 | UK:A | USA:Unrated

Filming Locations:

Ciudad Universitaria, Madrid, Spain

Company:

Contemporary Historians Inc.

Trivia:

Twenty-year-old Orson Welles recorded the commentary written by Ernest Hemingway and receives onscreen credit, but Hemingway decided to use his own voice instead.

Movie Connections:

Featured in "Allemaal film: Zoeken naar de werkelijkheid (#1.8)" (2007)

Red blood sinking into the Spanish earth

Probably more shocking at the time, this dated essay on war documents the good peasants and peoples army vs. the bad professional army and foreign troops. One of the earlier times that a camera was permitted to document the horrors of war, the production attempts to tell the moral message of the righteousness of the Republican cause -- but ultimately the film denounces war itself. Despite its noble crew, the documentary is slow-moving and suffers from what appears to be a voice-over of a silent film. A must see for those who have to see something about the Spanish Civil War or who have to hear Hemingway's voice, but this is not an evening's entertainment. The Why We Fight series done by the US Army during World War II is far superior. The horrors of war were captured for the present generation on their TV screens during the Viet Nam War.