The Spanish Earth (1937)

The Spanish Earth (1937)

1937-07-10 United States of America 53 Min. PG-13
6.5 20 votes

Overview

Joris Ivens’s advocacy documentary for the Republican cause intercuts a besieged Madrid with a nearby village digging an irrigation canal, linking the war to bread, land, and survival. Produced by the writers’ collective Contemporary Historians, edited by Helen van Dongen, scored by Marc Blitzstein, and narrated in its U.S. version by Ernest Hemingway (after an initial Orson Welles track), it blends frontline reportage with persuasion against Franco’s forces and their German–Italian backers.

Cast

Manuel Azaña is Himself (President of Spain)
Himself (President of Spain)
José Díaz is Himself (Parliamentarian)
Himself (Parliamentarian)
Enrique Lister is Himself (Republican Army)
Himself (Republican Army)
Commander Martinez de Aragón is Himself (Republican Army)
Himself (Republican Army)
Gustav Regler is Himself (German writer)
Himself (German writer)
Orson Welles is Narrator (voice)
Narrator (voice)
Ernest Hemingway is Narrator (voice)
Narrator (voice)
Jean Renoir is Narrator (voice)
Narrator (voice)