The Spanish Civil War - Seven Movies
The Spanish Civil War - Seven Movies
This article is a collaboration of Buzz of the Orient and Nowhere Man
From Wikipedia [added information in brackets]
The Spanish Civil War took place from 1936 to 1939. Republicans [Loyalists] loyal to the left-leaning Second Spanish Republic, in alliance with the Anarchists and Communists, [aided by the International Brigades] fought against the Nationalists [Rebels, Fascists], a Falangist, Carlist, Catholic, and largely aristocratic group led by General Francisco Franco [aided by Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy]. The war was known as a struggle between democracy and fascism, particularly due to the international political climate. The Nationalists won the war in early 1939 and ruled Spain until Franco's death in November 1975.
I have a few reasons for wanting to post this article. My uncle (my mother's brother) joined the International Brigade supporting the Loyalist Republicans and fought in that war. I travelled through Spain in 1969 and was in a few of the locations that the movies will depict. Hemingway's masterpiece, For Whom The Bell Tolls, (also being one of the movies noted below) which portrays the theme of John Donne's Meditation XVII, were both studied by me as part of my majoring in English Literature for my B.A.
The movies will be posted by Nowhere Man with his description and commentary about them one or two at a time, to allow time for you to watch them. Following is a screenshot and short introduction of each one:
1. The Spanish Earth (1937)
Although this is is actually a documentary, and also a somewhat biased propaganda film favouring the Republican loyalists in their losing battle with the Fascist rebels led by Francisco Franco who was supported by Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy, which serves as a good introduction for those who know little about the Spanish Civil War.
2. The Last Train From Madrid (1937)
Dorothy Lamour, Lew Ayres, Gilbert Roland, Robert Cummings and Anthony Quinn appear in this war drama that relates the lives and love affairs of seven people.
3. Blockade (1938)
Starring Henry Fonda and Madeleine Carroll, it is a story about a farmer who defends his farm during the war, and marries a Russian whose father is accused of espionage.
4. Confidential Agent (1945)
The principal actors are Charles Boyer and Lauren Bacall, along with, for the first time I've seen him in a movie without Humphrey Bogart, Peter Lorre. A loyalist courier meets with hostility when he goes to England to try to buy coal where he is at risk from the Fascists, but meets with an attractive supporter.
5. Behold a Pale Horse (1946)
A great cast including Gregory Peck, Anthony Quinn and Omar Sharif are in this film. The plot is interesting in that a trap is set to catch a famous Spanish bandit who returns from safety in France to see his dying mother.
6. For Whom the Bell Tolls (1943)
Gary Cooper + Ingrid Bergman = chemistry. Hemingway's masterpiece is set to film. An American idealist joins with the loyalists to blow up a bridge, meets with a beautiful woman and proves his valour in the end.
7. Gernika (Guernica) (2016)
James D'Arcy, who plays a soulless cynical American correspondent and Maria Valverde, a Spanish Loyalist who censors the outgoing news of the war, cross paths.
And coming soon to a computer near you, the movies and commentary posted by Nowhere Man. ..
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Does "Pan's Labyrinth" count? It took place during or shortly after the SCW.
1937 The Spanish Earth
As Buzz points out above, this is a documentary showing the struggle of the Spanish Republican government against a rebellion by fascist forces led by Gen. Francisco Franco and backed by Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy. Created by a production company named Contemporary Historians, was made up from a group of American writers and intellectuals, primarily Ernest Hemingway , Lillian Hellman , Archibald Macleish , John Dos Passos and Dorothy Parker . (some of them being accused/suspected communists at one time or another)
With a running time of just over 50 minutes, this copy comes from the TCM archives and is in it's unedited version.....
The Spanish Civil War remains as one of the longest and bloodiest conflicts involving a major country, and it's impossible to sum up its many nuances. You'll get one view of the conflict here with footage of war and glimpses of rural Spanish life.
This, however, isn't a documentary as we understand them today, This is as much documentary as it is straight propaganda. The style of the film, from the poor farmers bettering themselves with a homemade concrete irrigation system to the election of soldiers to hear impassioned political pep talks from movement leaders, It's straight from the Stalinist manual of Lifestyles of the Glorious Peoples. This isn't meant to Red-bait any of the participants -- they truly believed in a "free" Spain, and the fascist-backed Franco regime wasn't the answer, either -- but the reality was far different.
One thing a lot of people don't know about this war, the soviets aided the republican democractic government of Spain, but to get the help, the Spanish Government had to accept the soviet media program also.
This was very much a Fascist/Stalinist proxy war, and the Soviet Union had a not-so-hidden hand in its direction. Look carefully at the fighting sequences, and you'll see very atypical people in different-style uniforms guiding artillery and directing troops. As a historical insight -- despite what now appears to be a ham-fisted soviet style approach in propaganda -- this film is priceless. And many thanks for TCM, hopefully, we'll always have somebody willing to play such historical footage if anything to keep people aware of what came before.
A blast from the past about a very little known subject.
That wasn't Hollywood, that was reality. It was a taste of the real thing notwithstanding that it may have been propaganda, a promotion for the Loyalists who ended up losing the war.
The film was originally going to be narrated by Orson Welles, but I guess it's a tossup as to whether it would have been better with his voice and pattern of speech, or Hemingway's who was actually there at the time serving as a war correspondent sending back his stories to the newspapers in America.
I actually looked for my uncle, and near the end of the 5th reel I though I saw him, but it most likely was not him. No matter, he survived and then joined the Canadian Army and fought the Nazis in Holland.
1937 The Last Train From Madrid
A melodramatic movie about a disparate group of people attempting to obtain passes for the last train out of Madrid during the Spanish Civil War. Paramount Pictures, 1937. Starring Dorothy Lamour, Lew Ayres, Gilbert Roland, Karen Morley, Lionel Atwill, Helen Mack, Robert Cummings, Olympe Bradna, Anthony Quinn, Lee Bowman. Director: James P. Hogan.
There are a few subplots involving romance during wartime, and how a lifelong bond of friendship takes precedence over political affiliations. But overall, the film is a rather talky affair, all leading up to the final sequence in which some of the main characters finally do end up on a train for Valencia. Close to an hour into a movie with a running time just under ninety minutes, the audience finally gets to see the titular train. That’s pretty much my first and greatest impression of this rather slow moving and melodramatic movie about a disparate group of people attempting to obtain passes for the last train out of Madrid during the Spanish Civil War.
What The Last Train from Madrid does have going for it is its exceptional cast. Gilbert Roland, in particular, is always a delight to see on screen. And, love him or hate him, there’s no denying that Lionel Atwill is a distinct presence in any movie that he appears in. (Although, Atwill as a Spanish Army officer? Not believable.)
On the other hand, a young Anthony Quinn and an even younger looking Robert Cummings are quite convincing as Spanish soldiers. It’s just unfortunate that, with a cast like this, there isn’t enough action in this stagey production to keep the viewer particularly engaged throughout the proceedings.
More Drama surrounding the War than actually dealing with it, The Last Train from Madrid is more about how Hollywood viewed the circumstances of the drama than the reality.
The opportunity to see a young Anthony Quinn and Dorothy Lamour before they became acting legends is a treat one shouldn't miss
Enjoy,
NWM
Due to your commentary I assumed I would be watching a rather dull movie, but I was so wrong. Although actual battle plays a very insignificant role, and but for a few corny moments (thanks to Lew Ayres) the movie was quite compelling, and one where emotion plays a big part. Seeing Anthony Quinn with a relatively innocent-looking "baby face" was really something compared to his looks in pretty well all the other movies I've seen him in, including the one on the list of these movies, Behold a Pale Horse.
The one mystery I'm left with is what was meant when the Colonel emptied the bullets from Captain Alverez's gun and the camera focused on the empty chamber? What was going through the Colonel's head? It was obviously a significant incident. Let me know in a private note so it will not be a spoiler.
I didn't say it was dull, it was slow....
There is a difference.
Question answered....
I didn't use a good word - I don't think I really meant "dull", l just meant not exciting. However, as I said, I couldn't take my eyes away from it.
Thanks for the explanation. I just played that scene again and I had missed that the bullets were in the Colonel's hand before he opened the chamber to see that it was empty.
You want know a bit of trivia that I noticed? When the prisoners were being let out of prison, and the gates were being opened, the barbs at the top of the gates were pointed outward instead of inward. Properly, to help prevent escape, they should have been pointed inward.
No problem Brother, It's not a fast paced movie, is what I meant by slow. Good drama though and well played for the most part. a typical late '30's drama....
By the way, I played that scene through again and had missed that the bullets were in the Colonel's hand before he opened the chamber. What first appeared to be strange to me is that after the Colonel made the phone call just before that gun scene, a call came through later asking for instructions. I realized that the Colonel most likely did not dial the right number.
There was more in that movie than first meets the eye. It is one I want to watch again.
A bit of trivia I noticed. When the prisoners were released from prison and the gates were opened, the barbs at the top of the gates were pointed outwards, which would have meant to discourage entering the prison, rather than escaping from it.
Yes the number dialed the first time had to be the wrong number otherwise the sentry station would have let the train through. He still thought Alvarez was a traitor at that point....
Good eye....
The only thing I can figure with that is a mistake on the stage hands part....
You would think they would be pointed inwards....
Wiped off the Front Page is less than 4 hours. Well, my friend, it appears that there are no more than 4 members of NT who are interested in history other than American history, or movies most of which have never been seen and are most likely too esoteric for the current interest of NT members, but then after all that's understandable since Trump isn't involved in them.
Yeah I know, I realized that on the last set of movies I put up. Even those that requested them didn't watch them.....
The first one, the documentary, has five streams probably you me and one other....
The second one only two streams, you and me.....
Going to put up the third one tonight and maybe the fourth......
But I think we have to come up with another idea, no one seems to like this one....
Of course we are posting a lot of drama and not very much destruction.... older instead of newer, few naked bodies, minimal drug use, as little gory killing as possible.....
I guess no one will be happy until they have their fair share of brains to be eaten....
Yesterday I had an idea of putting together an article about little-known Canadian movies in which I would have included the Bethune one and the Alanis Obomsawin one, and 6 others, but after all, they're not AMERICAN movies and Trump isn't in them so maybe that's not worth our effort. I even own 1% of one of the movies - The Silent Partner (although I never got back what I paid in, but it was a tax shelter situation). I had clients and friends who acted in or provided other services to them. The list would have also included Goin' Down the Road, The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz, Meatballs, Ticket to Heaven, and Joshua Then and Now. Meatballs was Bill Murray's first movie, Duddy K was one of Richard Dreyfus' first movies, Elliott Gould was the protagonist in Silent Partner, Alan Arkin was in Joshua - lots of American actors, but they were Canadian productions.
I haven't ever seen any of these movies but I am somewhat familiar with some of the songs of the International brigades and the Abraham Lincoln Brigade.. I used to own this album...an old 78. Are you familiar with this album? (LINK)
Excellent video (but its on YouTube):
Buzz-- try googling "Six Songs for Democracy" or "Songs of the Spanish Civil War", "Hans Beimler", etc.
I can't seem to open anything like that on Bing. The only Spanish Loyalist military song I know is Venga Jaleo, which was also sung by the Weavers and Pete Seeger.
When I was in Madrid in 1969 (30 years after the end of the Civil War) in a bar where 2 guitarists were singing, I asked them to play Venga Jaleo. They looked at each other and conversed for a minute, and then they played it. I guess I didn't realize at the time that they could have taken a chance of being detained for singing it. (Franco was still in control then.)
1938 Blockade
Directed by William Dieterle, two farmers meet a Russian woman during the Spanish Civil War and struggle to protect a ship coming through a blockade to bring food to starving people. The only Hollywood feature film about the Spanish Civil War to be released during the Spanish Civil War, has been called an espionage thriller and a romance, but it’s really a “Whose Side Are You On?” movie. Will Norma, the once-wealthy Russian art dealer (Madeleine Carroll), come over to the side of Marco, the simple farmer/soldier? (Henry Fonda) Or will she betray his cause for the security and power of Andre Gallinet? (John Halliday)
Not a whole lot to say about this movie...... It has been whitewashed of almost every political reference. Civil war? The enemy seems external rather than internal. Spain? Never mentioned. So Hollywood’s great 1938 Spanish Civil War movie doesn’t mention Spain or a civil war. Hmmnnnnn....
What's it all about then? SPIES... ESPIONAGE..... Hollywood Humor? A big budget film, where do I begin......
Despite the pretensions of its scriptwriter, this romantic drama, set during the Spanish Civil War, is largely comic-book stuff. Clean-cut Henry Fonda, gazing moodily at Miss Carroll whilst quoting romantic poetry, — or stirring up refugees to resist the enemy, — is about as unconvincing a Spanish peasant as you can get. At least Fonda and all the other players — with two notable exceptions — spare us any attempts whatever at Spanish accents.
Henry Fonda was roped into this -- he had a higher box office rating than the perfect actor for it, Gilbert Roland. There aren't many roles both of these men could play, and this wasn't one of them.
The story is supposedly about the Spanish Civil War.
The script was written by an avowed Communist, John Howard Lawson who wanted to "present the Communist position" in his scripts. He doesn't really get to do that in Blockade, since it's deliberately ambiguous as to the different factions, referred to as "they" and "us." The costuming also doesn't suggest anything as far as sides. The story concerns a place called Castelmare, where Marco and Luis help a Russian woman, Norma who has had a car accident on the way to her father's. For Marco, it's love at first sight.
When war begins, Marco is the head of a group of peasant attempting to defend Castelmare. Meanwhile, Norma and her father are forced to spy for the other side. Marco winds up killing Norma's father. Castelmare cannot get any supplies, and Norma is being blackmailed to give information about the ship so that it can be sunk. Probably the most striking thing are the closeups of the suffering peasants.
Casablanca it isn't. Fonda and Carroll have no chemistry. The dialogue is very stilted. Henry Fonda at the end gives an impassioned speech right into the camera. It's embarrassing.
The absurdity and unintentional ludicrousness of Miss Carroll's scenes with Fonda, allied with their pretentiously banal dialogue ("Never to see the sun again!"), plus the melodramatic contrivances of the plot twists that inexorably manage to bring these two stars constantly together, rank among the worst ever perpetrated in an "A" grade Hollywood picture. How our Madeleine can keep a straight face through her "I never had a country" lines, rates as a minor miracle of histrionic self-control. As if one clown in the plot were not enough, the script later introduces Reginald Denny as a stage Englishman, whose function is mainly to feed lines to Carrillo. They indulge in a purgative, totally unfunny conversation about tinned corn beef.
The pseudo-Spanish music score has to be heard to be believed. Heavily underlining every scene, it reaches a climax of movie bathos in the episode with Fonda leading the peasants to resist behind sandbanks, whilst a stirring off-camera chorus urges, "Fight for the Right!" Complete with obviously phony backdrops, the sets take pride of place as some of the most obvious fakes ever to come out of Hollywood. "Blockade" was most certainly filmed entirely on a studio sound stage.
In the end, “Blockade” lost money, the Fascists won Spain, and Generalissimo Francisco Franco ruled until 1975, when his death became a running joke on “Saturday Night Live.” Meanwhile, the movie’s producer, Walter Wanger, a longtime proponent of liberal causes, sold out his communist screenwriter, Lawson, not to mention the rest of the Hollywood 10, in a 1947 meeting before the Screenwriters Guild.
Where’s the conscience of the world? Right about there.
Another blast from the past, and a good look at how not to make propaganda.....
NWM
LOLOLOL.. Your comments describe that movie as such a lousy film I don't know if I want to waste my time watching it. Almost every member of NT really doesn't care about movies anyway so sure as hell they're not going to. I'm not telling you that we should not even have chosen it to show, after all it's an anomaly since it's not REALLY the kind of Hollywood fare that the majority of members here might find interesting, because there are most likely no car chases, no futuristic special effects, no attempted kidnapping or assassination of the president (which is probably a wish on the minds of half our members at least), most likely no sexy love scenes, no talking animals, so maybe that's such a change someone might actually WANT to watch it because it's so different. If they do, maybe it's just because they love Henry Fonda. HOWEVER, on the other hand, maybe we're lucky and it'll be another Springtime for Hitler, or so bad that it will be considered a cult film like Plan 9 From Outer Space, or Reefer Madness....who knows?
Well it was during Fonda's "preachy" period, I think that's part of why they chose him to specifically play that part.... Of course there was the HUAC to deal with......
Problem is it isn't really funny. So it is one that should be relegated to the trash bin of history. But you never know.......
The movie was a box office disaster, as I said only interesting as instructive in how not to make a propaganda movie.....
If it is possible to make a movie with NO redeeming qualities and not be porn related, "Blockade" is it.....
LOL. I guess we won't expect more than a couple of streams for it then.
However, it could be better than some of the more recent Hollywood films I've seen
None except for my initial function test so far......
And I agree, many many recent movies have less going for them than this old trope.....
WAIT A SECOND!!! It wasn't as bad as all that! Melodramatic? Yes. Predictable? Yes. Corny? Yes. Propaganda? Yes. BUT, I think it WAS worth watching, even just to watch a young Henry Fonda. Even to get another view of the Spanish Civil War. It's not a movie I would bother watching again, but it's one I'm glad I did get a chance to watch once.
A true afficianado {chuckle}
Well, as I said, I did have reasons for writing about these movies. This is my uncle Johnny wearing what I assume is his Canadian Army uniform, just before leaving for Holland to fight the Nazis during WW2. Before that he had joined the International Brigade in Spain to fight against the Fascist Generalissimo Franco.
I know your waiting brother, Thank You for your patience. Had a bit of a setback, but generally on the mend. (so they tell me)
I haven't forgotten..... Three more to go, they are uploaded, just need to be able to sit in front of the computer long enough in one sitting to get each one done.... (do the background research/statements)
It will happen..... I promise...
1945 Confidential Agent
During the Spanish Civil War, in England, where the Spanish Loyalists send an aging world-weary Spanish classical musician Denard (Charles Boyer), whose wife and daughter were executed by the Fascists, to sabotage a valuable coal mining business deal with the Brits which if finalized would allow the Fascist Spanish government to buy munitions during the Spanish Civil War to be used against the Loyalists.
Confidential Agent has an impressive pedigree, it's based on a Graham Greene novel, and is written by Robert Buckner and Jack Daniel. Theater director Herman Shumlin ("Watch on the Rhine"), with well-known leftist leanings, in his second and last film he ever directed, gets no sizzle from co-star Lauren Bacall, unconvincingly cast as the daughter of an English lord, after her film debut in "To Have and Have Not " (1944) opposite Bogart. But the film looks good courtesy of cinematographer James Wong Howe, was well-acted by the talented cast and had a tingle to its sinister spy theme of people living in fear that still keeps it fresh and relevant. Because of the film's depiction of Spain as a Fascist country still at war with Loyalists, it did not catch the interest of the public, still living through their own war experience and too war-weary to concern itself with another part of the world's problems. Therefore the film unfortunately bombed at the box office in the West and did not receive too many good reviews from critics, but when viewed today it has gained in reputation over the years. I thought it was an enjoyable classic thriller, made with insight and intelligence.
The chief villains, Peter Lorre and Katina Paxinou, give nasty performances as detestable heavies and sell-outs, and the other villains Victor Francen, Miles Mander, George Coulouris, Guy Bellis and Art Foster show what amateur agent Boyer is up against in his dangerous mission. While Bacall plays the spirited daughter of coal tycoon Lord Benditch (Holmes Herbert),who falls in love with the dashing Boyer after giving him a lift in her car at the train station, and later enlists the help of her wealthy aristocratic businessman boyfriend John Warburton to help get the besieged Boyer out of the country after the reluctant agent succeeds in his mission of blocking the coal deal by giving an impassioned speech to the hostile Brit coal miners at Benditch. The miners are more interested in jobs than politics, but respect a fellow worker's plea for them to at least hear what he has to say. The newspaper headlines the next day force the cancellation of the deal.
Now this was the third Movie Lauren Bacall had completed, but the second one released. Bacall had actually completed "The Big Sleep" before "Confidential Agent", but "Agent" was released first in a hurry-up attempt to cash in on her popularity. She was unhappy about Jack Warner rushing her into this film and later remarked in Lauren Bacall, By Myself her autobiography,: "...to cast me as an aristocratic English girl was more than a stretch. It was dementia." Boyer carries the film with wonderful sensitivity.
Well worth watching, aside from Bacalls flat performance, and pre-war setting in the post-war era, it has stood the test of time.
Enjoy....
NWM
Notwithstanding Bacall's "tough girl" persona, that was an exciting movie. For a composer, Boyer could have been Bourne or Indiana, but now I've seen Peter Lorre "sans" Bogart, so I guess he CAN be a little independent. Well, actually, Bacall was standing in for her lover this time.
Although you will see a few short streams, they're probably mine - I've had a lot of trouble with my computer and my internet the last couple of days so I had a few false starts and reboots.
What a pity that they're only a few of all the members of NT who have an interest in seeing movies they never otherwise would have had a chance to see, or to learn about a war that didn't involve the USA for a change, or to appreciate some great acting. Such a pity. So many are so "limited" - eating, sleeping and Trump. LOL
Just one question. Isn't it unusual for a person to travel by land and sea from Spain to England and not have any luggage - not even a change of socks or underwear....?
Yeah, you noticed! I've seen that a lot in movies....
The whole world is right outside their dressing room door......