The Spanish Earth

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

Manuel Azaña

as Himself (President of Spain)

José Díaz

José Díaz

as Himself (Parliamentarian)

Dolores Ibárruri

Dolores Ibárruri

as Herself

Enrique Lister

Enrique Lister

as Himself (Republican Army)

Commander Martinez de Aragón

Commander Martinez de Aragón

as Himself (Republican Army)

Gustav Regler

Gustav Regler

as Himself (German writer)

Orson Welles

Orson Welles

as Narrator (voice)

Ernest Hemingway

Ernest Hemingway

as Narrator (voice)

Jean Renoir

Jean Renoir

as Narrator (voice)

Reviews

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