The Spanish Earth (1937)
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.
- Date of release
- 1937-07-10
- TMDB
- 6.7 / 10 (22)
- Runtime
- 53m
- Genres
- Documentary
- Director
- Joris Ivens
Casting
- Manuel Azaña — Himself (President of Spain)
- José Díaz — Himself (Parliamentarian)
- Dolores Ibárruri — Herself
- Enrique Lister — Himself (Republican Army)
- Commander Martinez de Aragón — Himself (Republican Army)
- Gustav Regler — Himself (German writer)
- Orson Welles — Narrator (voice)
- Ernest Hemingway — Narrator (voice)
- Jean Renoir — Narrator (voice)
Recommended
- Come See Me in the Good Light 2025 · ★ 7.1
- Avatar: The Deep Dive - A Special Edition of 20/20 2022 · ★ 7.2
- 42 Up 1999 · ★ 7.6
- A Toxic Love Story 2026 · ★ 6.4
- Boys State 2020 · ★ 7.1
- McQueen 2018 · ★ 7.4
- Sidney 2022 · ★ 6.9
- 180° South 2010 · ★ 7.2
- To Kill a Tiger 2023 · ★ 7.6
- 35 Up 1991 · ★ 7.6
- Above Majestic 2018 · ★ 7.4
- The Kid Stays in the Picture 2002 · ★ 6.6