The Spanish Earth

The Spanish Earth — Plot

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.

• Release date
• July 10, 1937
• Runtime
• 53 min
• Genres
• Documentary
• Director
• Joris Ivens

The Spanish Earth — Cast

M

Manuel Azaña Himself (President of Spain)

J

José Díaz Himself (Parliamentarian) Dolores Ibárruri Herself

E

Enrique Lister Himself (Republican Army)

C

Commander Martinez de Aragón Himself (Republican Army)

G

Gustav Regler Himself (German writer) Orson Welles Narrator (voice) Ernest Hemingway Narrator (voice)