Spain in Flames

original title:
Spain in Flames
other titles:
(Spanien in Flammen)
country / year of production:
USA / 1937
original length:
65 min. , black/white
premiere:
genre:
Compilation film
based on:
Frederico de Echeverria. Spain in flames. New York: Paulist Press. 1936. 47 p.
director:
film script:
producer:
cinematographer:
editor:
Helen van Dongen
composer:
cast (role):
more:
plot synopsis:
This filmed record of the Spanish Civil War is remarkable in its willingness to offer both sides of the conflict — though its sympathies are firmly with the Loyalists. The first half of the film, subtitled "The Flight for Freedom," was filmed by representatives of the Spanish government and narrated by Spanish ambassador Fernando de Los Rios. The second half, subtitled "They Shall Not Pass," was lensed by staffers of the Soviet Artkino Film Company. The pro-Red stance in this section is eminently understandable, given the not-so-surreptitious involvement of Hitler and Mussolini in the Spanish conflict. The horrendous images of battlefield carnage, not to mention the close-ups of suffering and dying Spanish children, still pack a wallop when seen today.
(Hal Erickson for www.allmovie.com)
keywords:
communism , fascism
war:
Spanish Civil War (1936-1939)
literature:
Louis E. Levinthal. "Reminiscences of 'A Cause Celebre'". In: Pennsylvania Bar Association Quarterly, 37:39-45, October 1965. L207.
remarks:
Hemingway helped write commentary for this Republican documentary film.

Louis E. Levinthal, a Philadelphia judge, recalls one of his most interesting cases, an appeal from the State Board of Censors to ban the documentary film of the Spanish civil war, "Spain in Flames". The decision of the Court of Common Pleas (Levinthal, Bok, and Flood) reviewed the decision, ruling that the film was in the nature of a newsreel and exempt from censorship.
availability: