When I think of movies on the Spanish Civil War, Land and Freedom comes to mind. And Pan’s Labyrinth. And the abominable There Be Dragons. I was surprised to see that there are quite a lot and some of them seem to be well-worth watching.
- The Spanish Earth, dir. Joris Ivens (US 1937), starring Manuel Azaña, José Díaz
- Blockade, dir. William Dieterle (US 1938), starring Madeleine Carroll, Henry Fonda, Leo Carrillo, John Halliday
- The Siege of the Alcazar – L’assedio dell’Alcazar, R: Augusto Genina, ITA 1939), starring Augusto Genina, Alessandro de Stefani, Pietro Caporilli, Fosco Giachetti, Mireille Balin
- Raza – El espíritu de una raza, dir. José Luis Sáenz de Heredia (SP 1942), starring Alfredo Mayo, Ana Mariscal
- The Fallen Sparrow, dir. Richard Wallace, USA 1943), starring John Garfield, Maureen O’Hara, Walter Slezak
- For Whom the Bell Tolls, dir. Sam Wood (US 1943), starring Gary Cooper, Ingrid Bergman, Katina Paxinou
- The Angel Wore Red, dir. Nunnally Johnson (IT/US 1960), starring Ava Gardner, Dirk Bogarde, Joseph Cotten
- Fünf Patronenhülsen, dir. Frank Beyer (GDR 1960), starring Erwin Geschonneck, Ulrich Thein, Edwin Marian
- Behold a Pale Horse, dir. Fred Zinnemann (US 1964), starring Gregory Peck, Anthony Quinn, Omar Sharif
- Viva la muerte – Es lebe der Tod (Viva la Muerte, R: Fernando Arrabal, FRA/ TUN 1971) mit Anouk Ferjac, Núria Espert
- The Spirit of the Beehive -El espíritu de la colmena, directed by Victor Erice (SP 1973), starring Teresa Gimper, Fernando Fernán Gómez, Ana Torrent,
- The Tree of Guernica- L’arbre de Guernica, dir. Fernando Arrabal, (FR/IT 1975), starring Mariangela Melato, Ron Faber
- The Beehive – La colmena, dir. Mario Camus (SP 1982), starring Victoria Abril, Francisco Algora, Rafael Alonso, Ana Belén
- Las bicicletas son para el verano, dir. Jaime Chávarri, (SP 1984), starring Amparo Soler Leal
- If They Tell You I Fell – Si te dicen que caí, dir. Vicente Aranda (SP 1989), starring Victoria Abril, Antonio Banderas, Jorge Sanz
- ¡Ay, Carmela!, dir. Carlos Saura (SP/IT 1990), starring Carmen Maura, Andrés Pajares, Gabino Diego
- Belle Époque, dir. Fernando Trueba (SP 1992) starring Penélope Cruz, Miriam Díaz Aroca
- Fiesta, Pierre Boutron (FR 1995), starring Jean-Louis Trintignant, Grégoire Colin, Marc Lavoine, Laurent Terzieff
- ‘Til Death Do Us Part – À la vie, à la mort!, dir. Robert Guédiguian (FR 1995), starring Ariane Ascaride, Jacques Boudet
- Your Name Poisons My Dreams – Amor y Venganza, dir. Pilar Miró, (SP 1996), starring Ángel de Andrés López, Aitor Merino, Alfred Lucchetti
- La hora de los valientes, dir. Antonio Mercero (SP 1998), starring Gabino Diego, Leonor Watling
- Butterfly’s Tongue – La Lengua de las Mariposas, dir. José Luis Cuerda (SP 1999), starring Fernando Fernán Gómez
- The Heifer – La vaquilla, dir. Luis García Berlanga (SP 1985), starring Alfredo Landa, Guillermo Montesinos
- Land and Freedom, dir. Ken Loach, (GB 1995), starring Ian Hart, Rosana Pastor, Icíar Bollaín, Tom Gilroy
- Libertarias – Juegos de Guerra, dir. Vicente Aranda (SP/ IT/BEL 1996), starring Ana Belén, Victoria Abril, Ariadna Gil, Blanca Apilánez
- The Sea – El Mar, dir. Agustí Villaronga (SP 2000), staring Roger Casamajor, Bruno Bergonzini, Antònia Torrens, Juli Mira
- Goalkeeper – El Portero, dir. Gonzalo Suárez (SP 2000), starring Carmelo Gómez, Maribel Verdú, Antonio Resines, Roberto Álvarez
- The Devil’s Backbone – El espinazo del diablo, dir. Guillermo del Toro (SP/MEX 2001), starring Marisa Paredes, Eduardo Noriega, Federico Luppi
- Broken Silence – Silencio Roto directed by Montxo Armendáriz (SP 2001) starring Lucía Jiménez, Juan Diego Botto
- Soldiers of Salamina – Soldados de Salamina, dir. David Trueba (SP 2002) starring Ariadna Gil, María Botto
- Carol’s Journey – El Viaje de Carol, dir. Imanol Uribe (SP 2002) starring Clara Lago, Juan José Ballesta, Álvaro de Luna, María Barranco
- Head in the Clouds, dir. John Duigan (CA/GB 2004), starring Charlize Theron, Penélope Cruz, Stuart Townsend, Thomas Kretschmann
- Pan’s Labyrinth – El laberinto del fauno, dir. Guillermo del Toro (SP/MEX/US 2006), starring Ivana Baquero, Ariadna Gil, Sergi López
- The Anarchist’s Wife, directed by Marie Noelle, Peter Sehr (SP/FR/GE 2008), starring María Valverde, Nina Hoss, Jean-Marc Barr, Juan Diego Botto
- There Be Dragons, directed by Roland Joffé (US/ARG/SP 2011), starring Charlie Cox, Wes Bentley, Dougray Scott
Do you have a favourite?
I might be watching one of these soon