SPAN 231: Intermediate Spanish: Some Spanish Films and Film Websites

Chronicles 1936, the first bloody year of the Spanish civil war. Location filming by omnipresent government cameramen helps lend a raw, earthy feel to the desperate, life-and-death struggle against General Francisco Franco's Nationalist insurgents. Distributed as a propaganda film in the United States and England to help garner public and international support for the Republican-coalition forces.

A striking account of the Spanish Civil War, made during the last, desperate days of the Republic. Drawn from the Republic's rich film archives, this documentary provides, in its partisan commentary and searing footage, a poignant epitaph to the dashed hopes of the Popular Front.

Two versions of the same film. In 1940, Francisco Franco wrote a script entitled "Raza". In 1941 the film version was released with government approval but with an anonymous author.

Filmed in Spain 1938-39. Malraux's dramatization of the Spanish Civil War. Republicans and international volunteers use makeshift weapons to fight Franco's forces in Teruel.

When they hear that their village has been selected to receive aid under the Marshall Plan, the villagers of Villar del Rio prepare to welcome the delegation of visitors by transforming their village overnight.

Upper-class geometry professor and his mistress accidentally hit a cyclist and run.

A heavily symbolic study of hatred and rivalry among four hunters, three of whom are Franquist veterans.

After seeing "Frankenstein" at a movie theater in town, Ana becomes obsessed with the idea of befriending the imaginary monster.

Tells the story of General Franco's revolt and the ensuing Spanish Civil War of 1936-1939 from both the Republican and Falangist points of view. Includes documentary film footage, narrative excerpts from various well-known writers who reported on the war at first hand, and contemporary visits with surviving participants.

Harry Caine, a blind writer, reaches this moment in time when he has to heal his wounds from 14 years back. He was then still known by his real name, Mateo Blanco, and directing his last movie.

Uxbal is a man on the wrong side of the law who struggles to provide for his children on the dangerous streets of Barcelona. As fate encircles him, Uxbal learns to accept the realities of life, whether bright, bad, or biutiful.

Cuba, 1948. Chico is a young piano player with big dreams. Rita is a beautiful singer with an extraordinary voice. Music and desire unite them as they chase their dreams and each other from Havana to New York, Paris, Hollywood and Las Vegas.

Once upon a time there was a little girl named Carmen, who never knew her mother. She learned the art of her father, a famous bullfighter, but was hated by her evil stepmother. One day she ran away with a troupe of dwarves, and became a legend.

Films by special effects technician and director, Segundo de Chomóm, produced and released in Spain and France, 1903-1912.

Segundo de Chomón 1871-1929.
Includes two films in the Méliès style by Segundo de Chomon for Pathé, (Magic Roses. Excursion to the Moon) which for many years were misidentified as Méliès films.

Includes two films by Segundo de Chomón 1871-1929: Kiriki: Japanese Acrobats, An Excursion to the Moon.

Filmed in the subjective language of the unconscious, this early avant-garde film is a surrealist tale of unfulfilled desire, based on an exchange of dreams between Salvador Dali and Luis Buñuel.

Buñuel's only documentary film. It portrays the everyday lives of indigent peasants in one of Spain's most desolate regions.

Systematically resists conventional solutions to juvenile delinquency and poverty in order to dramatize the need for more radical solutions.

A psychological study of a man obsessed. Francisco's romantic love and marriage fades as a paranoid obsession with his wife's supposed infidelity causes him to display fits of jealousy and repentance for his unfounded suspicions.

Novice nun Viridiana does her utmost to maintain her Catholic principles, but her lecherous uncle and a motley assemblage of paupers force her to confront the limits of her idealism.

Almodóvar's provocative first feature Pepi, Luci, Bom (1980) is set during Madrid's punk era. The film is an outrageous comedy which follows docile housewife Luci (Eva Silva), her trendy, marijuana smoking neighbour Pepi (Carmen Maura) and rock star Bom (Olvido Gara) who are close friends. Events take a shocking turn when Pepi is raped by a policeman. Pepi vows revenge, and of course her friends are on hand to make sure she gets it.

Comedy film about a woman who has been jilted by the love of her life, her friend who discovers her lover is a Shiite terrorist, and her ex-lover's crazed wife.

Filmmaker Enrique gets a visit from an aspiring actor claiming to be his old school friend Igancio, who has written a story about their traumatic childhood spent at Catholic school. In the story, a drag performer attempts to blackmail a predatory priest by exposing their scandalous past. When Enrique produces a film based on the story, the villainous priest from their school days arrives to tell his own version of the events.

Since his wife was burned in a car crash, Dr. Robert Ledgard, an eminent plastic surgeon, has wanted to create a new skin with which he could have saved her. After twelve years, he cultivates a skin that is a real shield against every assault... But where will they find the human pig?

Spanish language version with Mexican actors made at the same time and on the same set as Bela Lugosi's Dracula. Spanish version is longer and technically superior to Lugosi's film. Stars Carlos Villar and Lupita Tovar.

Enrique and Rosa are brother and sister Mayan Indian peasants, living in the mountains of Guatemala. When the village attempts to organize for better treatment, Enrique and Rosa are forced to flee...

The trials of a homesick exiled Cuban who labors as an apartment-house super in Manhattan.

A timeless and poignant tale dramatizing the plight of Mexican migrant workers in the U.S. Rafael, in trouble and in need of work, crosses the border to a new life. (No Subtitles)

An elderly physician who trains young people to provide health care to the poor people of an agricultural country finds out that many of his former students are being killed by guerillas.