The Spanish Earth/400 Million (1937)

The Spanish Earth and 400 Million (1937)
Directed by Joris Ivens

The Spanish Earth

Joris Ivens went to Fuenteduena, near Madrid, to film on the front of the republican armies. It has become one of the major films on the Spanish Civil War and one of the most important films in Ivens's carreer. Like in many other films Ivens finds a balance between the daily life of people and their struggle to survive. The strong photography, mainly by John Ferno, combined with the powerful editing by Helen van Dongen and the commentary of Ernest Hemingway make the film a masterpiece of documentary film making. In a first version the commentary was spoken by Orson Welles, but his voice was considered 'too beautiful' to be combined with the film, so it was decided that Hemingway did himself the commentary. One year later Jean Renoir made a French version, in a different editing which destroyed most of the power of the film.

400 Million

A pro-Chinese documentary, showing the struggle of the 400 million citizens to fight off the Japanese aggressors, put together primarily by Jors Ivers, who collaborated with Ernest Hemingway on "The Spanish Earth." The principal sequence covers the action in the South Shantung front, in April of 1938, showing the capture of Taierhchwang from the Japanese. The camera covers the course of the Yellow River---some of it--- and the construction of the road to the Soviet Union. Back in Hankow, in the summer of 1938, that the narrators--none of who played "Himself'- they were just hired voices-- tells of China's Military Council with General Chiang Kai-shek. The final segment is a trip to Canton shortly before it was captured by the Japanese.

Year.............: 1936 / 1939
Country..........: USA
Audio............: Dolby Digital 2 ENGLISH
Subtitles........: NONE
Video Format.....: 4:3
DVD Source.......: dvd5
DVD Format.......: ntsc
Bit Rate.........: high

This is the original untouched DVD, so there were no subtitles and its narrated in English.