Welcome Mr. Marshall!

1953
7.9| 1h18m| NA| en| More Info
Released: 04 April 1953 Released
Producted By: Unión Industrial Cinematográfica
Country: Spain
Budget: 0
Revenue: 0
Official Website:
Info

A small Spanish town, Villar del Río, is alerted to the upcoming visit of American diplomats and its ruling townsmen begin preparations to impress the American visitors, in the hopes of benefiting under the Marshall Plan. Hoping to demonstrate the side of Spanish culture with which the visiting foreign officials would be more familiarized, the Castilian citizens don unfamiliar Andalusian costumes, hire a renowned flamenco performer, and re-decorate their town in Andalusian style, meantime waiting for their uncertain arrival.

Genre

Comedy

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Director

Luis García Berlanga

Production Companies

Unión Industrial Cinematográfica

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Welcome Mr. Marshall! Audience Reviews

Hellen I like the storyline of this show,it attract me so much
FuzzyTagz If the ambition is to provide two hours of instantly forgettable, popcorn-munching escapism, it succeeds.
Anoushka Slater While it doesn't offer any answers, it both thrills and makes you think.
Scarlet The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.
runamokprods Gentle, sometimes very funny political satire, somewhat reminiscent of the UK Ealing Studio films. The poor, small Spanish town of Villar del Rio is abuzz with the news that American officials are coming to visit, and plan to show off their best face in an effort to get their slice of the Marshall Plan pie. (Spain was actually excluded from the funds). While sometimes predictable, and sometimes badly post dubbed this is a fun film with just enough edge to look at the darker side of human nature, but with a smile.Frustratingly this classic of Spanish cinema isn't available on US DVD. I had to order mine from Amazon Spain (although it has US subtitles, and looks pretty good.)
Rueiro This is one of those little films that never stand out of the crowd but have a big value on their own and remain a a much-loved B-series national treasure. If you are not familiarised with Spanish cinema that is not Almodovar's, just think of the classic Ealing comedies in Britain, and that may give you an idea as to what this film is about: a bunch of good-natured and eccentric characters in a God-forsaken little community where nothing ever happens, and then when something eventually happens it causes havoc and turns everything upside down with very funny consequences... "Welcome Mr Marshall" is also a faithful document on rural Spain in the early 1950s, when the country, ruled by a fascist regime, was just coming out from a long period of international isolation after World War II and beginning to be accepted by the western powers as a convenient ally against the eastern block during the Cold War. That is precisely what this film is about: in 1950 Uncle Sam arrives in Spain with the Marshall Plan for post-war economic recovery, and the picture the local authorities present to the simple folk is that of a bunch of gold-loaded Yankee businessmen coming in to give away cash and all sorts of things imaginable, just like the Three Wise Men who came to the baby Jesus.... Eventually the Yanks come, indeed, but they are too much in a hurry as to stop by, so they just drive past the village, leaving the locals as empty-handed as they were before... If you like social comedies such as "The Quiet Man", "The Titfield Thunderbolt" or "Local Hero", you surely will love this one if you can understand what is going on. Take my word for it.
andalucia17 Definitely among the top ten best Spanish movies of all time. Unknown in many parts of the world (it is not in the IMDb 250 best film group, which by the way gives us hope, among other things, as to the fact that there will always be cinematographic jewels to discover), it is not only a well structured comedy but a refined criticism to American Imperialism (many people from Latin America, for example, will feel identified with the characters and story of the small Spanish village. I once saw it with a Colombian girlfriend of mine and I noticed that that was the feeling). Someone said that had Spain not been a dictatorship, under the rule of Franco (an isolated ruler who in 1953 happily publicized a treaty with the U.S. as a sign of the new times in the history of Spanish foreign relations: something that would seemingly have a splendid beneficial effect on the life of the population of a country out of pace with western European history), the movie would have won the Oscar for the Best Foreign film back in the mid fifties.
Carls-2 Probably, the best Spanish film ever made. A loyal portrait of Spaniards' personality and way of thinking with the particular sense of humour added by the writer Miguel Mihura. Essential: the Pepe Isbert's balcony scene, be ready to laugh .