Hollywood y la Guerra Civil española: la ideología oculta antifascista de Love Under Fire (1937) (original) (raw)

Historical Journal of Film, Radio and Television, 2023

Abstract

Abstract. When the Spanish Civil War (1936–1939) began, Hollywood immediately rushed to create screenplays about the conflict. However, only three fiction films were made during the course of the war: The Last Train From Madrid (James Hogan, Paramount Pictures, 1937), Love Under Fire (George Marshall, Twentieth Century-Fox, 1937) and Blockade (William Dieterle, Walter Wanger/United Artists, 1938). This article examines Love Under Fire, a production that has scarcely been studied and which remains commercially unavailable. The research has made it possible to establish that, despite its appearance as an inoffensive film that adheres to the Hays Office guidelines of impartiality, Love Under Fire is neither apolitical nor neutral, but has an anti-Franco, anti-Fascist and anti-Nazi ideological subtext. In fact, archival material from the MPAA/PCA Records reveals that the film was deliberately conceived from the outset to be anti-Axis powers. Finally, the article endeavours to explain why a commercial Hollywood production company persisted in its efforts to infiltrate this ideology into the film, at the risk of undermining its box-office performance, and will demonstrate that this was due to the overwhelming mass rejection of The Siege of the Alcazar, a frustrated personal project of Darryl F. Zanuck, which was to be produced by the same company and had a completely opposite ideology. Key words: Love Under Fire; Hollywood; Spanish Civil War; Hidden Anti-Fascist Ideology; Darryl F. Zanuck; Hays Office. Resumen. Cuando comenzó la Guerra Civil española (1936-1939), Hollywood se apresuró a crear guiones sobre el conflicto. Sin embargo, solo tres cintas de ficción llegaron a rodarse durante el transcurso de la beligerancia: The Last Train From Madrid (James Hogan, Paramount Pictures, 1937), Love Under Fire (George Marshall, Twentieth Century-Fox, 1937) y Blockade (William Dieterle, Walter Wanger/United Artists, 1938). Este artículo examina Love Under Fire, una producción muy poco estudiada que continúa sin estar disponible de forma comercial. La investigación ha permitido constatar que, pese a las apariencias de cinta inofensiva y adscrita a las directrices de imparcialidad de la Oficina Hays, Love Under Fire no es apolítica ni neutral, sino que posee un subtexto ideológico antifranquista, antifascista y antinazi. De hecho, el material de archivo de la MPAA/PCA Records revela que la película se concibió deliberadamente desde el inicio como contraria a las potencias del Eje. Finalmente, el artículo pretende explicar por qué una productora comercial de Hollywood persistió en su empeño de infiltrar dicha ideología en el film, a riesgo de menoscabar su rendimiento en taquilla, y demostrará que ello se debió al contundente rechazo masivo de The Siege of the Alcazar, un proyecto personal frustrado de Darryl F. Zanuck, que iba a ser realizado por la misma compañía y tenía una ideología totalmente contraria. Palabras clave: Love Under Fire; Hollywood; Guerra Civil española; ideología oculta antifascista; Darryl F. Zanuck; Oficina Hays.

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