Welcome, Mr. Marshall

1953. Spain. Directed by Luis García Berlanga. Screenplay by Berlanga, Juan A. Bardem, Miguel Mihura. With Lolita Sevilla, Manuel Morán. Berlanga's caustically funny satire of postwar international politics is a classic of Spanish cinema. A Castilian village spares no expense or indignity to beat out neighboring towns for Marshall Plan aid. Dream sequences lampooning the American Western, House Un-American Activities Committee hearings, and the Ku Klux Klan lynching of a priest led Cannes jury member Edward G. Robinson to denounce the film as anti-American. Preserved by the Filmoteca Española, Madrid. In Spanish; English subtitles. 78 min.