Mare Nostrum (1948 film)

Mare Nostrum
Directed byRafael Gil
Written byAntonio Abad Ojuel
Rafael Gil
Based onMare Nostrum
by Vicente Blasco Ibáñez
Produced byCesáreo González
StarringMaría Félix
Fernando Rey
Guillermo Marín
José Nieto
CinematographyAlfredo Fraile
Edited byJosé Antonio Rojo
Music byJuan Quintero
Production
companies
Distributed bySuevia Films (Spain)
Release date
  • 21 December 1948 (1948-12-21)
Running time
90 minutes
CountriesItaly
Spain
LanguageSpanish

Mare Nostrum (English: Our Sea) is a 1948 Italian-Spanish drama film directed by Rafael Gil and starring María Félix, Fernando Rey and Guillermo Marín.[1] The title refers to a Latin phrase for the Mediterranean Sea. A Spanish sailor becomes mixed up with a mysterious foreign spy at the time of the Second World War.

It is an adaptation of the novel of the same name by Vicente Blasco Ibáñez which had previously been turned into a 1926 American silent film.

Plot

German spies, using Freya (María Félix) as bait, convince neutral Spaniard Ulysses Ferragut to navigate a ship to put naval mines around British ports in the Mediterranean, telling him they would never fire on passenger ships. But one mine destroys the ship his son, Esteban, was on, killing him and many others. Searching for revenge, Ulises changes his mind and becomes a friend of the allies.

When U.S. troops take over Naples, Ulises chases the boss of the German spies, who is executed later. Freya begs for her life, but Ulises cannot forgive her, and she is executed too. Finally Ulises dies when his ship is bombed by the Luftwaffe.

Cast

References

  1. ^ Bentley p.105

Bibliography

  • Bentley, Bernard P. E. (2008). A Companion to Spanish Cinema. Boydell & Brewer Ltd. ISBN 978-1-85566-176-9.