Blockade

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Blockade

Released Jun 17, 1938

1h 25m

Adventure

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3 Reviews

44%

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Fewer than 50 Ratings

A Nationalist soldier (Henry Fonda) falls for a blond mercenary spy (Madeleine Carroll) during the Spanish Civil War.

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Otis Ferguson

The New Republic

In the case of Walter Wanger’s production of William Dieterle’s direction of John Howard Lawson’s script, there is achieved a deadly numb level of shameless hokum out of which anything true or decent rises for a second only to confound itself.

May 8, 2024

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Ann Ross

Maclean's Magazine

On the surface it is a good, excitingly handled spy film. But underneath the narrative it presents an eloquent and brilliantly pictorialized plea against modern warfare.

Jul 22, 2019

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Emanuel Levy

EmanuelLevy.Com

Set against the Spanish Civil War, Blockade was one of Hollywood's first anti-fascist dramas, which back in 1938, was considered a bold act; director Dieterle's future career suffered because of the film's politics.

Rated: B-

Jun 19, 2009

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Steve D

I didn't think there was much there.

Rated 2 out of 5 stars

03/13/24

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Audience Member

Effective Hollywood attempt to show the struggle of the innocent victims during the Spanish Civil War; Fonda and Carroll make a glamorous romantic duo.

Rated 3 out of 5 stars

02/27/23

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Audience Member

An interesting but somewhat confusing story of the Spanish Civil War. Norma, a Russian Spy, is on a mission to support Stalin's pincer move to surround Europe in the late 1930s. She sees the resulting horrors and joins Fonda in the Nationalist effort to resist. Fonda's final cry for the world's help presaged events in Europe but, tragically, did nothing for China who suffered 50 to 80 million murders upon Communist conquest.

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

01/25/23

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Audience Member

one of the few hollywood pix to deal with spanish civil war

Rated 3 out of 5 stars

01/21/23

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Audience Member

Proof that not all movies from the Hollywood Golden Age were classics. Over emphatic and artificial with an overwrought performance from Henry Fonda. Madeleine Carroll is beautiful but her part doesn't make a lot of sense.

Rated 2 out of 5 stars

02/27/23

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Audience Member

pretty good fare for B stuff

Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars

02/25/23

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William Dieterle

Director

Madeleine Carroll

Norma

Henry Fonda

Marco

Leo Carrillo

Luis

John Halliday

Andre Gallinet

Vladimir Sokoloff

Basil

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Synopsis

A Nationalist soldier (Henry Fonda) falls for a blond mercenary spy (Madeleine Carroll) during the Spanish Civil War.

Director: William Dieterle
Producer: Walter Wanger
Screenwriter: John Howard Lawson
Distributor: United Artists
Production Co: Walter Wanger Productions, Inc.
Genre: Adventure
Original Language: English
Release Date (Theaters): Jun 17, 1938, Original
Release Date (Streaming): May 3, 2021
Runtime: 1h 25m

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