Résumé

The defeat of Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy in World War II (1939-1945) and the approval of Resolution 39 by the General Assembly on February 9th, 1946, which determined the exclusion of Spain from international organizations established by the United Nations, forced the Francoist regime to modify its fascist agenda and territorial ambitions in Europe, North Africa, and its former colonies in America. Under this scenario, the Francoist regime affirmed that the USSR’s political and military intervention was to blame for the Spanish Civil War (1936-1939), and for the socioeconomic crisis that followed. The Spanish sentiment of Russophobia and Anglophobia was politically justified and promoted by the Francoist regime’s propaganda since the beginning of the Spanish Civil War, and it proceeded during the Cold War period as well. The virtual isolation of Spain ended with the signature of the Pact of Madrid on September 23rd, 1953. The strategic pact with the United States allowed the Francoist regime to: consolidate a new military alliance; legitimize its power over victors and vanquished of the Spanish Civil War; revive the economy after the failure of autarchic policies; and refocus its gaze on its foreign enemies. The following movies: “He Died Fifteen Years Ago” (Dir. Rafael Gil, 1954); “The Woman Who Came from the Sea” (Dir. Francesco de Robertis, 1957); and “Blood Rhapsody” (Dir. Antonio Isasi-Isasmendi, 1957) embrace the forceful Francoist regime’s cinematic rhetoric that aims to delegitimize its historical political nemeses: USSR and United Kingdom, Communism and the unresolved Gibraltar issue, respectively.