Welcome Mr. Marshall! is a 1953 Spanish comedy film directed by Luis García Berlanga, and considered one of the masterpieces of Spanish cinema. The film highlights the stereotypes held by both the Spanish and the Americans regarding the culture of the other, as well as displays social criticism of 1950s Francoist Spain. The film was entered into the 1953 Cannes Film Festival. It was the first full-length film Berlanga directed alone.
Theatrical release poster by Francisco Fernández Zarza
Commemorative plaque in Guadalix de la Sierra, Spain
Luis García-Berlanga Martí MMT was a Spanish film director and screenwriter. Acclaimed as a pioneer of modern Spanish cinema, his films are marked by social satire and acerbic critiques of Spanish culture under the Francoist dictatorship. These include Welcome Mr. Marshall! (1953), which won the International Prize at the 1953 Cannes Film Festival, Plácido (1961), nominated for an Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film in 1962, and The Executioner (1963), winner of the FIPRESCI Prize at the 24th Venice International Film Festival He kept a long-time collaboration with screenwriter Rafael Azcona, with whom he co-wrote the scripts for seven of his films between 1961 and 1987.
Statue of García Berlanga in Sos del Rey Católico
Sculpture depicting the scene of Americans being welcomed to the town in Welcome Mr. Marshall! (1953)
Filming of La vaquilla in summer 1984, Sos del Rey Católico.
Commemorative plaque to Luis García-Berlanga in Madrid.