Neutralidad

During World War II, in 1943, the Spanish ship Magellan sets sail from the port of Bilbao, commanded by a strict Spanish captain (Jesús Tordesillas) and several officers of various ranks (Jorge Mistral, Manuel Monroy, Valeriano Andrés) traveling across the Atlantic to America, in a sea infected by threatening dangers, especially being torpedoed. On board there is a motley crew such as a hidden stowaway (Manuel Luna), and a beautiful passenger, daughter (Adriana Benetti) of a millionaire (José Prada), who maintains an affair with one of the ship's officers, Ignacio (Jorge Mistral). The ship crosses the Atlantic Ocean, where it rescues survivors from a German ship wrecked by the enemy, picking up a German officer (Gerard Tichy). Shortly afterwards it also picks up castaways from a sunken American gunboat. The ship sets sail for Bermuda and then on to New York. But along the way the captain of the Spanish ship is threatened by the captain of a German submarine, who will torpedo the ship if he does not hand over the German officer on board.

A maritime drama that includes romance, emotion, a bit of tension and a brief study of the characters who feel the danger of war and being bombed, despite trying to comply with a strict neutrality that Spain enjoyed at the time. The film relies heavily on the love story between the unknown Italian actress Adriana Benetti and the always adequate Jorge Mistral. The real protagonist is the gallant Jorge Mistral, who was a Spanish actor, with a Puerto Rican father and a Catalan mother. He made his stage debut in 1943 and film debut in 1944. In the late fifties he lived in South America. He shot himself while living in Mexico City. Mistral was a great admirer of Pedro Armendáriz, who also shot himself after discovering he had cancer. Mistral himself had been diagnosed with duodenal cancer. In addition to the two main actors, Adriana Benetti and Jorge Mistral, it is worth highlighting Jesús Tordesillas as the fair, determined and intelligent captain of the ship, along with other notable supporting actors, such as: Manuel Monroy, Gérard Tichy, Manuel Luna, José Prada, Valeriano Andrés and Mario Berriatúa. The feature film stands out for its appropriate black and white setting, well photographed by Manuel Berenguer, a good cameraman with international projection, expert on superproductions made in Spain during the 60s and 70s, such as: ¨The Thin Red Line¨, ¨Custer of the West¨. ¨Bullets and Flesh¨, ¨Krakatoa, East of Java¨, ¨Wild Pampas¨, ¨King of Kings¨, ¨A City Called Bastarda¨ and ¨Son of the Gunslinger¨. At the end there is a tribute describing that the film has been made in memory of all the merchant ships bombed during the world war, making a long list of all of them.

The film was professionally directed by Eusebio Fernández Ardavín, although it feels somewhat old. He was the younger brother of the playwright Luis Fernández Ardavin. And his nephew was Cesar Fernández Arvadin who directed the classic ¨El Lazarillo De Tormes¨. Eusebio was a pioneering director and writer, known for directing some silent films and other early sound films, such as: "The Mysterious Adventurer" (1918), "The Legend of the Cemetery" (1917), "Dreams" (1917), "The Sixth Sense" (1929), "Wheel of Life" (42), "The Ensign" (1943) and "The Queen's Maid" (1946). Rating: 6/10. Acceptable and passable. The film will please completists and fans of classic Spanish cinema.