L'assedio dell'Alcazar (1940)

User Rating:

6.6/10   

Director:

Augusto Genina

Writers:

Augusto Genina (story) &
Alessandro De Stefani (story) ...
(more)

Release Date:

20 August 1940 (Italy)

Genre:

Drama | History | War

Plot Keywords:

Spanish Civil War

Awards:

1 win

Cast

Fosco Giachetti	...	Il capitano Vela
Mireille Balin	...	Carmen Herrera
María Denis	...	Conchita Alvarez (as Maria Denis)
Rafael Calvo	...	Il colonello José Moscardò
Carlos Muñoz	...	Il figlio del colonello Moscardò
Aldo Fiorelli	...	Francisco
Andrea Checchi	...	Pedro
Carlo Tamberlani	...	Il capitano Vincenzo Alba
Silvio Bagolini	...	Paolo Montez
Guido Notari	...	Il maggiore Villanova
Guglielmo Sinaz	...	Il deputato repubblicano di Madrid
Giovanni Dal Cortivo	...	Il generale repubblicano
Carlo Duse	...	Il maggiore Ratto
Oreste Fares	...	Il sacerdote
Eugenio Duse	...	L'ufficiale addetto alle communicazioni
Nino Crisman	...	L'aiutante di Moscardò
Cesare Polacco	...	Venegas
Adele Garavaglia	...	Zia Dolores
Angelo Dessy	...	Un miliziano
Ugo Sasso	...	Álvarez
Vasco Creti	...	Il medico
Checco Rissone	...	Il radiotelegrafista
Antonio Marietti	...	II soldato repubblicano che ordina l'essecizione del capitano Alba
Nino Marchetti	...	Fernando Ramirez
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Iginia Armilli	...	(uncredited)
Franco Barci	...	(uncredited)
Giulio Battiferri	...	L'aiutante del Capo di Stato Maggiore (uncredited)
Ciro Berardi	...	Il capo dei miliziani (uncredited)
Carlo Bressan	...	Alejandro (uncredited)
Mario Colombassi	...	(uncredited)
Mario Ersanilli	...	Millán (uncredited)
Anita Farra	...	La donna con i bambini affamati (uncredited)
Aedo Galvani	...	(uncredited)
Enrico Gozzo	...	Eduardo (uncredited)
Nino Marchesini	...	Un ufficiale (uncredited)
Rolando Mazzotti	...	Javier (uncredited)
Piero Pastore	...	(uncredited)
Alfredo Petroni	...	(uncredited)
Giovanni Petrucci	...	(uncredited)
Felice Romano	...	José Manuel (uncredited)
Tullio Tomadoni	...	(uncredited)
Giulio Tomasini	...	(uncredited)
Enza Vasconi	...	(uncredited)

Directed by
Augusto Genina

Writing credits
Augusto Genina		(story) &
Alessandro De Stefani		(story) &
Pietro Caporilli		(story)
Augusto Genina		(screenplay) &
Alessandro De Stefani		(screenplay)
Edoardo Anton		(Italian dialogue)
Ugo Betti		story (uncredited)

Produced by
Carlo Bassoli Jr.	....	producer
Renato Bassoli	....	producer

Original Music by
Antonio Veretti

Cinematography by
Francesco Izzarelli
Vincenzo Seratrice
Jan Stallich		(as Jan Stallic)

Film Editing by
Fernando Tropea

Set Decoration by
Gastone Medin

Production Management
Odon Berlioz	....	production supervisor
Baldassarre Negroni	....	production manager

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Primo Zeglio	....	assistant director

Art Department
Italo Tomassi	....	scene painter (uncredited)

Sound Department
Giacomo Pitzorno	....	sound

Camera and Electrical Department
Francesco Izzarelli	....	camera operator
Vincenzo Seratrice	....	camera operator
Jan Stallich	....	camera operator (as Jean Stallich)

Other crew
Alberto Bargelesi	....	researcher
Liutenant-Colonel José Carvajal Arrieta	....	military advisor
Fernando Fernández de Córdoba	....	technical consultant
Liutenant-Colonel Ricardo Villalba Rubio	....	military advisor
Mario Besesti	....	voice dubbing: Rafael Calvo (Italian version) (uncredited)
Fernando Fernández de Córdoba	....	spanish dialogue (uncredited)
Mario Gallina	....	voice dubbing: Oreste Fares (Italian version) (uncredited)
Andreina Pagnani	....	voice dubbing: Mireille Balin (Italian version) (uncredited)
Aroldo Tieri	....	voice dubbing: Aldo Fiorelli (Italian version) (uncredited)

Production Companies

• Film Bassoli
• Ulargui Films

Distributors

• Industrie Cinematografiche Italiane (ICI) (1940) (Italy) (theatrical)
• Ufilms S.A. (1940) (Spain) (theatrical) (as U Films)
• Deutsch-Italienische Film-Union (DIFU) (1955) (Germany) (theatrical)
• Divisa Home Video (2005) (Spain) (DVD)

Other Companies

• Curci  music published by

Also Known As:

Alcazar (Italy) (reissue title)
Sin novedad en el alcázar (Spain)
The Siege of the Alcazar (International: English title)

Runtime:

Italy:99 min (re-release) | Spain:104 min (re-release) | Spain:119 min | Italy:112 min | West Germany:105 min

Country:

Italy | Spain

Language:

Italian

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (RCA Photophone System)

Certification:

Finland:S | Sweden:15

Filming Locations:

Alcázar of Toledo ruins, Toledo, Castilla-La Mancha, Spain

Company:

Film Bassoli

Trivia:

The film was preceded by a prologue in the Italian, Spanish and German versions, all introducing the subject and setting the scenes. While the Italian and Spanish prologues are almost identical and only praised the courage of the besieged, the German prologue is decidedly more sinister in tone and, not surprisingly, openly condemns Bolshevism as the source of all evils.

Soundtrack:

Music

"Un Peso Muy Fuerte"

In August 1936 a military coup d'etat triggered a national uprising in Spain, and this resulted in a prolonged and tragic civil war. The complexities of that war cannot be analysed here, but in broad terms it was a rebellion by the monarchist, catholic Right against the socialist government and its allies.

When the uprising began, the Alcazar of Toledo was ill-prepared for war. The old fortress on the hill was a military academy at the time, and most of the students were away on vacation. When news arrived of the coup in the south, the skeleton garrison took prompt steps to join the rebellion. A squad of cadets marched out of the Alcazar and down to the Plaza del Zocodover, where a proclamation was read aloud (FOR church and motherland, AGAINST bolshevism). The trainee soldiers then marched back up to the Alcazar and closed the gates behind them. Though no-one realised it at the time, one of the great sieges of history had begun.

Toledo is only 45 miles south of Madrid, and therein lay the Nationalists' problem. The Spanish capital was overwhelmingly Leftist, with huge concentrations of men and equipment. Easily the nearest rebel stronghold, the Alcazar was the obvious place for the Madrid government to attack. Leftist artillery and infantry were brought up, and toledanos with right-wing sympathies moved into the Alcazar for safety. And so it came about that 800 men, women and children endured six weeks of siege. When the garrison was finally relieved on September 27 1936, the Alcazar was a ruin, but its defenders had held out.

In order to understand the emotional and cultural importance of the siege, it is essential to know three pieces of Spanish folklore. Indeed, without an awareness of them, it is impossible to make sense of the Alcazar story.

First, there is the Guzman legend. Don Guzman was a christian hero who commanded the defence of Tarifa on behalf of his king, Sanco IV, in the year 1292. The infidel arab hordes were surrounding the walled town, led by the traitor Don Juan. Guzman's little son had been entrusted to Don Juan as a pageboy, and now the traitor called Guzman onto the battlements and ordered the hero to surrender, or see his son's throat cut. In a gesture greatly admired by the Spanish, Guzman threw a knife down to the traitor. The story encapsulates Spanish notions of heroism and stoicism which were to find an uncanny echo in 20th-century Toledo. The commandant of the Alcazar, Colonel Moscardo, received a telephone call one day. It was the Reds, informing him that they were holding his teenage son, and that the boy would be shot unless the Alcazar surrendered. Moscardo, like a latter-day Guzman, asked to speak to his son. He told the boy, "Die well."

Second, the Spanish brand of catholicism has a long history of standing alone against the surrounding forces of darkness. Through the dark days of muslim conquest, then later the Reformation, and then the anticlerical Napoleonic invasion, the Spanish church has seen itself as the staunch, unwavering champion of christian goodness. The Alcazar was yet another symbolic stand in which the Spanish church was able to draw on its profoundly-felt sense of having a special role as defender of the true faith.

Third, there is a standing order in Spanish army regulations which requires a junior officer, when relieved by a superior, to salute and report, "Sin novedad" ('no news'). It is rather like the anglosaxon 'all present and correct', except that it carries heavy notions of honour. It matters very much to the outgoing officer that he is able to hand over his responsibilities without anything having gone wrong. "Sin novedad" means that all has gone well on his watch. When, on September 27 1936, the Foreign Legion fixed bayonets and advanced into the wreckage of the Alcazar, they found some ragged defenders. The duty officer of the fortress was able to inform the Legion commander that not one woman and not one child had been harmed. Although the defenders were at the end of their tether, the Alcazar had survived the siege. He stood down with the words, "Sin novedad".