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On July 17, 1936 , Francisco Franco began the military rebellion in Spanish Morocco . On July 18, the military governor of the province of Toledo, Colonel Moscardó (Rafael Calvo) , ordered the Guardia Civil of the province to Toledo. During July 19 and 20, various attempts were made by the War Ministry of the Republican government to obtain the munitions in the arms factory at Toledo . Each time, Colonel Moscardó along with some captains (Fosco Giachetti as Il Capitano Vela , Carlo Tamberlani as Il Capitano Vincenzo Alba ) refused and they were threatened that a force from Madrid would be sent against him . The Republicans controlled most of Toledo and sought the surrender of the Alcázar by artillery bombardment . For the duration of the siege , the Nationalists engaged in a passive defense, only returning fire when an attack was imminent . Colonel Moscardó was called on the telephone by the chief of the Worker's Militia , Commissar Candido Cabello , on the morning of July 23 in Toledo and told that if the Alcázar were not surrendered within ten minutes, Moscardó's 16-year-old son, Luis (Carlos Muñoz) , who had been captured earlier in the day, would be executed. Colonel Moscardó asked to speak to his son and his son asked what he should do. "Commend your soul to God," he told his son, "and die like a patriot, shouting,'¡Viva Cristo Rey!' and '¡Viva España!' The Alcázar does not surrender" , "That," answered his son, "I can do" . An envoy from the Republicans, Major Rojo, was sent to Colonel Moscardó on September 9 to ask for the surrender of the Alcázar. This was refused, but Colonel Moscardó requested for a priest to be sent to baptize the two children born during the siege and to also say Mass . Vázquez Camarassa (Oreste Fares) , a Madrid preacher with left-wing views, was sent to the Alcázar during the morning of September 11, performed the necessary functions and issued a General Absolution to the defenders of the Alcázar. The Republicans had been digging two mines and launched four attacks on the Alcázar with the aid of armored cars and tanks. The attacks failed after a determined defense by the Nationalists, but the Republicans responded with a continuous artillery bombardment of the Alcázar throughout the night and into the next day.

This is a historical story in which an intense drama collides with war , ideology and politics . The film was preceded by a prologue in the Italian , Spanish and German versions , all introducing the subject and setting the scenes and praising the courage of the besieged . The picture is pretty well , though there is an excessive pamphlet tone and Falangist propaganda . The film was shot in Cinecittà with Italian, French and Spanish actors . In the Italian version all three non-Italian actors : the French Mireille Balin, and the Spanish , Rafael Calvo and Carlos Muñoz spoke their lines in Italian they were dubbed by Italian actors afterwards .The Siege of the Alcazar or L'Assedio dell'Alcazar was professionally directed by Augusto Genina , winning Mussolini Cup for the Best Italian Film in Venice Festival . After the war, the film was re-released in Italy under the new title 'Alcazar' with significant cuts . All references to the involvement of Italy in the Spanish Civil War as well as the cruelty of the Republicans were excised to avoid any political debate.

The picture "Sin Novedad en El Alcazar!" was based on historical events , these are the followings : The Nationalists saw the Alcázar as a representation of the strength and dominance of Spain. Losing the Alcázar to the Republicans would have been a serious blow to the Nationalists' vision and morale. The Nationalist forces there were isolated, badly equipped and in no condition to conduct offensive operations. The Republican troops sent from Madrid first arrived at the Hospital of Tavera on the outskirts of Toledo, but redirected their attack towards the Arms Factory upon receiving heavy fire from the hospital. A detachment of 200 Guardia Civil was stationed at the Arms Factory and negotiations with the Republicans ensued. During these talks, the Guardia Civil loaded trucks with ammunition from the factory and sent it to the Alcázar before evacuating and destroying the Factory . Yet the Republicans —due to the increasingly symbolic value of the Alcázar as weeks went by— threw badly needed men, artillery and weapons .The Republican government believed that since the garrison was only 40 miles southwest of Madrid and would not be receiving any immediate help from the other Nationalist forces that it would be an easy propaganda victory. Over the next five weeks, the Republicans attacked the House of the Military Government on eleven occasions, but were turned back each time by the Nationalists . Republicans had been digging two mines towards the southwest tower of the Alcázar . Explosives in the mines were detonated by Francisco Largo Caballero, completely destroying the southwest tower and the two defenders in it. The press was invited by the Republican government to witness the explosion of the mines and storming of the Alcázar on September 18, but it wasn't until September 29 that the press entered the Alcázar, this time by the invitation of the Nationalists, turning the whole thing into a huge propaganda victory for the Nationalists, undermining the Republican morale . The story of the siege was very interesting for foreign supporters of Franco, who would read the several books published in foreign languages, and would strive for meeting Moscardó when visiting wartime Spain.

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".

This film won an award at the Venice Film Festival of 1940 - but it would, wouldn't it? The story of a great victory for Franco's side in the Spanish crusade against bolshevism, filmed in Rome by a fascist studio, it could hardly fail to pick up fascist plaudits.

A curious hybrid of a project, this Italian movie of a real-life Spanish event was shot at Cinecitta and on location in Toledo, and stars both Italian and Spanish actors. The Italian title "L'Assedio dell'Alcazar" (The Siege of the Alcazar)lacks the resonance of the Spanish "Sin Novedad en el Alcazar" (No News in the Alcazar), for reasons that will become apparent. I watched a rather poor-quality print (the only surviving one?) with lots of jumps and scratches, and highly-obtrusive end-of-reel marks. The editor's handmade signs, bold crosses and lines, are clearly visible in places.

Toledo is a town steeped in history. Remnants of its great past are everywhere, including the steep, narrow streets bequeathed by the arabs, and the great alcazar (fortress) which dominates the compact city crowded into a loop of the River Tajo. For Spaniards, the Alcazar resounds with historical significance. It is, first of all, the ancient arab stronghold which was conquered by Spain's christian heroes in the middle ages, and therefore stands as a symbol of Spain herself. In addition, the Alcazar was wholly remodelled by the Emperor Charles V at the apogee of Spain's Golden Age, the brief century which marked Toledo's own greatness. The four cupolas of the Alcazar evoke for all Spaniards the very image of Castile's heyday. Finally, the Alcazar was reduced to rubble in the violent cataclysm of 1936, to be rebuilt brick by brick by Leftist prisoners, a potent symbol of a nation brought to ruin by civil war, only to rise again.

Some of the episodes of the Siege depicted in the film are unintentionally comical, and some are plainly historically inaccurate. It is easy to see why the Carmen/Captain/Pedro love triangle was introduced. The audience needs to latch onto recognizable individuals if the larger story is not to seem impersonal, but this crude love story is irrelevant and a waste of narrative space. No doubt the stirring patriotic song is a turn-on for franquistas, but the addition of choral harmonies and brass accompaniment destroy its credibility. A derechista plane drops a crate of supplies without a parachute, but the crate somehow effects a soft landing in the courtyard without the slightest forward impetus. Leftist envoys are led into the Alcazar and through a crowd of womenfolk in blatant disregard of historical fact. The women and children of the Alcazar were housed in the cellars, well away from bolshevik negotiators. Carmen may be half-dead from hunger and thirst, but her privations in no way diminish the gloss of her perfect cupid's-bow lipstick. The relief column did not reach the Alcazar by strolling over the hills like a bunch of mushroom-pickers.

On the other hand, some of the sequences are very well done. Italian artistic director Primo Zeglio is mindful of Toledo's auspicious past, his establishing shots presenting the city like an El Greco canvas, its roofs nestling into the curve of the Tajo with the Alcazar proud on the skyline. The bustle of the women and children moving into the cellars is excellent, evoking both the sense of emergency and the fortitude with which it is being faced. Epic-scale set pieces are handled confidently. The first air-raid combines impressive shots of a panicking crowd with realistic-looking explosions. The fusillade scenes are really quite beautiful, and the night-time shots are very good, both the sorties and the quiet, contemplative scenes in the cellars. Chiaroscuro lighting picks out Carmen (played by French actress Mireille Balin), sleepless and radiant with sexual energy.

Siege films have to be careful to avoid monotony, so in 'Sin Novedad' we get a variety of emotional tones. The elation of the successful wheat raid ("Muchachos! Es trigo! Es trigo!") and the news of the advance from Badajoz are exhilarating high points. In contrast, the religious scenes (the adoration of the Virgin of the Alcazar, the last communion of the dying men) are deeply solemn moments - though viewers unsympathetic to Spanish catholicism may not enjoy them.

Similarly, the birth of the baby (several children were born during the 41-day siege) is given an un-subtle Madonna and Child symbolic treatment which some viewers might find excessively sentimental. The mother is even called Maria. Just in passing, why is the baby wrapped in that bizarre way?

The lovely scenes of the Toledan countryside and the town's picturesque streets are all-too-brief, forming little more than a fleeting backdrop to the great exodus. The hand to hand fighting of the Reds' last offensive is brilliantly done, as is the destruction of the once-beautiful Covarrubias courtyard. If not quite historically precise, the pulling down of the red flag and the hoisting of the royal standard has a symbolic and cinematic impact that cannot be denied.

Though the film claims to honour all who died, irrespective of allegiance, this is plainly a hollow boast. Rightists are all shown as saintly (take for example the sacred, sexless union of Antonio and Conchita), and Reds are depicted as cruel,drunken rapists.