Reviews

Old, sick, and Slavs.

3 stars for camera work and landscapes.

Too much pathos for an unprepared viewer.

This is a very accurate depiction of the siege of Alcazar. A great story of strength and faith. Actors playing Colonel Moscardo and his son Luis -- the hostage shot by the Reds - closely resemble originals. Here is the most tragic episode of the siege. 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 24-year-old son, Luis, 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." Luis was immediately shot, contrary to the rumor that he was not in fact shot until a month later "in reprisal for an air raid". A well made Italian film. Too bad it is hard to find an unedited politically-correct copy.