The movie title origin is the British plane , ¨De Haviland¨ , that Franco traveled from Las Palmas De Gran Canaria to Tetuán , in the Spanish Protectorate of Morocco , for becoming himself leader of the uprising Julio 18 , 1936 . General Franco is in the Canary Islands and asks for hire a Dragon Rapide in London to help him station in Africa . Being financed by magnate banker Juán March (Pedro Del Rio) , then Luis Botín (Santiago Ramos) hires a plane to go hunting lions in Atlas mountains when really his aim to be to transport Franco (Juán Diego , married to Carmen Polo : Vicky Peña) towards Tetuán and lead the impending military uprising . For this he has the support of a large group of soldiers of the Spanish Army of Africa .
The film deals with the fifteen days leading up to the Spanish Civil War in 1936 are dramatized from many different locations in Spain , Morocco and London . It is narrated by some parallel stories , retelling historical as well as fictitious events . The picture is based on historic events , though it has some inventions and lies . It stands out the scenes of Franco with his wife and daughter . The flick is spoiled by its short-budget , interiors overusing and lacking exteriors .
The motion picture was regularly directed by Jaime Camino . Camino was a member of the ¨Barcelona School¨ . His films were strongly censored from ¨Los Felices 60¨ to ¨Largas Vacaciones Del 36¨. He directed several dramas as ¨Un Invierno En Mallorca¨ about Federico Chopin and George Sand in this island , ¨La Campanada¨ upon crisis of a middle-age man , ¨El Balcón Abierto¨ about poet Federico Garcia Lórca , a prestigious documentary titled ¨La Vieja Memoria¨ and finally ¨El Largo Invierno¨ about the end of the Spanish Civil War in Barcelona .
The actual facts of this tale were the followings : The republican government had been attempting to remove suspect generals from their posts, and so Franco (Juan Diego) was relieved as chief of staff and transferred to command of the Canary islands . Goded was replaced as Inspector General and made general of the Balearic islands ; Emilio Mola (Manuel de Blas) was moved from head of the Army of Africa to be military commander of Pamplona in Navarre . However, this allowed Mola to direct the mainland uprising , although the relationship between him and Carlist leaders was problematic . General José Sanjurjo became the figurehead of the operation, and helped to come to an agreement with the Carlists. Mola was chief planner and second in command . José Antonio Primo de Rivera was put in prison in mid-March in order to restrict the Falange. However, government actions were not as thorough as they might have been: warnings by the Director of Security and other figures were not acted upon. On 12 June , Prime Minister Casares Quiroga met General Juan Yagüe, who was rightly accused of masterminding the growing conspiracy in North Africa , but Tte. Coronel Yagüe (Damián Velasco)managed to convince Casares of his loyalty to the republic . Mola held a meeting between garrison commanders in the north of Spain on 15 June, and local authorities , on hearing of the meeting , surrounded it with Civil Guards . However, Casares ordered their removal , saying he trusted Mola. Mola began serious planning in the spring, but General Francisco Franco hesitated until early July, inspiring other plotters to refer to him as "Miss Canary Islands 1936" . Franco was a key player because of his prestige as a former director of the military academy and as the man who suppressed the Socialist uprising of 1934 . He was well respected in the Spanish Moroccan Army, Spain's strongest military forcé . He wrote a cryptic letter to Casares on 23 June , suggesting that the military was disloyal, but could be restrained if he were put in charge Casares did nothing, failing to arrest or buy off Franco, even if placing him in overall command was impossible. Franco was to be assigned control of Morocco in the new regime, and largely sidelined . On July 5, an aircraft was chartered to take Franco from the Canary Islands to Morocco. On 12 July , in Madrid, a member of the Falange named Jorge Bardina murdered Lieutenant José Castillo of the Assault Guards police forcé . The next day, members of the Assault Guards arrested José Calvo Sotelo (José Luis Pellicena) , a leading Spanish monarchist and a prominent parliamentary conservative; the original target was Gil Robles but he could not be found. Calvo Sotelo was shot by the Guards without trial . Franco's plane landed in Gran Canaria on July 14, but , based in Tenerife, he would have been unable to make the plane without the death of General Amado Balmes , military commander in Gran Canaria, who was killed in a shooting accident on July 16 . The rising was intended to be swift, but the government retained control of most of the country including Málaga, Jaén and Almería. Cadiz was taken for the rebels and General Queipo de Llano managed to secure Seville. In Madrid, the rebels were hemmed into the Montaña barracks, which fell with much bloodshed . On 19 July the cabinet headed by the newly appointed prime minister José Giral ordered the distribution of weapons to the unions, helping to defeat the rebels in Madrid, Barcelona, and Valencia, which led to anarchists taking control of large parts of Aragon and Catalonia . Rebel General Goded surrendered in Barcelona and was later condemned to death.
