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Post by wmcclain on Jan 13, 2021 12:59:22 GMT
Sahara (1943), directed by Zoltan Korda. Entertaining "lost patrol" adventure story about a tank crew and assorted soldiers trying to survive the desert and German pursuit. Humphrey Bogart stars and does a fine job. Don't insult his tank or you may end up walking. One of the thirstiest films I can remember. California substitutes for Libya, but the terrain is incredibly bleak. The Germans are only half the battle; both sides are desperate for even a trickle of water. It becomes a siege story where the allies have a well and the axis wants it. In addition to three Americans we have British, Irish, French, Sudanese Muslim and South African allies. Lloyd Bridges is either another South African or an Aussie; he didn't last long enough to produce an accent. Like many lost patrol stories it is an "and then there were none" plot as our characters are picked off one by one. They also pick up a sympathetic Italian prisoner (J. Carrol Naish, nominated for an Oscar) and a nasty German officer (Kurt Kreuger; in the wikipedia article he is quoted as saying he passed out in the scene where Rex Ingram pushed his face into the sand). There is a bit of speechifying about Hitler, Mussolini and "why we fight". Also nominated for "Best Cinematography, Black-and-White" and "Best Sound, Recording". Miklós Rózsa score, photographed by Rudolph Maté. 
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Post by marianne48 on Jan 13, 2021 13:22:51 GMT
Great movie; also nice to see:
J. Carrol Naish in a relatively more serious role
A Black character, played by Rex Ingram, who isn't a servant
and/or comic relief
Dan Duryea as a nice guy instead of his usual weaselly persona
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Post by mattgarth on Jan 13, 2021 13:30:34 GMT
There's a story that soldiers stationed at an air base in England just before D-Day were watching SAHARA when General Patton -- already frustrated at not being part of the coming Invasion planning -- came into the darkened and crowded theater carrying a machine gun.
He then proceeded to fire off rounds that literally cut the movie screen in half, proclaiming that they should not be watching phony actors not good enough to be in uniform themselves pretending to be playing heroic soldiers ... particularly that Bogart guy (who was then 44 years old).
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Post by mikef6 on Jan 13, 2021 15:18:57 GMT
Sahara / Zoltan Korda. Unusual WWII actioner with Sgt. Humphry Bogart as the head of a tank crew lost in the Sahara Desert (filmed in the sand dunes east of Brawly, California) while trying to find the Allied lines in the face of a Nazi advance. They are joined by an equally lost British contingent and two prisoners, an Italian draftee and a downed Nazi pilot. The whole lot ends up defending an ancient ruin at an oasis from a German company who are as desperate for water as they are. Bogie is fine, as usual, in his signature roll of the Man In Charge who can be just as tough as he needs to be but is a softie underneath. J. Carrol Naish, that all-purpose ethnic, as the Italian and Bruce Bennett and Dan Duryea as part of the tank crew are standouts.
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Post by politicidal on Jan 13, 2021 16:04:45 GMT
One of Bogart’s best movies and one of the best WW2 movies actually made during World War 2.
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Post by bravomailer on Jan 13, 2021 17:25:04 GMT
There's a story that soldiers stationed at an air base in England just before D-Day were watching SAHARA when General Patton -- already frustrated at not being part of the coming Invasion planning -- came into the darkened and crowded theater carrying a machine gun. He then proceeded to fire off rounds that literally cut the movie screen in half, proclaiming that they should not be watching phony actors not good enough to be in uniform themselves pretending to be playing heroic soldiers ... particularly that Bogart guy (who was then 44 years old). At least he didn't slap anyone.
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Post by bravomailer on Jan 13, 2021 17:25:24 GMT
Remade into a western - Last of the Comanches (1953).
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Post by taylorfirst1 on Jan 13, 2021 17:33:11 GMT
Great movie.
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Post by marianne48 on Jan 13, 2021 17:42:08 GMT
Patton was likely unaware that Bogart was a WWI-era Navy veteran.
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Post by bravomailer on Jan 13, 2021 18:13:29 GMT
A Black character, played by Rex Ingram, who isn't a servant and/or comic relief See also Bataan and Lifeboat.
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Post by bravomailer on Jan 13, 2021 18:27:28 GMT
There's a story that soldiers stationed at an air base in England just before D-Day were watching SAHARA when General Patton -- already frustrated at not being part of the coming Invasion planning -- came into the darkened and crowded theater carrying a machine gun. He then proceeded to fire off rounds that literally cut the movie screen in half, proclaiming that they should not be watching phony actors not good enough to be in uniform themselves pretending to be playing heroic soldiers ... particularly that Bogart guy (who was then 44 years old). Patton's son was second-in-command at Fort Knox when Young Bravo went through armor training there. He used to cruise around in a jeep with a .45 on his hip. His father's legendary pearl-handled pistols were in a museum on post. Omar Bradley once told Patton that those pistols made him look like a pimp in a New Orleans bordello.
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Post by Prime etc. on Jan 13, 2021 18:39:20 GMT
As war propaganda goes it is entertaining--J Carrol Naish had me convinced he was Italian.
The use of water in the finale was a clever symbolic gesture.
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Post by politicidal on Sept 8, 2022 14:34:26 GMT
Rewatched it again the other day. Such a great film.
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