Evengyny Thanks for the memories!

Spidersecu Don't Believe the Hype

Odelecol Pretty good movie overall. First half was nothing special but it got better as it went along.

Twilightfa Watch something else. There are very few redeeming qualities to this film.

ma-cortes Wartime classic film with powerful direction by Zoltan Korda including scenarios set in Lybia desert but filmed in Southern California desert, Palm Springs, and Yuma, Arizona , being based upon an incident in the Soviet film ¨The Thirteen¨ directed by Mikhail Romm and made about six years prior to this movie . "In June, 1942, a small detachment of American tanks with American crews, joined the British Eighth Army in North Africa to get experience in desert warfare under actual battle conditions. History as proved that they learned their lesson well" . While the WWII raged in Europe American/British troops were fighting in a far part of the world , North Africa . Small solitary patrols moved over the vast Libyan desert that seemed on fire with the sun . The molten sky gloated over them . The endless desert wore the blank look of death . Yet these men marched on without a murmur , fighting an unseen German enemy who always struck in the dark . Sergeant Joe Gunn (Humphrey Bogart replaced Brian Donlevy for this Columbia Studios film whilst Donlevy in turn replaced Bogart on the same studio's ¨Once Upon a Time¨ and even originally offered to Gary Cooper, who turned it down) and his tank (called Lulubelle" is a M3 Lee tank) crew (Bruce Bennett, Dan Duryea) pick up five British soldiers , a Frenchman and a Sudanese man (Rex Ingram) with an Italian prisoner (J. Carrol Naish who was nominated for Oscar) crossing the Libyan Desert to rejoin their army after the fall of Tobruk . A brave group of American and British soldiers lost in the desert are shot by the Germans , one by one and some battered fighting men battle it out to the finish . Dead the official commander they are ruled by the sergeant , then arise boiling passions in the burning sands . The bunch works together to vanquish a much larger Nazi army that wishes the same water well that they have . ¨The film is dedicated to the IV Armored Corps of the Army Ground Forces, United States Army, whose cooperation made it possible to tell this story." The motion picture gets brief psychological remarks about diverse characters , and although is completely developed on the wide desert , the tale results to be a little claustrophobic . Produced by Columbia Pictures with a script by the black-listed John Howard Lawson and as executive producer Harry Joe Brown . Philip MCDonald (story's author being based the movie) had been recruited in the British cavalry during WWI (1917) and he ulteriorly wrote an intrigue and suspense tale , adding his war memories and taking an incident based on the Soviet Photoplay "The Thirteen" . The film contains Miklos Rozsa's powerful and emotive musical score . Very good cinematography in white and black by Rudolph Mate was nominated for Academy Award . The Sahara desert in this movie was portrayed by the California desert's Borego Desert which is located in the Imperial Valley, north of the American-Mexican border as well as Brawley, Imperial County, California ; Chatsworth, California and the sand dunes of Yuma, Arizona . Two thousand tons of sand were transported to the filming set in order to create the feel of loose desert sand, the shadows were spray-painted on desert hills to make them be seen more clearly by the audience ; moreover, sand dune ripples were created by spray-painting the sand with light paint and then turning on a wind-machine.Magnificent direction by the British Zoltan Korda and excellent interpretations make this a very good film . This particular story was former and subsequently remade and reworked several times : The first time by John Ford in ¨The lost patrol¨ with Victor McLagen and Boris Karloff ¨ set in Mesopotamia ; ¨Bataan¨ by Tay Garnett with Robert Taylor in Philippines jungle ; ¨Last of Comanches¨ made by the same studio about a decade later , was loosely based on this movie , realized by Andre De Toth with Broderick Crawford in Califonia desert ; and even part of ¨Flight of Phoenix¨ by Robert Aldrich in Sahara desert . The motion picture will appeal to cinema classic moviegoers .

writers_reign ... but it's still well worth a look. This is one of the Bogie titles that tends to slip under the wire when they're issuing boxed sets or holding retrospectives. He made it after Casablanca and in some ways - it lacks completely the gloss and sub-plot content of the former - it could qualify as a throw-back to Bogie's thirties fodder but it is craftsman like - Zoltan Korda was never anything more than a journeyman and a real-life embodiment of the famous Hollywood gag the son-in-law also rises - and had for the time a viable message albeit sophomoric seen today, namely that in times of strife nations should put aside petty squabbles and unite against a common enemy. Bogie turns in a first class performance albeit having to compete with J. Carroll Nash; Bruce Bennet is low-key which is just as well given his limited talent, Lloyd Bridges barely makes it to the third reel and Dan Duryea is all at sea attempting to do 'nice'. Nevertheless it remains highly watchable.

SimonJack "Sahara" stands out as an excellent movie in all areas — acting, cinematography, directing, musical score, plot and scripting, technical fields, et al. It's one of the top, if not the best, of the desert war films made about World War II.Humphrey Bogart gives a performance equal to his best in other great films. J. Carrol Naish shows again, why he was such a highly regarded actor for his ability to play a widely diverse cast of characters. The other actors all give stellar performances, with nice early career parts for Dan Duryea and Lloyd Bridges. Others have discussed the great script and directing with attention to the personal details of the various characters. The diversity of nationalities and race, along with the acting, lends great humanity to the film. Some modern viewers still take exception to portrayal of so many German soldiers as cruel or as fanatical Nazis. But, some military veterans have commented about realism of the film as well. I think this film did a good job, even with it being in the middle of WW II, in showing common German soldiers as well as a couple of fanatical Nazi officers. Remember, the Nazis were a political party. Not all of the established military officers were members, but some surely were. And, for younger people today who may think of this as too overtly propagandistic or overboard, I highly recommend seeing the documentary film, "The Unknown Soldier"(2006). Produced in Germany, from an in-depth exploration and exposé of German soldiers in WWII, the film shows how deeply the "super-race" fanaticism penetrated even within the regular military ranks. That exposé was the result of many grandchildren of WWII German soldiers finding and asking questions about photos showing their grandfathers with hanged Jews, murdered women and children, and the likes. So, "Sahara" came out right in the middle of the war and was quite accurate in its scenes discussing the Nazis under Hitler and the Italians under Mussolini. Some reviewers think that the film got a little "preachy" in a couple of places where Bogart's character talks about defeating the Nazis. Anyone who has served in combat units in times of hostilities, if not in actual fighting, can attest to the reality of these scenes as well. There are always some GIs, Marines, sailors or airmen who have a deep sense of patriotism, honor and right over oppression – and they will express it at times. So, even in that regard, I think this film adds another important touch of realism. This film received three Oscar nominations for 1943, a year that was crowded with nominations from many superb films. Among those were some other all-time top war theme films – Casablanca, Watch on the Rhine, For Whom the Bell Tolls and In Which We Serve. "Sahara" is indeed a classic World War II film that ranks right up there with the best of them.

PWNYCNY This movie withstands the test of time and therefore is a classic. All the facets of movie production fall right into place in this outstanding movie about sacrifice and heroism. Instead of being hokey, this movie offers a strong and compelling story about survival and does this with an all-male cast. This movie may be the penultimate war movie; it is at least an excellent example of the genre. Theatrics are set aside as the the story immediately unfolds and follows a straight path leading to a strong dramatic finale. Humphrey Bogart and the rest of the cast are excellent. Especially impressive is the performance of J. Carroll Naish as an Italian POW. Although made during World War Two, the movie succeeds in keeping propaganda to a minimum and concentrates instead on telling a story. The movie maintains a steady level of suspense as the audience is made to wonder whether the tank crew will survive. In the era of flashy special effects and computer graphics, it is refreshing to watch a movie that relies solely on acting and actual sets and locations to tell a story.