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Humphrey Bogart excelled in crime, gangster and noir films, but he acquits himself reasonably well in the World War II adventure film "Sahara". He portrays an American tank commander waylaid in the Libyan Desert with two comrades, radio man Jimmy Doyle (Dan Duryea) and machine gunner Waco Hoyt (Bruce Bennett). With their trusty armored tank Lulubelle (Lulubelle) the opening scene has them following general orders to retreat in the face of a German advance that has them blocked on three sides. Running into the remnants of a British 8th Army unit, the sides hook up to form an international group of ragtag soldiers whose fortunes shift more than the desert sands around them.
Besides the inherent story of good versus evil, and freedom versus Nazi propaganda, the film also serves as an effective psychological drama in it's one on one vignettes focusing on members of the group. Particularly effective is the cat and mouse game played out by Bogey's Sgt. Gunn character and his German counterpart Major Von Falken (John Wengraf). At this point in the picture, Gunn and company had virtually nothing to lose in a desperate gamble to hold off the enemy until support could arrive. Or would it? In a brilliant scene, two Allied soldiers pretend to lavish themselves with bathing water, when it's just about all they have to share among ten men.
But take your pick. For a film that comes in at just over an hour and a half, it deftly details the backgrounds of it's principals and provides an insight into their motivations and humanity. Each of the Allies in turn prove to be heroes in their own way while maintaining a soldier's discipline. Even Italian prisoner Giuseppe (J. Carroll Naish) has a chance to shine in his eloquent argument against the downed German flier (Kurt Kreuger), preferring imprisonment rather than fighting against an enemy he doesn't hate. Powerful!
The film effectively places the viewer in that most uncomfortable of elements, a vast barren desert where you can feel the searing heat with every awkward step in the sand. Needed light moments are provided by the side bets Waco and Jimmy have on the outcomes of their sergeant's decisions. When Gunn hands over Waco's winnings at the end of the movie, you wish that everyone could have come out a winner and a survivor.
score 7/10
classicsoncall 19 February 2006
Reprint: https://www.imdb.com/review/rw1295387/ |
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1-12-2019 23:32:29