Sahara (1943 American film)


Sahara
Directed by Zoltán Korda
Produced by Harry Joe Brown
Written by Philip MacDonald (story)
James O'Hanlon
John Howard Lawson (screenplay)
Starring Humphrey Bogart
Bruce Bennett
Lloyd Bridges
J. Naish
Dan Duryea
Music by Miklós Rózsa
Cinematography Rudolph Maté
Editing by Charles Nelson
Distributed by Columbia
Release date(s) November 11, 1943
Running time 97 minutes
Language English

Sahara is a 1943 war film directed by Zoltán Korda. Humphrey Bogart stars as a U.S. tank commander in Egypt during the Western Desert Campaign of World War II. The movie earned three Academy Award nominations: Best Sound, Best Cinematography (Black-and-White) and Best Supporting Actor by J. Carrol Naish for his role as an Italian prisoner.

A television remake starring Jim Belushi in Bogart's role was broadcast in 1995.

Contents

Plot

An M3 Lee tank, commanded by U.S. Army Sergeant Joe Gunn (Humphrey Bogart) and nicknamed Lulu Belle, becomes separated from its unit during a general retreat from Rommel's forces. At a bombed-out field hospital, the crew picks up a motley collection of stragglers, among them a British doctor, four assorted Commonwealth troops, and a Free French corporal (Louis Mercier). Later, they pick up a Sudanese sergeant major (Rex Ingram) and his Italian prisoner (J. Carrol Naish), who volunteeers to lead them to a well at Hassan Barani. En route, a Luftwaffe pilot (Kurt Kreuger) strafes the tank, killing one of the British soldiers, but is shot down and captured.

Running out of water, they are forced to detour to a desert well marked on Gunn's map. They find it, but it is almost empty, providing only a trickle of water. A German half track arrives soon afterwards and Gunn's group ambushes it. Gunn finds out from the two survivors of its crew that a German battalion, desperate for water, is following close behind. He decides to make a stand to delay the Germans any way he can, while he sends one of his men away in the captured German vehicle in search of help. The two Germans are released, to carry back an offer: "food for water", even though there is barely enough for Gunn's men.

The well has completely dried up by the time the Germans arrive. A standoff and battle of wills begins. Gunn pretends the well is full of water and negotiates to waste time. Eventually, the Germans attack and are beaten off again and again, but one by one, the defenders are killed. However, the thirst-maddened Germans' final assault turns into a full-blown surrender as they drop their weapons and claw across the sand towards the well. To Gunn's shock, he discovers that a German shell that exploded in the well has refilled it by tapping into another source of water. Gunn and the only other Allied survivor disarm the Germans while they're drinking their fill and start marching them east, where they encounter Allied troops led by Gunn's courier Waco Hoyt (Bruce Bennett). The movie ends with news of C-in-C Middle East Command General Claude Auchinleck's victory at the First Battle of El Alamein.

The plot of the film (especially the scene with a bucket of water) closely resembles an earlier Mikhail Romm’s film "Trinadtsat" (The Thirteen, 1937) which, in turn, was influenced by John Ford’s The Lost Patrol.[1]

Production notes

The movie was filmed on location in the Imperial County portion of the Anza-Borrego Desert State Park, near the Salton Sea, using soldiers of the U.S. 4th Armored Division as extras.

In 1992, Kurt Kreuger was quoted by the San Francisco Chronicle on the emotions inherent in making the film, in which he portrayed a stereotypical Nazi:

I was running across the dunes when Tambul jumped on top of me and pressed my head into the sand to suffocate me. Only Zoltán forgot to yell cut, and Ingram was so emotionally caught up in the scene that he kept pressing my face harder and harder. Finally, I went unconscious. Nobody knew this. Even the crew was transfixed, watching this dramatic ‘killing.' If Zoltán hadn't finally said cut, as an afterthought, it would have been all over for me.[2]

Cast

Americans:

British, French and Sudanese:

  • Captain Jason Halliday - Richard Nugent
  • Fred Clarkson - Lloyd Bridges
  • Osmond 'Ozzie' Bates - Patrick O'Moore
  • Peter Stegman - Guy Kingsford
  • Marty Williams - Carl Harbord
  • Jean 'Frenchie' Leroux - Louis Mercier
  • Sergeant Major Tambul - Rex Ingram

Axis:

References

  1. ^ "Trinadtsat" at IMDB; user comments
  2. ^ Adam Bernstein (July 21, 2006). "Kurt Kreuger, 89, Actor Portrayed Nazis (obituary)". The Washington Post (on the New York Sun website). http://www.nysun.com/article/36500?page_no=2. Retrieved on 2008-02-16. 

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