Sahara (1943)

Sahara
Directed by Zoltan Korda
Written by John Howard Lawson, Zoltan Korda, and James O’Hanlon based on an incident in the Soviet Photoplay, “The Thirteen”
1943/USA
Columbia Pictures Corporation
Repeat viewing/Netflix rental

[box] Giuseppe: But are my eyes blind that I must fall to my knees to worship a maniac who has made of my country a concentration camp, who has made of my people slaves? Must I kiss the hand that beats me, lick the boot that kicks me, no! I rather spend my whole life living in this dirty hole than escape to fight again for things I do not believe against people I do not hate. As for your Hitler, it’s because of a man like him that God – my God – created hell![/box]

Made almost contemporaneous with the events surrounding it, this solid if unbelievable combat movie features some good performances only slightly marred by some heavy-handed speechmaking.

Career Army Sgt. Joe Gunn (Humphrey Bogart) and his men are one of the few American outfits training with the British army in desert combat early in the North Africa campaign  The three survivors and their tank have been left behind by the retreating British army and are short on water.  They meet up with the survivors of a British unit, likewise out of water.  Later they pick up a Sudanese British army soldier (Rex Ingram) who is escorting his Italian prisoner (J. Carol Naish) through the desert.  The tank manages to shoot down a German plane and when the pilot parachutes out they take him prisoner and the party is complete.

The group slowly warms to the Italian, who is a simple family man, but the German is an unrepentant Nazi who is looking for every opportunity to make trouble.  The water situation gets more dire until the Sudanese finally leads them to an old fort with a well.  Although there is only a trickle left, this is barely sufficient to keep the group going.  Then the well runs dry.

An advance team from a battalion of Germans comes scouting for water.  Instead of taking these guys prisoner and hitting the road,  Sgt. Gunn asks his men to stay put and try to bog down the Germans to play for time for the British.  Despite the 100 to 1 odds, Joe sends the German scouts back to tell their leader that there is plenty of water and the men are willing to trade it for food.  When the Germans get there, Joe tells them he will only trade water for their guns and a ferocious battle ensues.  With Dan Duryea as a GI, Bruce Bennett as the ranking Brit and Lloyd Bridges as a British soldier who bites the dust shortly after he pulls out his sweetheart’s photo.

Humphrey Bogart is really good in this as a crusty cavalry veteran who treats his tank like he used to treat his horse, calling it Lulubelle and babying it constantly.  J. Carol Naish gives the Italian a warm and human portrayal in a role that could have been just a vehicle for some anti-Nazi speeches.  The filmmakers made the Sudanese human and heroic as well.  I didn’t believe the story for a minute but must admit that it was fairly thrilling anyway.  I’m just getting started seeing combat films but I can believe that this is one of the better ones.

Sahara received Academy Award nominations in the categories of: Best Supporting Actor (Naish); Best Cinematography, Black-and-White (Rudolph Maté); and Best Sound, Recording.

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