Sahara: Amazon.ca: Humphrey Bogart, Bruce Bennett, J. Carrol Naish, Lloyd Bridges, Rex Ingram, Richard Aherne, Dan Duryea, Carl Harbord, Patrick O'Moore, Louis Mercier, Guy Kingsford, Kurt Kreuger, Rudolph Mat�, Zoltan Korda, Harry Joe Brown, James O'Hanlon, John Howard Lawson, Philip MacDonald, Sidney Buchman: DVD

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Hollywood made few movies about the desert conflict during World War II--and curiously, two that they did (Five Graves to Cairo is the other) were remakes of films set elsewhere. John Howard Lawson based his script on a prewar Russian film (Lawson would later be blacklisted, incidentally) about a military patrol besieged by Asian bandits. The situation readily lent itself to a wartime parallel and became one of the most engrossing story lines of its era.

A U.S. tank crew and their commander (Humphrey Bogart), separated from the main force, make their way through the desert, accumulating a veritable United Nations of stragglers as they go: a few of Montgomery's tommies (including that old limey Lloyd Bridges) and a towering African (Rex Ingram) and his prisoner--a garrulous Italian (Oscar-nominated J. Carrol Naish) who can't wait to tell his new friends about his relatives in "Peets-a-bourg Pennsylvania." They come upon a ruin, the onetime site of an oasis, and almost immediately find themselves defending it against a small army of Germans who believe there's still water to be had there. Yes and no--there's a biblical wrinkle to this tale--and the standoff between the polyglot democrats and the Nazis who far outnumber them is a fine, sun-baked study in suspense.

For Bogart, this Columbia picture was a rare furlough from Warner Bros., where he always felt embattled. His pleasure must have seeped into his work, because Sgt. Joe Gunn is one of the most sympathetic and heartfelt characterizations the actor ever gave us. This is one good movie. --Richard T. Jameson

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Customer Reviews

29 Reviews

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4.7 out of 5 stars (29 customer reviews)

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5.0 out of 5 stars Timeless, Dec 8 2001

By

Robert (PETOSKEY, MI, United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)

This review is from: Sahara (DVD)

This is one of those films you may have seen many time before, but if you see on TV again you almost have to sit down and watch again; it's irresistable.
I saw this film as a child on TV and never forgot the story, I was very happy to see available again.
The cast is great, and the story is believable and well told. And I wouldn't take a previous revierer from Ann Arbors skepticism with regards race relations in those days. If that person had ever had lead flying over his head he'd know there there are no racists in foxholes, or amongst people lost in the desert. Even in 1943.
A great war film

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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Sahara: A Pre-Politically Correct Call For Multiculturalism, May 29 2004

By

Martin Asiner (jersey city, nj United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)

This review is from: Sahara (VHS Tape)

By 1943, the war in Europe had been going on for four years, and the United States had been involved for two. The war was far from being won, and Hollywood accordingly presented images of good old-fashioned American virtues of grit that sound increasingly quaint in the light of the modern tendency to downgrade the military. But in SAHARA, director Zoltan Korda involves the viewer directly in the war against fascism by presenting Humphrey Bogart as Sgt. Joe Gunn, in a role as memorable as any that he ever had. He, Dan Duryea, and Bruce Bennet are tankmen lost somewhere in the North African desert just before the battle of El Alemain. They seek to reenter the war and in doing so, pick up a number of equally lost fighters, two of whom are the enemy. J. Carrol Naish is Guiseppe, an Italian infantryman who has long since lost confidence in Mussolini. Kurt Krueger is a downed Luftwaffe pilot who is forced to ally himself with Guiseppe, a man who he is sure is not far elevated, racially speaking, over the Jews who were being tossed into crematoria. Bogart discovers an oasis that provides just enough water to keep his men alive. The plot complicates when an Afrika Korps battalion is short on water and attacks the oasis for its precious water.

SAHARA is typical of the war films of the time in that Hollywood knew that audiences would respond patriotically if the film combined crackling scenes of realistic combat with powerful and believable characters. Bogart as Joe Gunn more than delivers in nearly every scene in which he appears. His craggy face and gravel voice are totally convincing, especially in scenes like the one in which he responds to the not unreasonable question as to why they should risk their lives in battle when to run away seems the more prudent course. Bogie deadpans that delaying the Nazis at every step is the surest way to win the war. Director Korda makes sure that Bogart's tank crew is a multinational ethnic mix of Brits, French, Nigerian, and even Guiseppe, who in one stirring scene, repudiates his Italian Duce by telling Kurt Krueger, "Must I kiss the hand that beats me and lick the boot that kicks me? No! I'd rather stay in this miserable hole than to return to an Italy like that." SAHARA provided just the right note of infectious enthusiasm for a nation to rally around its military, even if today's peace-at-all-cost activists can't quite understand why.

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5.0 out of 5 stars "Bogart's finest performance of America's Fighting Man is Realistic", Mar 14 2011

By

J. Lovins "Mr. Jim" (Missouri-USA) - See all my reviews
(TOP 50 REVIEWER) (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Sahara (DVD)

Columbia Pictures Corporation presents "SAHARA" (1943) (97 min/B&W) -- Starring Humphrey Bogart, Bruce Bennet, J. Carrol Naish, Lloyd Bridges & Dan Duryea

Directed by Zoltan Korda

Well directed by Zoltan Korda, this is a first rate War film, which qualitatively balanced its superb action sequences with penetrating character studies.

When separated from his unit in the Libyan Desert, Bogart seen as a tank commander picks up a group of allied (and eventually several enemy) stragglers and heads out in search of badly needed water. Only arriving at a nearly dry oasis, and after he learns that a motorized battalion of Germans is also after the water, Bogart decides to make a valiant stand...

Considered to be the most realistic portrait of the truly "American" fighting man yet pictured on the screen, Bogart's characterization is outstanding.

Masterful musical score by Miklos Rozsa, who did similar duty the same year in another "tank" picture, Billy Wilder's "Five Graves to Cairo."

Filmed in the American desert instead of the real Sahara due to the war, this movie is one of the best war films ever made. The Allied soldiers are a mix of a lot of different nationalities (American, British, French, South African, Irish, Sudanese) and we see how these men from diverse backgrounds come together to survive against the elements and the Germans.

Oscar nominated for Best Actor in a Supporting Role (J. Carrol Naish), Best Cinematography (Black-and-White) and Best Sound, Recording

BIOS:
1. Zoltan Korda [aka: Zoltan Kellner] [Director]
Date of Birth: 3 June 1895 - Pusztaturpaszto, Túrkeve, Austria-Hungary (now Hungary)
Date of Death: 13 October 1961 - Hollywood, California

2. Humphrey Bogart
Date of Birth: 25 December 1899 - New York City, New York
Date of Death: 14 January 1957 - Los Angeles, California

3. J. Carrol Naish [aka: Joseph Patrick Carrol Naish]
Date of Birth: 21 January 1896 - New York City, New York
Date of Death: 24 January 1973 - La Jolla, California

Mr. Jim's Ratings:
Quality of Picture & Sound: 5 Stars
Performance: 5 Stars
Story & Screenplay: 5 Stars
Overall: 5 Stars [Original Music, Cinematography & Film Editing]

Total Time: 97 min on DVD ~ Columbia Pictures Corporation ~ (12/11/2001)

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Most recent customer reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars Desert wartime conflict
The incomparable Humphrey Bogart is tough, gritty and determined as Sgt. Joe Gunn commander of the remainder of a U.S. Read more

Published on April 23 2004 by Cory D. Slipman

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent
This little know Bogart movie was an astounding find for me. The story is based on a Soviet Photoplay article about a group of stranded soliers in the Sahara desert who make a... Read more

Published on Jan 30 2004