Sahara

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Product Details

Director : Zoltan Korda
Actor : Humphrey Bogart, Bruce Bennett, J. Carrol Naish, Lloyd Bridges, Rex Ingram
Format : Import, NTSC
Binding : VHS Tape
EAN : 9786302952582
Product Group : Video
Release Date : 1996-08-06
UPC : 043396600980

ASIN : 6302952581

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Editorial Reviews

From Amazon.com

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

Customer Reviews

Sahara: A Pre-Politically Correct Call For Multiculturalism (2004-05-30)

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.

Desert wartime conflict (2004-04-23)

The incomparable Humphrey Bogart is tough, gritty and determined as Sgt. Joe Gunn commander of the remainder of a U.S. tank crew retreating south from the Nazis into the Libyan desert. His crew including a young Dan Duryea and the veteran actor Bruce Bennett pick up a small group of Allied stragglers on the way. Running low on supplies and water they set out for a well marked on a map. They encounter a British Sudanese sergeant major played by Rex Ingram leading an Italian prisoner played by the versatile and Oscar nominated J. Carroll Naish. Finding the well to have dried up, the rag tag bunch is led by the beautifully spoken Ingram to a distant well by following an old caravan trail.

Little do they know but they are being pursued by a mechanized German battalion of about 500 men also desperate for water. Bogart and his group find a scant supply of water at the second well which is located amid some ruins deep in the desert. They ambush a German scouting party and learn of their quandry. They release prisoners with the false knowledge that there is plenty of water to be found to lure the battalion in. They decide to make a stand at the well to delay the Nazi troops while sending out Bennett in a captured Nazi vehicle for help.

Sahara is an excellent wartime movie which serves as a testimony to the resolve of our troops to defend their country and ideals in the face of deplorable circumstamces. Bogart is terrific as usual. J. Carroll Naish does a superb acting job playing the disillusioned Italian prisoner, a mechanic from Turin, Giuseppe.

Excellent (2004-01-31)

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 stand against an approaching band of Germans during World War II. A bit heavy on the "why can't we just all get along" line (excluding the Germans, of course) but notable for its humanization of all the disparate people involved, their political beliefs and other religions. In addition, it is an entertaining story of clever manipulations by our heroes to assure their survival versus the overwhelming Germans. Has a great ending. Dan Duryea shines, as does Bogart.

A quest for water... (2004-01-02)

Sergeant Gunn (Humphrey Bogart) is the chief for an American tank in the war against the Nazi's during World War II. As they pull back they come across a group of soldiers consisting of a Frenchman, a South African, and four Brits. These soldiers join the Americans on their retreat, since it is easier to ride on a tank than walking and because they are low on water. As the party journeys deeper into the Sahara desert, they meet a Sudanese soldier who has an Italian prisoner. The Sudanese soldier is great help for the international group of armed forces, since he knows where there is water. The journey becomes a pilgrimage for water and it leads the men into a tough decision, which will most likely lead them to their death. Sahara is an interesting film, since it was filmed during the war and enhanced the support for soldiers that were fighting in World War II. In addition, it has some elements that offer some understanding for different cultures, which was needed in the time of war. Overall, the film offers an adventure for those who seek entertainment, which in the end provides the audience with a good cinematic experience.

A classic war film from WW II (2003-11-06)

In 1942 Humphrey Bogart had finally become a major star. After accidentally establishing himself as a leading man in HIGH SIERRA, and the unexpected brilliance of THE MALTESE FALCON, his star turn in CASABLANCA proved that these two prior successes were not flukes and that Bogart was the real deal. SAHARA was, therefore, the first film to be released after Bogart had become Bogart. In the aftermath of December 7, 1941, the studios turned out a plethora of war films in an attempt to rally public opinion in support of the war (as if that were necessary). Most of these films are forgettable. All of them today have an odd appearance, for the simple fact that the military was so short of equipment that it was unable to lend and the films were made with outdated equipment. One of the things that is striking about SAHARA is how much they manage to achieve with virtually no equipment at all. We usually imagine war films as involving epic struggles between contending armies, but SAHARA instead focuses on a lone tank crew and the few stragglers that they pick up along the way. They use the small scale of the film to their advantage, with the unseen but threatening enemy more omnipresent by their absence.

Given the absence of equipment and armies, the emphasis in the film is on the relations between the members of the tank crew and the individuals they encounter. Bruce Bennett, who first came to fame as an Olympic shot-putter in the 1920s, is excellent as one of the crew members. And there are a host of other veteran supporting actors. Also in a significant role is one of my favorite 1940s actors, Rex Ingram, who was one of the very, very few black actors before Sidney Portier to carve out a career as an actor despite refusing to play in any degrading or stereotypical "negro" roles. Ingram never played a cook or a red cap or a house servant, but instead portrayed soldiers as in SAHARA, genies (THE THIEF OF BAGHDAD, also directed by Zoltan Korda), the devil (CABIN IN THE SKY), and even God (GREEN PASTURES), as well as a very memorable performance in THE ADVENTURES OF HUCKLEBERRY FINN as the escaped slave Jim.

Many of the films of 1942 with war themes are embarrassing today with their jingoistic patriotism or-in the case of the Japanese-borderline racism. That is certainly not the case with SAHARA. The director, Zoltan Korda, was a dedicated leftist (a source of conflict with his more conservative brother Alexander, the producer of most of the top films Zoltan worked upon), and there is a liberal optimism that under girds this film that would be far rarer only there years later in Hollywood. I think this lack of jingoism has helped prolong the life of SAHARA beyond many of the other war films of 1942.

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