Director Guy Green began as cameraman and quality camera work is a trademark he retains in SEA OF SAND aka DESERT PATROL - no mean feat when the entire film is shot in the desert. Wilkie Cooper's cinematography deserves high praise.
Plaudits, too, to Robert Westerby for the credible, taut script, with sharp dialogue - particularly between Michael Craig and John Gregson as two captains with different leadership ideas. I found rather astute the decision to give the best known actor in the cast at the time - Richard Attenborough - a rather middling, unassuming role as a military vehicle driver partial to brandy, which turns out to be providential during a German pinch.
Acting rates top notch across the board, even smaller parts by Ray McAnally - the surname does him no justice, he does not act anally at all!; Barry Foster - possibly best remembered for his "tie serial killer" in Hitchcock's FRENZY; Tanganyka-born Andrew Faulds as the reliable supplies man; and Vincent Ball as the attentive Sergeant Nesbitt, all deliver flawlessly.
The famous British upper lip abounds and John Gregson, who I remember best for his comic role in GENEVIEVE, plays the understated, cultured officer who can actually speak German and so saves his crew from a hail of German lead.
SEA OF SAND is a fitting title: sand everywhere, vehicles get bogged down in it, wind blows tracks, the enemy appears in the middle of sand storms.
Thoughtful homage to LRDG in WWII. 8/10.
Plaudits, too, to Robert Westerby for the credible, taut script, with sharp dialogue - particularly between Michael Craig and John Gregson as two captains with different leadership ideas. I found rather astute the decision to give the best known actor in the cast at the time - Richard Attenborough - a rather middling, unassuming role as a military vehicle driver partial to brandy, which turns out to be providential during a German pinch.
Acting rates top notch across the board, even smaller parts by Ray McAnally - the surname does him no justice, he does not act anally at all!; Barry Foster - possibly best remembered for his "tie serial killer" in Hitchcock's FRENZY; Tanganyka-born Andrew Faulds as the reliable supplies man; and Vincent Ball as the attentive Sergeant Nesbitt, all deliver flawlessly.
The famous British upper lip abounds and John Gregson, who I remember best for his comic role in GENEVIEVE, plays the understated, cultured officer who can actually speak German and so saves his crew from a hail of German lead.
SEA OF SAND is a fitting title: sand everywhere, vehicles get bogged down in it, wind blows tracks, the enemy appears in the middle of sand storms.
Thoughtful homage to LRDG in WWII. 8/10.