La battaglia di El Alamein (1969)

Director:

Giorgio Ferroni

Writers:

Remigio Del Grosso (writer)
Ernesto Gastaldi (writer)

Release Date:

1971 (USA)

Genre:

Action | Drama | History | War

Plot Keywords:

Germany | Self Sacrifice | Rommel | Goggles | WWII

Cast

Frederick Stafford	...	Lt. Giorgio Borri
George Hilton	...	Lt. Graham
Michael Rennie	...	General Bernard Law Montgomery
Marco Guglielmi	...	Captain Hubert
Ettore Manni	...	Italian Captain
Gérard Herter	...	General Schwartz
Robert Hossein	...	Field Marshal Erwin Rommel
Giuseppe Addobbati	...	General Georg Stumme
Sal Borgese	...	Kapow (as Salvatore Borgese)
Manlio Busoni
Giuseppe Castellano	...	Truck Driver
Mario Chiocchio
Massimo Righi	...	Italian Soldier (as Max Dean)
Giulio Donnini
Andrea Fantasia	...	Rommel's Doctor

Also Known As:

Desert Tanks
La bataille de El Alamein (France)
The Battle of El Alamein (USA)

Runtime:

USA:96 min

Country:

Italy | France

Language:

Italian

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Finland:K-16 | Sweden:11 | USA:PG

Company:

Zenith Cinematografica

Movie Connections:

Edited into I diavoli della guerra (1969)

Spectacular battles and noisy action by Italian director, Giorgio Ferroni

June 1942, as Rommel swept toward the Nile ,the fall of Egypt and the capture of the Suez canal seems inevitable. Italian and German advance units raced toward Alejandria. Mussolini had given explicit orders: The Italians must arrive first!. In this one, the Italians and Germans, united in a difficult alliance, fight the British in the North Afican desert. The Italians are the good guys and the British are the bad guys, including a point blank execution of prisoners. The protagonists are two brothers, a tough lieutenant(Frederick Stafford) and a sergeant(Enrico Maria Salerno) fighting British. Furthermore, a brave English lieutenant(George Hilton) and ,of course, Erwin Rommel(Robert Hossein) and General Montgomery(Michael Wilding).This movie gets lots of action, gunplay and explosion, displays several extras and tanks, in fact, the production wishes thanks the Italian Ministry of defense and the Italian Army general staff for their collaboration in making this film.

The picture is based on the real battles, the true events are the following : Alamein in WWII are two decisive battles in the western desert, north Egypt, in 1942 resulting in British victory over Axis forces under Field Marshal Erwin Rommel: 1- 27 July 1942 the British 8th Army under General Sir Claude Auchinleck held off the German and Italian forces. Neither side can be said to have won, but the British had the strategic advantage of short supply lines and so could reinforce faster than Germans. 23 Oct-4 Nov 1942 General Bernard Montgomery launched a diversionary British attack in the south, aiming to draw Axis forces into the area so that the main attack in the north could cut two corridors through the extensive minefields, enabling British armoured divisions to pass through and exploit the gaps. Progress was slow however and Montgomery decided to change tactics to fight what he called a 'crumbling battle'constantly switching the main emphasis to chip away at Rommel's front line and keep him guessing. Australian Division attacked along the coastal road, drawing the Axis forces toward them. Montgomey promptly launched a fresh attack further south, forcing the German armour to react in what became a major tank battle. By 3 Nov Rommel had only 30 serviceable tanks in action and on the next day began organizing his withdrawal. He was able to disengage and escape as the British were hampered by heavy rain and shortage fuel.