Sahara (1943)

After the fall of Tobruk in 1942, during the Allied retreat in the Libyan desert, an American tank picks-up a motley group of survivors but they face advancing Germans and a lack of water.

Director:

Zoltan Korda

Writers:

John Howard Lawson (screenplay), Zoltan Korda (screenplay)

Stars:

Humphrey Bogart, Bruce Bennett, J. Carrol Naish

Nominated for 3 Oscars.

Cast

Complete credited cast:
Humphrey Bogart	...	Sgt. Joe Gunn
Bruce Bennett	...	Waco Hoyt
J. Carrol Naish	...	Giuseppe
Lloyd Bridges	...	Fred Clarkson
Rex Ingram	...	Sgt. Major Tambul
Richard Aherne	...	Capt. Jason Halliday (as Richard Nugent)
Dan Duryea	...	Jimmy Doyle
Carl Harbord	...	Marty Williams
Patrick O'Moore	...	Osmond 'Ozzie' Bates
Louis Mercier	...	Jean Leroux, 'Frenchie' (as Louis T. Mercier)
Guy Kingsford	...	Peter Stegman
Kurt Kreuger	...	Capt. von Schletow (as Kurt Krueger)
John Wengraf	...	Maj. Von Falken

Storyline

Sergeant Joe Gunn and his tank crew pick up five British soldiers, a Frenchman and a Sudanese man with an Italian prisoner crossing the Libyan Desert to rejoin their command after the fall of Tobruk. They and the Germans are greatly in need of water.

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Plot Keywords:

world war two | british soldier | reference to muhammad | italian soldier | american soldier | 

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Taglines:

SENSATIONAL! DRAMATIC! EMOTIONAL! MEMORABLE! (original one-sheet poster)

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Genres:

Action | Drama | War

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Certificate:

Approved

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English German Italian French

Release Date:

11 November 1943 (USA)

Also Known As:

Somewhere in Sahara

Filming Locations:

Zzyzx, California, USA

Box Office

Gross USA:

$2,300,000

Company Credits

Production Co:

Columbia Pictures

Technical Specs

Runtime:

97 min

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Mirrophonic Recording)

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The role of Sgt. Joe Gunn, played by Humphrey Bogart, was originally offered to Gary Cooper, who turned it down.

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Goofs

In the scene when the Italian POW is helping work on the tank, Bogart's character is tightening a nut with an adjustable wrench (Cresent). The camera angle shifts to another view of the scene and he is tightening the same nut with a non-adjustable wrench. The camera angle shifts back to the original view, the Sergeant is again using the adjustable wrench.

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Quotes

Jimmy Doyle: [First Lines] U.S. tank detachment unit 5. Repeat message. U.S. tank detachment unit 5. Repeat. Over to you. Over.

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Crazy Credits

Opening credits prologue: In June, 1942, a small detachment of American tanks with American crews, joined the British Eighth Army in North Africa to get experience in desert warfare under actual battle conditions.

History has proved that they learned their lesson well - -

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Connections

Remade as Sahara (1995)

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Soundtracks

Oh! Susanna
(uncredited)
Music by Stephen Foster
Played on the harmonica by Patrick O'Moore.

User Reviews

Excellent film!

Shot 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 desert is so bleak and barren, and the sun so bright, you can almost feel the heat in your living room. Sahara shows us just how brutal the conditions were in North Africa during the war, and how nature brought suffering to both sides. 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. The Germans themselves have the usual stereotyping of nastiness that is found in most films of the 1940s, but even they are shown to be individuals and not a faceless enemy. Get a cool drink and watch Sahara - it's a great movie.