Sahara (1943)

The Korda brothers hit a home run with Sahara (1943), one of the best World War II movies made during the war. Expertly plotted, perfectly paced, with an interesting ensemble cast, it's an excellent, highly influential adventure film.

American Sergeant Joe Gunn (Humphrey Bogart) and his tank crew become separated from their unit during the Battle of El Alamein. Facing a trek across hostile desert, Gunn links up with a handful of British soldiers led by Captain Halliday (Richard Nugent), a Free French corporal (Louis Mercier), and a Sudanese Sergeant (Rex Ingram) and his Italian prisoner (J. Carroll Naish). They also shoot down a German plane and capture its pilot (Kurt Kreuger), who causes them no end of trouble. This motley crew reaches a remote well, where Gunn decides to make a stand against a German battalion desperate for water.

Sahara was inspired by a Soviet film, but plays like a more refined version of The Lost Patrol. It retains the Ten Little Indians structure of the Ford film, along with the siege at a desert waterhole, but plays much better. The abstract menace of Ford's Arabs is replaced by a very tangible danger in crack German troops. The movie delivers plenty of action, with lots of excellent battle scenes in the second half, around which Zoltan Korda and writers James O'Hanlon and John Howard Lawson build a very interesting scenario. The Germans have numbers and firepower on their side, but the Allies' access to water levels the playing field. This leads to a very clever, unexpected conclusion.

Like many WWII films, Sahara plays heavily on the "world united" theme, with its motley multi-national gang of Allies (Americans, Australians, Brits, South Africans, Sudanese, French) teaming up against the Nazis. The dialogue exchanges and unit bonding scenes play naturally, unlike The Lost Patrol's facile character monologues. There are a few cliches thrown our way (various characters show pictures of their wife and kids - I hope you've got your will made out!) and Bogey gets a noble speech or two, but generally the movie provides unique, well-crafted entertainment.

Humphrey Bogart is in fine form, mixing grouchy cynicism with self-sacrifice in approved Casablanca fashion. Bruce Bennett (Treasure of the Sierra Madre) and Dan Duryea (Winchester '73) play Bogart's crew. Richard Aherne is a fine foil for Bogey, and his interesting gaggle of Commonwealth troops includes Lloyd Bridges (Try and Get Me!), Patrick O'Moore (My Fair Lady) and Louis Mercier (What Price Glory?). Rex Ingham (The Thief of Baghdad) and J. Carroll Naish (Rio Grande) give excellent performances, with dignified characters that transcend ethnic stereotypes.

Sahara is a top-tier war film. Mixing excellent storytelling with exciting action, it's definitely one of the best WWII movies ever made.