Excellent WW2 film about a small group of soldiers fighting off Nazis in the Sahara desert. Humphrey Bogart plays an American tank commander who, along with his crew, picks up several Allied soldiers and a couple of Axis prisoners. Eventually they find water in a well by the ruins of an old fort. When the Nazis come looking for the same well, the soldiers have to decide whether to run or fight.
Terrific cast backing up Bogie. Special mention for Rex Ingram, J. Carrol Naish, and Bruce Bennett. Solid script and direction. Nicely photographed by Rudolph Maté with a good Miklós Rózsa score. Humphrey Bogart starred in some great WW2 movies. Most of them were made for Warner Bros. but this one was made at Columbia. I think this is the best WW2 movie they put out and it's on par with anything made at the other studios. A strong dramatic film with great characters and exciting action. One Bogie fans won't want to pass up.
Sahara
1943
Action / Drama / War
Sahara
1943
Action / Drama / War
Keywords: deserttanksergeantdesert warfare
Plot summary
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.
Uploaded by: FREEMAN
Director
Top cast
Tech specs
720p.BLU 1080p.BLUMovie Reviews
"We stopped them at El Alamein."
Very good war drama
"Sahara" is a 1943 film starring Humphrey Bogart, directed by Zoltan Korda, and intended as a propaganda film during World War II. It succeeds.
Bogart is a Sgt. Joe Gunn, and after Tobruk falls in North Africa, he leads a tank unit into the desert. He's joined by French, South African, British, and Sudanese soldiers. They come up against a group of Germans that want the water well where the tanks are stationed.
Besides Bogart, the great cast includes Bruce Bennett. Lloyd Bridges, Dan Duryea and J. Carrol Naish, and they all do an exemplary job. What I like best about this film is the atmosphere - the sun beating down, the dryness, the filth - you're thirsty just watching it.
It was films like this that probably kept people in the U.S. going during the war, I imagine. World War II has been highly romanticized, but despite the pretty songs, there wasn't anything romantic about it. Since there are no women in this film, there's nothing romantic about "Sahara" either. Very good work.
Bogey Battles The Germans In The Desert
I guess this is what you'd call a "man's movie," a tough war story with no female characters in the cast. Humphrey Bogart is an effective tough-guy American sergeant leading an international group of Allies in a tank across the Sahara desert.
Eventually they battle huge odds against an onrushing German forces. intent on getting water from a well that was being tapped by Bogart's crew. There are a few lulls when characterizations are made, and the anti-German fervor in here is a little overdone. However, since it made right in the middle of World War II, that's understandable.
There is some good photography in here with nice shadows form the sand dunes. Overall, a pretty solid war film that has decent action without overdoing it. Complementing Bogart in he cast are the likes of Bruce Bennett. Lloyd Bridges, Dan Duryea and J. Carrol Naish