Evocative of the 1940's classic. Memorable and dramatic saga of British soldiers joining an American tank crew and fighting the Germans for their survival as they cross the Libyan Desert with a Sudansese and Frenchman with an Italian prisoner in tow. Plenty of action and war drama. Tobruk has fallen and water is much needed by the sand parched fighters. By far, leaps and bounds over the typical war movie. You will not refuse to watch again. SAHARA is sensational.Humphrey Bogart leads an exceptional cast also featuring: Bruce Bennett, Lloyd Bridges, Dan Duryea, J. Carrol Naish, Rex Ingram, Kurt Kreuger, Patrick O'Moore, Richard Aherne, Louis Mercier and Peter Lawford.

Excellent WW2 drama, starring the great Humphrey Bogart. Solid plot, though a bit over-the-top in terms of plausibility. (Remember, this film was made in 1943 - the middle of WW2 - so was essentially a propaganda movie). Great direction - not a foot wrong.Bogart gives his usual take-charge cool-as-ice performance, and is superb. Right up there with Casablanca in terms of his performance.Spot Lloyd Bridges (I didn't! Was surprised when I saw him in the credits).Definitely hasn't dated and is well worth the watch.

This a wonderful film with a stellar cast headed by Humphrey Bogart. Seldom did a war film reflect so well the combined effort of the countries involved. There seemed to be a greater understanding of the wider struggle, and genuine understanding and mutual respect between the nations. Great to see Dan Duryea in a heroic role, with marvellous support from Rex Ingram, J. Carrol Naish, Bruce Bennett and the lesser known actors such as Carl Harbord and Louis Mercier. The movie has a lot of humanity, reflected especially when they don't let the Italian prisoner onto the overcrowded truck, but then change their mind. It brings to mind Ice Cold in Alex in which the greater enemy for both sides is the desert.. Not seen the remake, but I think I will pass on it.

One of Bogie's films for Columbia Pictures is a real winner: a WWII film about a trio of Americans, a gaggle of British, a British Sudanese, a "Frenchie", and an Italian and German prisoners of war all riding on top of and inside a lone US tank Bogie's Sgt Gunn across North Africa as the Nazis take Tobruk. Needing to find water, the Sudanese (a wonderful Rex Ingram) knows of wells to the South (which is the only direction not taken by or surrounded by German forces), and Gunn follows his directions, eventually finding Bir Acroma, a temple with a man-made well with just enough water to keep them all from starving. As a regimen of Nazis (and a guide) are on their way, desperate for water, Gunn learns from a couple of soldiers real thirsty that about 500 men are in a mechanized battalion heading their way. Sending the Germans on their way with a fake proposition over trading food for water, Gunn and company (except for the Nazi captive who actually knows English) plan to fight the battalion, using the Bir Acroma as their outpost. Can they keep them at bay, while Gunn's fellow soldier, Waco (Bruce Bennett) drives off for potential ally reinforcements?An exotic setting (director Korda knows how to direct adventure films as evident by the excellent Four Feathers and popular Jungle Book) with the desert looking mighty treacherous and the windy sand storms quite overbearing. Add the tension of encroaching Germans with more men, limited water, and tiring wait for the hopes of help on the horizon, "Sahara" is the perfect kind of war film to keep the viewer on the edge of their seat. The weaponry is as limited as the water, and the film shows Gunn and his small squadron doing all they can to battle the enemy with everything they have.Memorable scenes include a marvelous J Carrol Naish standing up to Kurt Kreuger's nasty Nazi about his people's misfortune and his stand against what Hitler is all about and the soldiers who fall for his madness & Rex's Tambul smothering Kurt's face in the sand. The lengthy standoff at the end at Bir Acroma, with forces from both sides dwindling, has a lot of likable characters (including terrific character actor Dan Duryea as Gunn's other American soldier, Richard Nugent as the British captain, and Louis T Mercier as the lone French soldier who had worked for the French Resistance, having seen those he knew in Occupied France perish at the hands of the Nazis, with Patrick O'Moore as a British soldier and Lloyd Bridges in a bit part as the first casualty on the desert trip) involved in the gunfire and shootout. Rex's scene with Bennett as they talk wives while inside the well is a nicely warm moment where two men from different worlds find common ground...their comraderie is nifty. Duryea and Bennett's betting is a source of amusement as well...particularly when they bet on the decisions Gunn will make. Naish's begging to come with the tank crew and Bogie's deciding to allow him to join them is a real dramatic highpoint. Here is where Naish proves that he's more than some B-movie minor talent. Naish deserves to be re-evaluated by buffs, in my opinion.The sacrifices of war is nothing new in films like Sahara, as men risk it all to represent what they believe in: freedom. Kreuger's Nazi is an appropriate villain and despicable symbol of Hitler, in a plane shooting at Gunn's Loulabelle (name of his tank after his beloved horse!) before they shoot him down. Tambul's Sudan soldier is a key figure in the film, his black skin repulsive to the Nazi, with it only fitting that he kills Kreuger, dying a hero in the process as the Germans fire at him with heavy artillery. Bogart's stalwart, courageous hero, speechifying the danger of their stand against the Germans but why it is important to do so, is a joy to watch for me personally. But the whole cast behind him is first rate.