The Desert Rats
|
List Price: Our Price: $11.97 You Save: $3.01 (20%) Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days Buy Used: from $2.25 (click here) Category: DVD See more DVD releases |
|---|
Buy this DVD movie at online store in your country
Canada
Canada
Movie Reviews of The Desert Rats
Movie Review: This is a good WWII Movie
Summary: 5 Stars
This is a very good WWII movie set in North Africa. Richard Burton is very good in his role. It seems that he put a lot more depth into his characters in his earlier pictures as you can see here. As for Mason, he is one of a handful of actors that are always good no matter what role they play. Robert Wise also demonstrates why he is such a gifted director turning in a film with both a good story and character development. This is a notch above many other war movies.Movie Review: Australians at the Siege of Tobruk
Summary: 5 Stars
This is an excellent movie about the Siege of Tobruk during WW2 and some of the Australians who fought in it. A true classic and if you're a fan of war movies, it's a must buy!!Movie Review: Timeless
Summary: 5 Stars
This is a WWII classic featuring tank warfare and strategy with excellent performances by Richard Burton and James Mason. A must see for any war movie buff.Movie Review: The Desert Rats
Summary: 5 Stars
I enjoyed this movie, Its a different kind of work movie. I highly Recommended !Movie Review: A GLIMPSE INTO DESERT WARFARE WITH BURTON & MASON AS OUR TOUR GUIDES
Summary: 4 Stars
IN A NUTSHELL: A GLIMPSE INTO DESERT WARFARE
Former editor, turned up-and-coming director, Robert Wise, essentially turns an otherwise fairly standard world war 2 yarn into a classic war film. Tight editing, decent special effects, a good screenplay plus compelling action scenes led by Burton, alongside an able British and Aussie sounding cast, lift "The Desert Rats" to cinematic respectability.
"The Desert Rats" delivers in the action department with a frontal Panzer attack in the opening minutes of the film and tries to keep up the pace for 88 minutes.
WHAT IT'S ALL ABOUT
Richard Burton [Lt. Colonel MacRoberts] is a hard-nose officer in the British Eighth Army. He's entrenched at Tobruk and battling Rommel's Africa Corp. Hastily placed in charge of a newly arrived, green Australian unit, MacRoberts keeps tight discipline and asks the impossible of his men. Nevertheless, the results for McRoberts are surprisingly good as he and his men play their roles in continuing the defensive efforts at Tobruk for more than 8 months against Rommel. In good story telling form, we see the action more than hear about it, and it is all rather believably depicted.
Probably for the audiences benefit, MacRoberts is temporarily captured by the Germans in a night raid, where, while having a wound field dressed, he meets and defiantly dares Rommel [James Mason], "if you can crush Tobruk - then crush it!"
Afterwards, amidst a nice action scene where the German truck carrying the allied prisoners is strafed by Spitfires, MacRoberts escapes and returns too easily to the allied side, across enemy lines.
--- *THE PLAYERS* ---
Richard Burton - Capt. MacRoberts
Robert Newton - Bartlett
Robert Douglas - General
James Mason - Rommel
Torin Thatcher - Barney
Chips Rafferty - Smith
Charles "Bud" Tingwell - Lt. Carstairs
The film is narrated throughout by what I believe is the voice of Michael Rennie, who played "Klaatu" in the "Day the Earth Stood Still" and was a "voice" in the preceding "The Desert Fox", 1951.
---* THE PRODUCTION CREDITS *---
Robert Wise - Director [WEST SIDE STORY, SOUND OF MUSIC, THE DAY THE EARTH STOOD STILL & EDITOR OF "CITIZEN KANE"]
Robert L. Jacks - Producer
Richard Murphy - Screenwriter [Nominated for ACADEMY AWARD - BEST SCREENPLAY]
Lucien Ballard - Cinematographer
Leigh Harline - Composer (Music Score)
Alfred Newman - Composer (Music Score)
Barbara McLean - Editor
Addison Hehr - Art Director
Lyle Wheeler - Art Director
Ray Kellogg - Special Effects [between 1950-1955 did effects for about 50 feature films, ended with Tora!Tora!Tora!, 1970]
BOTTOM LINE: "THE DESERT RATS" - SIMPLY A TIGHT WELL DONE WAR DRAMA
This simple film holds up well [now 54 years] on the foundation of an excellent screen play. Burton, Mason and Wise really team-up well to keep this film really tight and mostly filled with relevant and exciting action for 88 minutes.