Steineded How sad is this?

Casey Duggan It’s sentimental, ridiculously long and only occasionally funny

Ginger Very good movie overall, highly recommended. Most of the negative reviews don't have any merit and are all pollitically based. Give this movie a chance at least, and it might give you a different perspective.

Fleur Actress is magnificent and exudes a hypnotic screen presence in this affecting drama.

GUENOT PHILIPPE Another great desert war adventure movie, after so many others, as the comments about this film say. That's one of the best of Jack Lee Thompson's. But I am surprised no one IMDb user has thought of Denys De La Patellière's UN TAXI POUR TOBROUK. Yes, I am french, and proud that we - froggies - had also made a war desert odyssey, a famous one, starring Lino Ventura, Charles Aznavour and some others. And I think not only frenchies may have seen it. I will put the two at the very same scale. No problem at all. I watched some good US war flicks around the same topic, most of them not so widely known. The last I saw recently was THE STEEL LADY, starring Rod Cameron.

badajoz-1 This film I saw when it first came out (yikes) as young teen. On reviewing as an OAP, it holds up quite well. In fact it probably was more understandable now than then! The simple story of a few refugees from Tobruk trying to outpace the German advance to El Alamein in the Desert War in 1941 is well told, if a little thin. The location work is excellent (at a time when UK films did not go very far afield very often - see the execrable 'Long, Short and the Tall!), the characters well drawn and acted, if a little unbelievable (especially Mills and Quayle), the writing quite sparse and the direction unobtrusively good. The final scenes in the bar have been overused but they work in the film. Pity the plot was a little flimsy and John Mills was too old for the part - he leaves a much younger man in Tobruk, who apparently went through the last war (WW1) - which does detract from the authenticity. But it is a film that modern filmmakers could study to see how WW2 was actually portrayed in a realistic fashion shortly afterwards!

tomgillespie2002 Battle-weary alcoholic Captain Anson (John Mills) sets out across the Libyan desert after his British base is evacuated. Joining him is Tom Pugh (Harry Andrews), Anson's square-jawed and loyal friend, and two nurses Diana (Sylvia Syms) and Denise (Diane Clare). Joining them early on the road is Afrikaan-speaking Captain van der Poel (Anthony Quayle), a colossal man who seems rather attached to his bag who he claims contains bottles of gin. In their way are mine fields, thirst, swampy salt mines, the desert heat, and those bloody Nazis. Anson promises to quit drinking until he gets to Alexandria, Egypt, where awaiting him is an ice cold lager.Possibly the best thing about this very good film is the real feel of the desert. Many of the old films glam it up a bit, but Ice Cold In Alex revels in the sweat, dust and dirt of the perilous desert. You can literally taste the dryness of their lips and the scorching heat on their back, and really feel their struggle. Also refreshing is the lack of token gunfights and action scenes that plagued many of the old war films. It is more concerned with the individual mental and physical struggle of the characters, and draws up tension in the small moments, such as Anson biting his lip and breathing hard as he slowly makes his way across the mine field. Another film that came to mind during these tense scenes is Henri-Georges Clouzot's The Wages Of Fear.I never realised just quite how terrific an actor John Mills was until I saw this. Even though his male co-stars tower over the little man, he is a raging mountain of frustration, anger and fierce dedication. It is a sublime performance. His co-stars are impressive too, with Quayle another standout as a man who may not be quite who he claims to be. Combining this with the impressive cinematography and intelligent script, it makes for an exciting and absorbing war film that manages to be quintessentially British yet as gritty a war film that I've seen from this era.www.the-wrath-of-blog.blogspot.com

Spikeopath Ice-Cold in Alex is directed by J. Lee Thompson and is based on the novel of the same name written by Christopher Landon. The latter of which co-writes the screenplay with T.J. Morrison. It stars John Mills, Sylvia Syms, Anthony Quayle and Harry Andrews. Leighton Lucas provides the music and Gilbert Taylor photographs in black and white.World War II and the British base at Tobruk, Libya, is attacked by the German Afrika Korps. During the evacuation 4 personnel are tasked with the mission to drive an ambulance across the desert back to British lines in Alexandria in Egypt. Captain Anson (Mills), MSM Tom Pugh (Andrews), Nurse Diana Murdoch (Syms) and Nurse Denise Norton (Diane Clare) are the four people in question, soon to be joined by a South African officer, Captain van der Poel (Quayle). Poel seems shifty, but his physicality and supply of Gin will no doubt be handy on this arduous trip. And arduous it will prove, as the elements, Germans and inner conflict will all test the group to the limit.It falls under the war movie banner, but the truth is that Ice-Cold in Alex is a different sort of animal. The core of Landon's story is to observe how a different group of characters cope in the face of mental and physical hardships. The war and the desert landscapes form the backdrop, but this is in essence a character study where the characters are defined by their actions. Thankfully the group of actors on show are able to turn in great shows to not let the slow structure of the film be a hindrance. Mills and Quayle especially bring a dynamic to their characters, drawing the viewer into the desert with them in the process. A number of quality scenes stand out in the picture, be it involving quicksand or trying to get "Katy" the ambulance over a hill, the tension mounts and the film never wants for effective drama. While the finale crowns the picture in a wave of humanistic collectedness. 8/10