Search - Sahara on DVD

MPAA Rating: NR Content Advisory: Violence, Questionable for Children Movie Release: 1943 DVD Release: 12/11/2001 Format: DVD - Black and White Edition: Special Collection Audio Tracks: English, French Subtitles: English, French, Korean, Spanish, Thai SwapaDVD Credits: 1 Number of Discs: 1 Run Time: 1 hrs 38 mins Studio: Columbia TriStar Members Wishing: 16 Genres: War, War Adventure, Combat Films

Humphrey Bogart considered this World War II action epic from director Zoltan Korda one of his finest films. Sergeant Joe Gunn (Bogart) is the commander of an American M-3 tank crew allied to the British Eighth Army, which is defeated by the Germans at Tobruk. Joining the scattered retreat across the Libyan desert, Gunn and his two remaining men, Jimmy Doyle (Dan Duryea) and Waco Hoyt (Bruce Bennett) search for water. Instead the tank crew finds an international mix of stragglers, including an officer doctor (Richard Nugent) with several soldiers and a British Sudanese sergeant, Tambul (Rex Ingram), with his Italian prisoner of war (J. Carrol Naish). The rag-tag column shoots down an attacking plane and takes its German pilot (Kurt Kreuger) as a second captive, although a soldier, Fred Clarkson (Lloyd Bridges) is killed in the fighting. After one well turns out to be dry, the troupe finally reaches an abandoned mosque with a well that provides a trickle of water. Two more prisoners are taken while scouting the area and reveal that an entire German battalion is en route to the same well. Gunn misleads them into believing that there is plenty of water to go around, sets them free to report back to their superiors, and then persuades his fellow Allies to help him fight the enemy force that's en route, even though they are staggeringly outnumbered. A betrayal, an escaped prisoner, and bloody skirmishes follow in short order as Hoyt goes in search of help while Gunn and his compatriots attempt to crush the German battalion. Sahara (1943) inspired several subsequent action films, most notably Last of the Comanches (1952), and was remade as a 1995 cable television movie. ~ Karl Williams, All Movie Guide

Humphrey Bogart - Sgt. Joe Gunn
Bruce Bennett - Waco Hoyt
Lloyd Bridges - Fred Clarkson
Rex Ingram - Sgt. Tambul
J. Carrol Naish - Giuseppe
Dan Duryea - Jimmy Doyle

This tough, action-packed World War II drama starring Humphrey Bogart as the leader of a tank crew stranded in the Sahara with the Nazis hot on their trail, is considered by many as one of the best of its genre. The film eventually went on to spawn many imitators and was given the remake treatment in 1995 for cable television. Columbia/TriStar Home Entertainment's DVD has given the film an excellent, if modest, treatment for the digital age. Presented in its original full screen aspect ratio (1.33:1) and with its English mono soundtrack intact, the transfer is overall very good, though at times the film's age cannot be disguised. But the remastered print definitely gives the film a shine it has previously lacked for some time. The black-and-white contrast is sharp and never too glaring. The disc also includes trailers for other Columbia released films, some nice vintage advertising (lobby cards), filmographies, and talent files, and some informative liner notes detailing Sahara's production and release. ~ Derek Hill, All Movie Guide