Victoria en el desierto

Before the British produced March 1943's "Desert Victory," filmmakers had little idea how to cover a broad field of battle in World War Two and edit the footage into a cohesive documentary. A network of cameramen from the British Army Film and Photographic Unit, four of whom died while photographing the WW2 North African campaign, proved it could be done by capturing stirring footage of the wide ranging desert battles. Once edited, the United Kingdom Ministry of Information, who funded the film, claimed the documentary would "transform the international view of Britain" and make "an impact on filmmaking around the world." Such a pronouncement was accurate, earning the feature the Oscar for Best Documentary.

The English film highlights the Battles of El Alamein and other North African British victories in the autumn of 1942, collectively known as the Western Desert Campaign. UK troops led by newly-appointed Lt. General Bernard Montgomery turned back the German troops of General Erwin Rommel, known as 'The Desert Fox,' at the critical junction of El Alamein, Egypt, in late October 1942, This was the first victory for England against Germany in WW2. Initially there weren't any plans to make a full-length documentary with the film the British Army cameramen took. A chance meeting between the British film unit's producer David MacDonald and the commander-in-chief of the overall forces in the Middle East, General Harold Alexander, led to a discussion on what could be done with all the canisters of film reeled off on the front lines during the Second Battle of El Alamein. MacDonald told the general he favored producing a documentary, to which Alexander agreed. The producer journeyed to England's Pinewood studio to shape the Oscar-winning picture.

"Desert Victory" became an invaluable morale booster for the war-weary English yearning to witness the events on the theaters' screens they read about in their newspapers. Film historian Hilary Roberts described how the documentary proved "The Army had been transformed from a losing force into a force which could win battles against really well-trained, well-equipped troops which German General Rommel's forces actually were. It transformed the international view of Britain and it transformed Britain's view of itself so. That's quite a significant achievement for a one-hour feature documentary film." The experienced photographers in the Army's Film Unit were required to undergo military training in case they needed to take up arms to fight in situations facing the enemy. Percentage wise they suffered the highest casualties of any unit in the British Army in WW2 while some were captured and sent to POW camps. The Western Desert Campaign was the first time in WW2 cameramen were on the British front lines. As historian Roberts noted, "Film shows and screenings were terribly important for the troops and that really gained momentum in 1943, so at the time of El Alamein itself, awareness of what the cameramen were doing amongst the troops, in general, was relatively low but the success of the film and the photography at El Alamein changed all that and it was an absolute landmark." Prints of "Desert Victory" were sent to President Franklin Roosevelt and the military brass. Viewing its fluid camerawork compared to the low quality of static shots the U. S. photography units were producing at the time motivated the United States armed forces' film units to produced better quality footage. Not only did "Desert Victory" "have an impact in Britain," said Roberts, "but it certainly had an impact on filmmaking around the world."

This has to be one of the greatest documentaries of all time! The combat footage is all real! At the beginning, there is a notation that, in the fighting depicted, four of the cameramen were killed and thirteen others were either wounded or captured by the enemy. There is also footage taken by the Germans that was captured in the British advance. Watching this, think about one thing: everything you are seeing, a camerman was close enough to shoot with a camera and was, while filming, unarmed and a target. Hemingway defined courage as "grace under pressure". This marvelous masterpiece is a testament to incredible courage. Words fail to do these brave souls credit. But Desert Victory does. I salute them and the others whose courage is immortalized here on celluloid.

Here's a documentary about the lead-up to and battle of El Alamein, the turning point of the war from Britain's viewpoint. Like most of the best of British propaganda films of the Second World War, it offers a matter-of-fact attitude towards the events, explaining the strategy that Alexander and Montgomery planned, and the turning into a very noisy series of clips, interspersed with maps showing the movements of the British salients and German countermoves. It feels like it could have been briefer, but they wanted it to come in a touch over an hour to give it feature status.

I begins with a series of title cards, explaining that four British cameramen were killed making this movie, seven wounded, and six captured by the Germans.... and that movies of Rommel were captured by the British army's advance.

This was one of a number of documentaries made by the Ministry of Information spotlighting successful military campaigns.It is well made and serves its propaganda purpose.

This is another example of a film – or, in its case, a documentary – which was much lauded by critics once upon a time but which, when viewed today, does not come across as particularly outstanding (if eliciting occasional excitement throughout from the mainly dimly-lit barrage of various types of artillery). I mean this criticism towards it exclusively as a cinematic product, of course, since the events depicted – the Allies' defeat of Field Marshall Erwin Rommel's previously invincible North Africa campaign in 1942 – constitute one of the most decisive turning points of WWII. The fact that it was all captured live by respected British film people (albeit uncredited!) is all the more remarkable when considering that several cameramen were killed, wounded or imprisoned by the enemy during its shooting, as the opening text duly informs us; interestingly, then, the scenes showing Rommel himself and, briefly, Adolf Hitler was 'supplied' via confiscated footage in possession of German P.O.W.s! Many such 'classic' efforts were released during the course of the 6 year-long (1939-45) global conflict by notable British and American film directors, a good number of which I own and have watched in the past, while a few more will be included among my initial spate of 2014 viewings.

For the record, the print I watched of DESERT VICTORY had a 10-minute newsreel – FILM BULLETIN NO. 45: U.S. ATTACKS IN THE ALEUTIANS – appended to it, revolving around battles in the Pacific that were also officially 'reported' by John Huston. Incidentally, the latter competed with the film under review for Best Documentary Feature at the Oscars, but the British effort emerged victorious; besides, co-director Boulting made BURMA VICTORY (1946) in a similar vein.