The Desert Rats

It wasn't a great part and it wasn't a great film but this early performance from Richard Burton showed just how great an actor he might become. Unfortunately Hollywood, Taylor and the bottle often seemed to get in the way. In "The Desert Rats" he is the young officer leading his men into battle or more specifically, into the battle for Tobruk and he really is very good and as war films go, this is a tight and exciting picture, (it clocks in at under 90 minutes). Robert Wise was the director and you can tell this movie was directed by a great editor; there isn't a wasted moment in the whole film and the action scenes are brilliantly handled. James Mason once again appears as Rommel and there's a fine supporting performance from Robert Newton as Burton's old schoolmaster, now a private in his command.

The Desert Rats is an unpretentious war film that tells a good story with economy. The heroics come without drum-rolls.

The most fascinating part of this film is to watch both the marvelous Robert Newton and the under-rated James Mason give Richard Burton acting lessons.

Burton tends to chew the scenery when he snarls, "Good-morning," as though he were the youngest in a large family, doing anything for attention.

Newton counters Burton's unnecessary histrionics with a beautifully modulated realization of-himself in disguise as Prof. Bartlett, Burton's old instructor. I think this is the most honest look at the REAL Newton on film. The rueful man who clearly understands his inability to stay sober, but still has enough control to see his own and everyone else's situation clearly. He is the kind, timorous, brilliant failure who, in one burst of glory, up-stages his more successful juniors. Newton delivers a truly magical performance.

James Mason also delivers a balanced and multi-layered Rommel. Of course he practiced playing this brilliant German General in the better-known film, The Desert Fox.

Burton comes across as pure ham in The Desert Rats, but there IS one scene he has where he is honest and effective. He explains to Bartlett that the picture of the young woman in his wallet is his wife. The picture actually IS Burton's wife, pre-Elizabeth Taylor.

Otherwise, although Burton is billed as the star, the film belongs to Newton and Mason. See it for the pleasure of their company.

The North Africa Campaign, the Siege of Tobruk and the Desert Rats all have an important place in the British and Australian Psyche during and after the Second World War, and it took less then 10 years after the war for a film about the Siege to be made.

In 1941 British and Australian troops had control of the fortress town of Tobruk in Libya. Tobruk gets surrounded by German and Italian troops as the Axis tries to take Egypt and the Suez Canal. The British high command order the Australian General Leslie Morshead to hold Tobruk for 2 months to disrupt the German supply lines. Morshead was a clever commander, trapping German tanks to make them useless and made his troops fight a tough guerrilla campaign. The main focus of the film is on a British officer, 'Tammy' MacRoberts who is given command of a fresh batch of Australian troops, including his former school master. He has to train his troops to get them ready for the battle and first the bitter war.

The acting isn't that good, the Australian accents were awful and it would have been easier if their casted Australian actors. As well their seem to be an American officer with the British and Australians ones, I don't know why? What makes the film work is the war scenes. They are well done and you get to feel the action and sweat of battle. The film is also a short, tort experience. Also there is an historical inaccuracy; the Desert Rats was the name for the 9th Armoured Division of the British Army, not the 7th Australian Army. However Rommel did call the army the rats of Tobruk.

Personally I would like to see a new film about the war in North Africa because their are many interesting stories and battles, from the Battle of El-Alamein, the story of Rommel and Montgomery, Operation Touch, the Birth of the SAS, etc... The Siege of Tobruk would also make an interesting story for a modern film.

In 1941, during the World War II, Field Marshal Erwin von Rommel (James Mason) tries to conquer the city of Tobruk in Libya and the British battalion defends this location to avoid Rommel to reach the Suez Canal. The young, but experienced British Capt. 'Tammy' MacRoberts (Richard Burton) leads a limited number of inexperienced Australian troops in the defense of Tobruk, and uses raids during the night against Rommel forces to keep the balance between the strong German army and the reduced British-Australian forces, and MacRoberts' troops are called "The Desert Rats". "The Desert Rats" is a very realistic war movie, presenting strategies, battles, action scenes and a great duel between James Mason and Richard Burton. I am not sure whether Robert Wise used footage of some real battle scenes along the film, since the realism in the black and white photography is amazing and sometimes it looks like a documentary. There are also excellent lines between Richard Burton and James Mason, and Richard Burton and Robert Newton, in the role of the former teacher of MacRoberts. "The Desert Rats" is a highly recommended movie. My vote is eight.

Title (Brazil): "Ratos do Deserto" ("Desert Rats")

This is a really enjoyable movie. Burton and Newton do a fine job, as do a cast of familiar British character actors. James Mason in his first outing as Rommel is especially fun. He reprised the role in a later Rommel bio-pic (titled "The Desert Fox: The Story of Rommel").

Despite it's age, most of the attempts at special effects (artillery in the distance, explosions done via matte) come off well. As for the scenes where they really shoot off some pyrotechnics, they spared no expense! The overall portrait of the desert and army life looks very real and has the ring of truth. The plot is exciting and never drags.

The only problems are the over-patriotic script (I guess we should cut them some slack here, this movie was made much closer to the war than we are today!) and as noted elsewhere, the inappropriate German weapons. It's amazing that they used Thompson machine guns instead of MP40's, when for the next 30 years everybody from "The Man from U.N.C.L.E." to James Bond would use the MP40 all over the place. In summary I think this movie was a bit better than I expected and holds up well to repeated viewings.