Le désert de la peur

This film really brings out how people can overcome their differences, no matter how large or seemingly-impossible, and work together for their own survival.

Anthony Quayle acted his part with perfection, staying both loyal to his own cause, AND to the common cause of survival.

He did not turn anybody over to the German army despite the many opportunities, but turned each incident into an advantage that helped all concerned.

Also the matter of alcoholic addiction was portrayed excellently by John Mills, and the self-realisation which led to his overcoming of the problem was quite poignant.

Overall I would recommend this film as one of the classics amongst war-theme movies. It gets behind the scenes and down to the really important matter of real people and THEIR perspective of things.

This is a masterly example of how to make a film. The plot is simple, how to get an ambulance from behind enemy lines to safety, but it's given such force and power by the characters thrown together to achieve this. The alcoholic burnt out Captain, the solid Sergeant Major, the plucky nurse and the mysterious stranger. The performances are somewhat mannered by todays standards however they are all excellent, especially Harry Andrews (who rarely gets a mention) but who is the solid rock that holds the other characters together. Don't miss the original UK version, the shortened US version may be safely passed over. This film shows it is possible to make an interesting war film with hardly any violence.

I must confess to being biased towards this film, as I am a grandson of the author and screenwriter. It is extremely pleasing to read that this film has given a lot of pleasure to many who have seen it. Why I think the film succeeds is because it was written by a man who took part in the North African campaign, as a doctor in the RAMC, who had to deal with the human cost of war. People, and how they cope with adversity, is often more interesting than depicting warfare itself. This makes it an unusual war film for the time, to say the least. The character of Captain Anson, so ably played by John Mills, is telling for me as my grandfather sadly did have an alcohol problem later in life. On a lighter note, the terrific final scene in the bar has an amusing story attached to it - apparently, the scene had to be shot five or six times, and as nothing else looked like beer in a glass than, well, beer, poor John Mills had to keep knocking back the beers until the scene was "in the can"!

...from British-Pathe and Fox, and director J. Lee Thompson. An ambulance containing British Army Captain Anson (John Mills), Sergeant Pugh (Harry Andrews), and two nurses, Diana (Sylvia Syms) and Denise (Diane Clare), evacuates Tobruk in North Africa ahead of the advancing German army. They want to make it to British HQ in Alexandria, a long, perilous journey through the unforgiving desert. As they venture further into the desert and uncertain escape, they happen upon Captain van der Poel (Anthony Quayle), a South African army officer who got separated from his battalion. He joins them.

I've seen literally dozens of desert survival movies, and didn't expect to see any more that would bring something different to the table. So I was pleasantly surprised by this British war film, as it brings some unexpected turns to the tale. The entire cast has some of their career-best roles, with Quayle and Mills at the head of the class. Director Thompson depicts the oppressive heat of the setting vividly. This is a fairly obscure film in the U. S., and it deserves to be better known. Its initial American release was botched when Fox renamed it Desert Attack and hacked nearly an hour from its running time. Recommended.

'Ice Cold in Alex' is an absorbing story of a British ambulance trying to get to safety in the North African desert. There is the heat, minefields, enemy troops, more heat, shifting sands and human weaknesses to contend with and at the end of the film (over two hours)one feels exhausted. The main characters are an army captain on the verge of a breakdown, a determined nurse, a solid sergeant major and a South African soldier whom they pick up on the way. With simple heroism they try making their way to their goal, which in this case is a glass of ice cold beer in Alexandria on the coast.

The interplay between the characters and the growing bond they have in adversity is well played by the actors. John Mills' deeply troubled captain is particularly well acted. Harry Andrews, Anthony Quayle and Sylvia Syms are fine too. The other main character is the ambulance itself, gradually coming to pieces on the way, steaming and bumping along.

J. Lee Thompson was a very able director and there are some excellent scenes here. The minefield scene near the beginning and the hill scene near the end are great, tense and emotional. The beer scene is moving and uplifting. The best British films about the Second World War are generally about a small group of ordinary people who faced with crisis and peril just get on with it.