La bataille des sables

Those interested in the pre-1948 history of Israel will find this movie interesting and entertaining.

It reminded me in some ways of an early version of Otto Preminger's Exodus.

I think that they could have done more with Dana Andrews' part, but still worth watching.

Obscure and Somewhat Shallow, this Attempt at Shedding Some Light on the Contemporary Middle East-Palestine-British-Israel Situation/Conflict in 1947 is Hardly Anything More than a Lopsided Account of a Few Boatloads of Refugees Being Subjugated in the British Controlled Region.

As Entertainment, it is an OK Movie. As History Not so Much. At the Time the British were so Incensed that the Film was Banned in that Country for Decades. Elsewhere this Hot-Button Movie was Barely Seen and the Distribution was Minimal and Forget TV. That is Until Recently Thanks to TCM. So there is a Chance to See it Today.

The Cast Playing Mostly Stereotypes does OK with the Material but it is Heavy-Handed Most of the Time and the Christian Persuasion with the Christmas Time Setting, the Carol Singing, and the Heaven Sent Ending is Hokey, but was a Cheap way of Swaying Folks to the Cause.

It is a bit Creepy when the British put the Jewish Refugees, Including Children with Raggedy Ann Dolls in Tow, in a Barbed Wire Encampment (more heavy-handedness), that must have Weirded Out Post War Audiences and Angered More than a Few People. The British were Definitely Portrayed in this Film as Nazi-Lite.

There are a Few Lines from British Commanders about Not Wanting to Be There. "We should let God police the area." Overall it is Worth a Watch for its Place in Hollywood History. A "Lost" Curioso that Certainly hasn't "Lost" any of its Relevance if You Look at Today's Headlines.

Sword in the Desert was a quickly made feature film trying to cash in on the headlines concerning the rebirth of the State of Israel. The hopes and dreams of millions of Jews around the world who for two generations sent in sometimes pittance contributions to the Jewish Committee who started BUYING land in Palestine from the Ottoman Empire in the hopes of carving out a homeland for displaced people finally was realized a year earlier.

The origins of Israel are always obscured by Arab propaganda about Zionist Imperialism. The nucleus of Israel is from land BOUGHT and then formalized by United Nations partition. When six Arab nations disagreed and attack Israel beat them back and acquired more than what she was originally intended for. That's also how they later got the whole of Jerusalem, when three nations attacked Israel again in 1967 in the Six Day War.

Dana Andrews plays a captain of a tramp freighter who's making a nice living smuggling Jewish refugees into Palestine. He's strictly a cash and carry operator, but one time he gets himself caught up with his cargo when the British find him with same. He gets rescued by the Hagannah along with the rest of the refugees. After living with the Hagannah and seeing what they're up against, he becomes a committed Zionist himself. Of course the Zionist cause was definitely helped by having the beautiful and shapely Marta Toren working on his conversion. To Zionism, not to Judaism.

The part of Kurta the charismatic Hagannah leader was the one that gave Jeff Chandler his first real notice. Chandler, who's real name was Ira Grossel was himself Jewish and one who felt his roots very deeply. Later on he made a well publicized trip to Israel in the late Fifties and expressed a wish to be buried there. When he died in 1961 his wishes were not carried out by his daughters and his ex-wife. Nevertheless, Chandler always treasured this film because of what it meant to him both professionally and personally.

Stephen McNally has a substantial role as Hagannah fighter David Vogel and Irish actor Liam Redmond plays a former IRA man who joins up with the Jews because the British are tilting their neutrality way over to the Arabs. A lot of former IRA men did join up with the nascent Israeli cause and died for the creation of the Jewish state. Ironic that later on another generation of the IRA sided with the Arabs.

Sword in the Desert was quickly put together and its hurried preparation does show. Still it's a good, but hardly a definitive story about Israeli independence. For that we would have to wait for Exodus and Cast a Giant Shadow.

I was trying to recall films in which the Swedish actress Märta Torén acted, undoubtedly talented but also a beautiful woman, with her dark hair and remarkably blue eyes. I don't know if she would have been another Ingrid Bergman, because the world was changing by leaps and bounds after the war and her life was cut short at such a young age. Just 30 years old! But this film, quite unknown, has an outstanding cast: Besides Torén there is Dana Andrews, a tough man but with a soft core, Stephen McNally, usually a villain here is an idealist fighting for the Zionist side and in a rather important role Fred Chandler, another actor who was going to have a good career until death also surprised him untimely at the age of 42.

It is a painful argument because I would like to recall it as a historical fact that is in the past, but when I was a child in the 1960s, the news headlines spoke of a serious war in the Middle East. In this film, which is set in 1947 but was made in the heat of the moment, dating from 1949, we are told of the newly reborn State of Israel and the British military control over this ancient people who were reoccupying their ancestral territory as a brand new nation, hated by their Muslim neighbors. Mike Dillon (Andrews) is taking a load of illegal immigrants to the new Jewish state on his ship.

These are suffering people, many of them survivors of the Nazi genocide. David Vogel (MacNally) has promised to pay him, cash on delivery, but forces Dillon to disembark with his passengers to make good on the payment. Among the rebels, who do not believe in British good intentions and want freedom without their interference, is Sabra (Torén), the radio voice of free Israel, who is listened to devoutly by patriots and foreigners alike. In charge of the military part of these rebels is Asvan Kurta (Chandler), a tough but completely honourable man, someone whose word can be trusted. Of course, the British occupation troops had good arguments to justify their intervention. They were trying to prevent the outbreak of an armed conflict dangerous for the world, between Israel and its most belligerent Islamic neighbours. They were asking for patience from people who had lost their homes and families due to the persecutions caused by the Nazi occupation.

It is very hard to see how things get out of control and armed confrontation between the British and the rebels occurs. To prevent the deportation of those unfortunate people who were seeking refuge! Seventy-five years after these events, innocent people continue to die in the Middle East, as I write these lines at the beginning of the year 2025. The actors are different, the situations different, but the ancestral discord persists. This film is very well written (Robert Buckner), directed (George Sherman) and has a great cast. But its subject matter is thorny and I suppose that is why it has been forgotten.

PREDATING THE PRODUCTION and release of EXODUS by about a dozen year or so, this film presents us with a fictional account of the movement toward a Jewish Homeland. Basing the story on real life incidents that occurred involving the smuggling of mostly European Jews into the Holy Land, doing so in spite of regulations to the contrary imposed by the British; who controlled Palestine ever since the end o World War I.

ADDITIONALLY, Resistance WAS given by he various Arab peoples who lived there. This is the first dramatization of conflicts and problems which exist right down to this very day, hour and minute.

THE CAST ASSEMBLED was again most capable, talent-laden and appropriately seasoned. Headed up by Dana Andrews (as a cynical, world- weary gentile ship captain), he is ably assisted and supported by: Marta Toren, Stephen McNally, Jeff Chandler, Phillip Friend Hugh French, Liam Redmond and even Hayden Roarke. Many others also participated.

IN HORT, CYNICAL ship's captain (Dana Andrews) has a deep change of hart and a veritable Epiphany concerning hi view of lie and the World itself. His cold, indifferent attitudes slowly get eroded as he observes the determination of those displaced, penniless people, braving it all; in an all or nothing drive to settle in and found the modern State of Israel.

THE ACTIONS PORTRAYED, as well as the characters depicted, were largely symbolic and intended to rally World-wide support for the home-lander movement. We vividly recall one particular exchange among those lines. When Capt. Dillon (Mr. Andrews)) discovers a rebel soldier to be from Ireland and asks him just why he is there. All decked out in his best uniform of the IRA, the Irishman answers; "Because this is where this fight is!"

A VERY MEMORABLE scene featuring Christmas Eve in Bethlehem closes out the movie's emotional appeal to America and the World, regardless of whatever one's religion may be.