Feb

Classic MovieMeld #32 – Sahara starring Humphrey Bogart

When I peeked ahead in the TCM Now Playing Guide the other day and noticed Sahara (1943) was playing tonight at 9:45 EST, I remembered that I’d recorded it when it last aired on TCM in January. What better time to watch it. Yes, I actually do put some effort into this thing!

1947 Kelloggs Pep

Sahara sat unwatched mainly because it was a war movie–not really my genre. I like the occasional Nazi intrigue picture, but just a straight war movie usually doesn’t get me. Despite Humphrey Bogart starring, the rest of the cast didn’t thrill me as this was a loan out picture to Columbia for Bogart and thus all of our usual Warner Brothers friends are missing from his side.

Co-starring are Bruce Bennett and Dan Duryea as soldiers in the Sergeant’s (Bogart) sputtering tank, Lulubelle. Fighting in Libya, the men are quickly surrounded and

1953 Topps Who-Z-At

ordered clear from the action. While in retreat the three Americans very quickly come upon a British regiment, led by Richard Nugent and including Louis Mercier who gives a stand out performance as “Frenchie” Leroux. The tank filled inside and out now, the Sarge and his men quickly spot a pair of soldiers on foot in the distance. They turn out to be Sgt. Major Tambul of the Sudan and his prisoner, Giuseppe, who is uh, as if you couldn’t tell, an Italian soldier. While we’re pretty obviously playing under flags of all nations we now add race to the equation as Tambul, played by Rex Ingram, is black. J. Carroll Naish does his thing as Giuseppe and manages to wrangle an Academy Award nomination out of it. Actually, I found Ingram’s Tambul to be the most enjoyable performance of Sahara.

Once an Italian was added to the group, and with the tank packed it wasn’t an easy decision to take him on board, it was obvious that we needed a German. No sooner than the thought enters your mind a Nazi plane is spotted overhead and Kurt Kreuger shows his teeth and fires at our tank filled with all of the friends mentioned above. The Allies down the Nazi, who while added to the group is never mistaken for being friendly. Naish’s Giuseppe on the other hand just wants to get back to his beautiful family and puts that ahead of any messages delivered by Mussolini.

That’s the basic set up here with the rest of the film involving a quest across the desert for water and once found, defending that water from German troops far outnumbering the men mentioned above.

The script is strong, the performances all match and the mix of personalities guarantees tension throughout. Some we like, some we just respect, others grow on you as the film progresses. Handed charge of the group from the British major, Bogart’s Sgt. Joe Gunn is forced to be the moral center of the film but earns our trust from the moment he relents and commands that the tank be stopped to pick up Giuseppe, whom he first decided there was neither room nor water for. From that point forward we know that America as represented by Bogart will always make the right choice in the end.

Directed by Zoltan Korda, Sahara was adapted out of a Russian film, The Thirteen. Besides Naish’s nomination, Sahara picked up two others, Best Cinematography in a black & white film and Best Sound Recording.

Sahara actually reminded me of another World War II film, Lifeboat (1944), though Alfred Hitchcock’s classic (released just about exactly two months later according to the IMDb) revolves around civilians, not soldiers, huddled together in said lifeboat for survival. Sahara’s soldiers are just as stranded in the sands of Libya as the Lifeboat crew were at sea; while Sahara’s cast represents more nations, there is a decent mix in Lifeboat as well; both films feature a prominent and sympathetic black character; does the Nazi speak English or not? We’re wondering from his introduction in both movies. Add the dialogue and performances of each and I think Sahara and Lifeboat would make a pretty fine World War II double feature.

Again, Sahara airs tonight at 9:45 pm. And, oh, if you make it to your couch early there’s another little Bogie picture called Casablanca (1943) airing in front of it at 8.