Sea of Sand

Last updated

Sea of Sand
Sea of sand movie poster.jpg
British film poster
Directed by Guy Green
Written by Robert Westerby (Original story Sean Fielding)
Produced by Robert S Baker & Monty Berman
Starring
Cinematography Wilkie Cooper
Edited byGordon Pilkington
Music by Clifton Parker
Production
company
Distributed by Rank Organisation
Release date
  • 7 November 1958 (1958-11-07)(UK)
Running time
97 minutes
CountryUnited Kingdom
LanguageEnglish

Sea of Sand (released in the US as Desert Patrol) is a 1958 British war film starring Richard Attenborough, John Gregson and Michael Craig. [1] The film, which was directed by Guy Green, is about a patrol of the Long Range Desert Group (LRDG) during the North African Campaign in the Second World War. It was shot on location in the Kingdom of Libya. [2]

Contents

Plot

On the eve of the Battle of El Alamein, Captain Tim Cotton leads a patrol on a raid to destroy a German fuel dump located deep behind enemy lines. Captain Williams of the Royal Engineers is posted to Cotton's patrol to deal with a minefield surrounding a German petrol dump. As a regular soldier, Williams takes time to adjust to the non-regulation way the LRDG operates. He finds a girl's torn up picture in Cotton's billet, who dismisses her as "old news". Later on Williams shows Cotton a picture of his son; Cotton says he has everything to live for.

The mission, which begins with five Chevrolet 30 cwt trucks, starts with a perilous journey through Axis-occupied Libya where the LRDG encounter Luftwaffe spotter planes and Africa Korps patrols. Six of their men are killed and two of their Chevrolets are destroyed by a German armoured car. On reaching the German supply depot, Williams does his job and creates a path through the minefield with the help of Corporal Mathieson. The rest of the group destroys the stocks of petrol but Sergeant Hardy is killed in the escape. However hidden within the dump is a large number of German panzers. Unfortunately Cotton cannot report this to base because the radio is smashed in a German ambush, during which 'Blanco' White is badly wounded in the leg.

Knowing the importance of the information, the group knows they must return and report it to base while there is time for it to be acted upon. During their return journey they are relentlessly pursued by a German officer determined to stop them. When two half-tracks attack them Cotton is wounded in the arm and Sergeant Nesbitt, the New Zealander, is killed. Eventually - with just 40 miles to go to the Allied base - the last truck runs out of fuel. Blanco volunteers to stay behind and man a Vickers machine gun, Brody offers to stay with his friend but Cotton says "Everyone who can goes on", as this will increase the chance of the important information they possess getting back to base. While the others head towards base, Blanco sacrifices himself slowing up the last pursuing German halftrack.

The group, with their water exhausted, sight another LRDG patrol on a truck. But before they can signal them, the chasing Germans are spotted. Williams grabs a Sten gun and leads the Germans away from his group. His actions allow the LRDG patrol to outflank and destroy the half-track; however, he is killed. Cotton laments that he had everything to live for.

The film concludes with Cotton reporting the tanks to his CO back at base. They also speak of Williams and the sacrifice he made for the group. The opening barrage of El Alamein starts.

Cast

Production

Writing

The screenplay of Sea of Sand was written by noted author and screenwriter Robert Westerby. The film's technical advisor was Bill Kennedy Shaw, who served as the LRDG's intelligence officer during desert campaign in North Africa. [3]

Soundtrack

The score was by Clifton Parker and was performed by the Sinfonia of London under the musical direction of Muir Mathieson. [1]

Filming

The film was shot in Tripolitania, near to many sites that saw real action during the war in North Africa. [3] Michael Craig said "we drank far too much, slept far too little and misbehaved in every possible way." [4] Filming began 12 May 1958. [5] Guy Green said it was "a very good script", and although he had to struggle against "the penny pinching outfit", the film "came out well." [6]

Most of the European extras in the film were British Army personnel who were stationed in Libya because of the military alliance between King Idris of Libya and the West (this relationship ended following the 1969 coup d'etat by army officers led by Muammar Gaddafi). As such, most of the military props used in the film are derived from British or American equipment. For instance, the Allied troops use contemporary Chevrolet 30 cwt WB trucks mounted with Vickers machine guns. However, the use of Sten submachine guns was incorrect (the real LRDG used either the .303 SMLE or the Thompson submachine gun as small arms). Likewise, American half-tracks, fitted with British Bren guns, were employed to portray Africa Korps Sd.Kfz. 251s.

Craig was loaned out from Rank. He says that although he thought it was a good film and a good part, he felt the British film industry should be making more contemporary stories. This led to The Angry Silence . [7]

Reception

The film was nominated for BAFTA awards for Best Film and British Film and Best British Actor for Michael Craig. [8]

Variety praised the "excellent all-round acting and taut direction by Guy Green," and concluded, "Green and cameraman Wilkie Cooper splendidly capture the remote loneliness of the vast desert, the heat, the boredom and the sense of pending danger. The screenplay is predictable, but the dialog is reasonably natural and the various characters are well drawn." [9]

Box Office

Kinematograph Weekly listed it as being "in the money" at the British box office in 1958. [10]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Long Range Desert Group</span> Reconnaissance and raiding unit of the British Army

The Long Range Desert Group (LRDG) was a reconnaissance and raiding unit of the British Army during the Second World War.

Patrick Andrew Clayton DSO MBE was a British surveyor and soldier. He was the basis for the character of Peter Madox in The English Patient.

<i>Ice Cold in Alex</i> 1958 British war film

Ice Cold in Alex is a 1958 British war film set during the Western Desert campaign of World War II based on the novel of the same name by Christopher Landon. Directed by J. Lee Thompson and starring John Mills, the film was a prizewinner at the 8th Berlin International Film Festival. Under the title Desert Attack, a shortened, 79-minute version of the film was released in the United States in 1961. Film critic Craig Butler later referred to the shortened versions as nonsensical.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Popski's Private Army</span> Military unit

Popski's Private Army, officially No. 1 Demolition Squadron, PPA, was a unit of British Special Forces set up in Cairo in October 1942 by Major Vladimir Peniakoff. Popski's Private Army was one of several raiding units formed in the Western Desert during the Second World War. The squadron also served in Italy, and was disbanded in September 1945.

<i>The Sea Shall Not Have Them</i> 1954 film by Lewis Gilbert

The Sea Shall Not Have Them is a 1954 British war film starring Michael Redgrave, Dirk Bogarde and Anthony Steel. It was directed by Lewis Gilbert and is based on the 1953 novel by John Harris, about a North Sea rescue during the Second World War. The musical soundtrack is by composer Malcolm Arnold.

<i>Tobruk</i> (1967 film) 1967 American war film directed by Arthur Hiller

Tobruk is a 1967 American drama war film directed by Arthur Hiller and starring Rock Hudson and George Peppard. The film was written by Leo Gordon and released through Universal Pictures.

<i>Sahara</i> (1943 American film) 1943 film by Zoltán Korda

Sahara is a 1943 American action war film directed by Zoltán Korda and starring Humphrey Bogart as an American tank commander in Libya who, along with a handful of Allied soldiers, tries to defend an isolated well with a limited supply of water from a German Afrika Korps battalion during the Western Desert Campaign of World War II.

<i>Carry On Sergeant</i> 1958 British comedy film by Gerald Thomas

Carry On Sergeant is a 1958 British comedy film about National Service starring William Hartnell, Bob Monkhouse and Eric Barker; it is the first in the series of Carry On films, with 31 entries released from 1958 to 1992. The film was based on a play The Bull Boys by R. F. Delderfield and was adapted into a script by Norman Hudis with John Antrobus contributing additional material and replacing the conscripted ballet dancers of the novel into a married couple. It was directed by Gerald Thomas and produced by Peter Rogers, a partnership which would last until 1978. Actors in this film, who went on to be part of the regular team in the series, were Kenneth Williams, Charles Hawtrey, Hattie Jacques, Kenneth Connor and Terry Scott. The film was followed by Carry On Nurse 1959.

<i>Play Dirty</i> (1969 film) 1969 film by André de Toth

Play Dirty is a 1969 British war film starring Michael Caine, Nigel Davenport, Nigel Green and Harry Andrews. It was director Andre de Toth's last film, based on a screenplay by Melvyn Bragg and Lotte Colin.

<i>The Guns of Navarone</i> (novel) 1957 novel by Alistair MacLean

The Guns of Navarone is a 1957 novel about the Second World War by Scottish writer Alistair MacLean that was made into the film The Guns of Navarone in 1961. The story concerns the efforts of an Allied commando team to destroy a seemingly impregnable German fortress that threatens Allied naval ships in the Aegean Sea and prevents over 1,200 isolated British Army soldiers from being rescued.

<i>Tiger Bay</i> (1959 film) 1959 British film

Tiger Bay is a 1959 British crime drama film directed by J. Lee Thompson. It stars John Mills as a police superintendent investigating a murder; his real-life daughter Hayley Mills, in her first major film role, as a girl who witnesses the murder; and Horst Buchholz as a young sailor who commits the murder in a moment of passion. The title refers to the Tiger Bay district of Cardiff, where much of the film was shot.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sudan Defence Force</span> Anglo-Egyptian military force in Sudan (1925–1956)

The Sudan Defence Force (SDF) was a British Colonial Auxiliary Forces unit raised in the Anglo-Egyptian Sudan in 1925 to assist local police in internal security duties and maintain the condominium's territorial integrity. During World War II, it also served in East Africa as part of the East African campaign and in North Africa during the Western Desert campaign.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Capture of Kufra</span> Combat action during the Western Desert Campaign of the Second World War

The Capture of Kufra was part of the Allied Western Desert Campaign during the Second World War. Kufra is a group of oases in the Kufra District of south-eastern Cyrenaica in the Libyan Desert. In 1940, it was part of the colony of Italian Libya Libia Italiana, which was part of Africa Settentrionale Italiana (ASI), which had been established in 1934. With some early assistance from the British Long Range Desert Group, Kufra was besieged from 31 January to 1 March 1941 by Free French forces which forced the surrender of the Italian and Libyan garrison.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Operation Caravan</span>

Operation Caravan was a subsidiary of Operation Agreement under which four simultaneous raids were carried out against important Axis lines of communication positions in September 1942.

<i>Bitter Victory</i> 1957 film by Nicholas Ray

Bitter Victory is a 1957 Franco-American international co-production film, shot in CinemaScope and directed by Nicholas Ray. Set in World War II, it stars Richard Burton and Curt Jürgens as two British Army officers sent out on a commando raid in North Africa. Ruth Roman plays the former lover of one and the wife of the other. It is based on the novel of the same name by René Hardy.

Brigadier Edward Cecil Osbaldeston Mitford Military Cross was a British officer in the British Army during the Second World War and after. He was an explorer of the Sahara desert before the war which was instrumental in his becoming one of the original members of the Long Range Desert Group. He later commanded five armoured regiments and an armoured brigade. He was also a member of the Mitford family from Northumberland.

<i>Sahara</i> (1995 film) 1995 made-for-television film

Sahara is a 1995 American-Australian made-for-television action war film shot in Australia and directed by Brian Trenchard-Smith and starring Jim Belushi. Sahara is a remake of the 1943 film of the same title starring Humphrey Bogart.

<i>Taxi for Tobruk</i> 1961 French film

Taxi for Tobruk is a 1961 war film directed by Denys de La Patellière and starring Charles Aznavour, Lino Ventura and Hardy Krüger. It was made as a co-production between France, Spain and West Germany.

<i>No Time to Die</i> (1958 film) 1958 British film by Terence Young

No Time to Die is a 1958 British war film directed by Terence Young and starring Victor Mature, Leo Genn, Anthony Newley and Bonar Colleano. It is about an American sergeant in the British Army during the Second World War.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mike Sadler</span> British Army officer (1920–2024)

Willis Michael Sadler was a British Army officer. He was the last original member of the Special Air Service and one of the last survivors of the Long Range Desert Group.

References

  1. 1 2 "Sea of Sand (1958)". Archived from the original on 20 December 2017.
  2. Burton, Alan; Chibnall, Steve (11 July 2013). Historical Dictionary of British Cinema. Scarecrow Press. ISBN   9780810880269 via Google Books.
  3. 1 2 Rowan, Terry. World War II Goes to the Movies & Television Guide Volume II L-Z. Lulu.com. ISBN   9781105465437 via Google Books.
  4. Craig, Michael (2005). The Smallest Giant: An Actor's Life. Allen and Unwin. p. 85.
  5. "Hollywood Production Pulse". Variety. 6 August 1958. p. 20.
  6. Schwartzman, Arnold (19 November 1991). "Interview with Guy Green side 3". British Entertainment History Project.
  7. Craig, Michael (2005). The Smallest Giant: An Actor's Life. Allen and Unwin. pp. 84–85.
  8. "Film in 1959 - BAFTA Awards". awards.bafta.org.
  9. Variety Staff (1 January 1958). "Sea of Sand".
  10. Billings, Josh (18 December 1958). "Others in the Money". Kinematograph Weekly. p. 7.