The Desert Rats (1953)

I like the storyline of this show,it attract me so much

Why so much hype?

Sadly Over-hyped

Pretty Good

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 something of a follow-up to THE DESERT FOX, which also starred James Mason as Erwin Rommel and covered some of the North African campaign. However the emphasis of this film is very much on the Allied forces, particularly an Australian platoon who baulk at their new captain, the Scottish Tammy MacRoberts.First off, the title is a misnomer; this isn't about the 'desert rats' but rather about the siege of Tobruk and the dedicated men who fought back against the encircling Nazi siege. Richard Burton is well cast as the heroic leader of men and brings the kind of gravitas to the part that only he can deliver. The desert-set action is quite familiar from other war films (and there are a LOT of desert-themed war films in existence) but what makes this one work is a fast pace and some good supporting cast members.Mason doesn't have a big role to play in this film although he does get to share a strong scene with Burton. The other soldiers are played by Robert Newton, the delightful Chips Rafferty, movie villain Torin Thatcher, and Charles Tingwell. The story runs the usual gamut of heroism and capture, escape and death, and builds to a suspenseful against-the-odds climax. It's certainly not one of the finest war films in existence but as war films go it's a solid enough effort.

*Spoiler/plot- The Desert Rats, 1953. A fictional account of a British officer in command of ANZAC Austrialian troops defending the North Africa city of Tobruk from Rommel's Afrika Korps in WW2.*Special Stars- Richard Burton, Robert Newton, James Mason, Torin Thacter, Robert Douglas, Charles Tingwell and Chips Rafferty. DIR: Robert Wise. DIR: Robert Wise.*Theme- Audacity in warfare can win battles.*Trivia/location/goofs- American film. Early film role for Richard Burton. James Mason played Rommel again in a 20th century Fox film two years before in 'Desert Fox'. One high British general officer staff member has an obvious American accent during a important briefing. The armor tanks in this film are really American due to the lack of historic panzers so soon after the war. Some German uniform items are clearly WW1 vintage.*Emotion- A good post ww2 film in which the Brits are patriotically but respectfully accounting their win over Das Afrika Korps. Satisfying and somewhat historical with very good casting.*Based On- Historic account of the Tobruk battle.

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.