The Greater Enemy July 16, 2006
Posted by John Hodson in : Film & DVD Reviews, British Film, War Films , trackbackThere are, in this writer’s humble opinion, few British war films better than J. Lee Thompson’s Ice Cold in Alex. A heroic and episodic narrative that rarely lets up, John Mills, Anthony Quayle and the wonderful Harry Andrews on the top of their game, Sylvia Sims possibly the only weak link as the simpering nurse Murdoch; hardly her fault, given the hand she had to play.
Thompson’s admirable direction (he’s clearly inspired by The Wages of Fear) keeps the tension nice and taut while Christopher Landon’s script (from his novel) goes to some lengths to avoid the usual stereotypes that populated ’50s war films; this isn’t the typical ‘us versus them’ shoot ‘em up, this is about, as Hauptman Otto Lutz says, beating “…the greater enemy; the desert.”
There are some nice cameos from a plethora of familiar faces - David Lodge (indespensible, it seems, to casting directors during this period), Liam Redmond (excellent as the slightly eccentric Brigadier), Allan Cuthertson, Walter Gotell, Frederick Jaeger, Peter Arne and Paul Stassino.
A word of praise for Warners / Studio Canal R2 which has been transferred very nicely to DVD from an almost pristine print - top marks too for presenting it in anamorphic 1.66:1; a rare beast.
Carlsberg finally woke up to the commercial possibilities a few years ago with their famous ad featuring the scene in the bar at Alexandria - as Captain Anson (Mills always claimed they used real beer and he was drunk after the 14th take) says as he downs an icy brew in one: “Worth waiting for.”
Still wonderfully entertaining - anyone fancy a beer?
Comments»
no comments yet - be the first?