Sahara — Sahara (Blu Ray)
From the early 40s, Sahara is a compelling, eventful at points, decidedly tense and gritty WWII desert set action drama. It regards a single American tank crew led up by Humphrey Bogart, who, along its way to find water and safety, picks up a selection of survivors- as the Germans are surrounding on all sides, and all hope seems lost. Here from the fine folks at Powerhouse is a new Blu-Ray release- featuring a beautiful -defined HD scan of the film, a new commentary track, and a selection of new/ archive extras.
Sahara is from 1943, and the American-produced film was shot in the deserts of Arizona and California. It was directed & co-written by Hungarian-born Zoltan Korda- who between 1918 and 1955 had twenty directorial credits to his name. These take in the likes of football drama Die Elf Teufel (1927), romantic drama Forever Yours (1936), big-game hunter adventure drama The Macomber Affair (1947), and South Africa set drama Cry, the Beloved Country ( 1951).
The film is set in 1942 just after the fall of Tobruk, as the Allied forces are retreating into the desert. The film is centred around Sgt. Joe Gunn (Bogart) who, along with a few fellow US soldiers are making their way out of the centre of the desperate battle- to find water and salvation. Along the way, he meets the remains of an English troop, prisoners of war, and the enemy.
The desert setting is portrayed in such an unforgiving and bleak manner- with the unchanging sands as far as the eye can see. With the oppressive heat, beating sun, and moments of blinding sandstorms. The selection of characters Sgt Gunn encounter are painted well enough, and we get some great moments of drama and desperation. Some of the notable/ memorable characters are Italian prisoner of war Giuseppe ( J. Carrol Naish), secretive and deceitful German fighter pilot Capt. von Schletow (Kurt Kreuger), and the heroic Sgt. Maj. Tambul(Rex Ingram).
Throughout the film, the tension is kept up- with their initial need for water and salvation, being added to by failing health, moral dilemmas, and unsurmountable odds. The film's one-hour and thirty-seven-minute runtime simply speeds by.
Bogart is perfect as the film’s lead- balancing dog-headiness, duty, and humility. He and the rest of the cast are certainly put through the sandy ringer- and you truly do believe you are trapped in the seemingly endless and totally unforgiving desert. All in all, Sahara is an engaging and eventful war film- with believable/ great performances throughout, and a nicely tight & taut script.
This new region B Blu-Ray features an HD scan- this is a wonderfully crisp and clean black and white print, which truly enhances the whole films experience. On the extras side we have a good enough selection of new and archive things.
On the new side, we have a commentary track from screenwriter and novelist C Courtney Joyner- which is very well-researched- being both informative and wholly interesting. He begins by talking about how the war in Africa was still going on at the time of filming. We find out the film was based on a 1927 novel Patrol by Philip MacDonald- which was also used as the source to make the 1934 John Ford Film The Lost Patrol. He talks about one of the key elements of the book that was changed/ removed for Sahara- a character who loses his mind. He discusses the realistic recreation of desert warfare in California. We find out the military bigwigs were so impressed by the film that it was used for recruiting in the army, and that Bogart’s then-wife Mayo Methot used to bring him food and martinis while filming. He talks about how they always had to have a good supply of extra sand on set- so as to cover up any movement of trucks, crew, etc- giving seemingly untouched dunes for filming. Later on, he discusses how the addition of each new selection of characters adds a new dimension to proceedings and how the director keeps the viewer always focused/ curious. He talks about the score by Miklós Rózsa, and how it truly pulls you into the story further. And much, much more- I’ll most certainly be giving this a replay down the line.
The other new extra on the disc is Small Miracles (12.34) which finds Ehsan Khoshbakht, curator, filmmaker, and editor of The Lady with the Torch: Columbia Pictures 1929–1959 discussing the film. He begins by talking about how impactful it was first seeing Sahara as a teenager- and when he came to revisit it recently twenty years later, he amazingly recalled a lot of it, and it still felt wholly impactful. He talks about the real drama in the film, and how we get to see the beauty of each character. We find out this was Bogart’s first non-Warner Brothers film since 1937, and became key when he set up his own production company. He talks about each of the characters and more- so again well worth a play.
On the archive side, we have the following: Building a Tank (19.39) a 1942 short on the work of the Detroit Tank Arsenal, and the manufacture and testing of the M3 Lee tank which prominently features in Sahara. The Siege of Tobruk (17.42) a 1942 short produced by the UK’s Army Film Unit detailing the World War II military campaign in the North African port of Tobruk during 1941, which preceded the events portrayed in Sahara. Original theatrical trailer, and Image gallery: promotional and publicity material.
The finished release comes with a forty-page booklet with a new essay by Imogen Sara Smith, an archival on-set profile of Humphrey Bogart, an archival interview with actor Kurt Kreuger, a look at how the film’s promotion assisted the war effort, new writing on the short films, and film credits.
Sahara is both an excellent war film and a great Bogart picture. This new release from Powerhouse features a lovely scan, and a good selection of extras too. Here’s hoping for some more Bogart releases from the company down the line.