Mercury (Hobart, Tas. : 1860 - 1954), Saturday 10 April 1954, page 18


By "Reviewer"

A TTnmn ATTA

For seven months Australian and other allied troops defend-ed a dusty, war-battered village against the might of the crack Afrika Korps, led by Rommel the "Desert Fox."

Supplied spasmodically by ships which fought off the Nazi navy and air force on the "milk run" from Alexan-dria, the Rats of Tobruk won their world fame, just as the British cavalry did at Bala-clava in its immortal "Charge of the Light Brigade."

Their epic was a natural choice for a film, particulary in view of the reception given "Desert Fox," the life of Rom-mel and his troops.

; ^UÖIKAI.IAJN servicemen who helped hold Tobruk during the seven

' thafis a by!|ordy Germans and Italians set an example of courage

"The Desert Rats," while faithfully portraying the siege, does not claim to be historically

correct.

The authör of the script, ' Richard > Murphy, based his

story on what could have hap-pened in 1941, at Tobruk, to a section of the "Desert Rats."

Sticklers for detail might find a few incongruities, a few in-accuracies in dress and equip-ment, and a few lapses in what

purports to be real Australian phraseology, but, taking it all in all, it is the best film, yet made ol Australian troops, and à grand "tribute to the men who

held Tobruk.

Australian servicemen who have seen the film on the Mainland praise its authen-ticity, which is understand-

able when, it is realised many . ' of the scenes are ' straight [

"cuts" from official war docu-> mentarles.

iii one way the film is a "face-saver" for 20th Century Pox, whose previous desert film, "The Desert Fox," was the sub-ject of much bitter criticism in England and America.

James Mason's portrayal, of Rommel is more true to life than, that> he gave in the title role of "The Desert Pox/':.

The picture has a coherent and credible story, excellently staged battle scenes, and some good acting from Australians

Chips Rafferty and Charles j Tingwell, and Robert Newton, j Richard Burton, and James |

Mason.

One of the battle highlights of the film is the raid on the German ammunition dump, but this is almost equalled by a scene in which German tank's wheel into a trap.

To sum up, the film is inter-esting, at times gripping - asa

! very¡ well handled. J