Sea of Sand [1958] [DVD]

An advisor is sent to North Africa to advise the long range desert group the (force that would become part of the newly created SAS )whose advise is not wanted

Another great insight into how the Long Range Desert group fought to win the war in North Africa during WW2.

Quite convincing story of and LRDG raid , good selection of actors/characters, recommended.

I am a huge fan of Ealing and Rank era war movies. Sea of Sand is one of my favorites. In essence it is a naval war movie (in the vein of The Cruel Sea) set in the desert (Sea of Sand). it is also one of the few (and the best) films based on the Long Range Desert Group. The film follows the mission of a LRDG team attacking an Afrika Korp fuel dump. Along the way they encounter a German armoured car, reconnaissance plane, sand storm and the relentless tracking by a Afrika Korp patrol (George Mikel appears as the German in an early role which he would later repeat in the Great Escape and Guns of Navarone). Sea of Sand was highly influential on later films. One can't fail to notice the similarity between the roles played by Richard Attenbourgh and his character in the later Flight of the Phoenix. Another point about this film: the 60s era Dell comic "Combat" featured an issue on the LRDG drawn by the great Sam Glanzman which was obviously influenced by this film. Suffice it to say i watch this movie (purchased through Amazon UK) at least once a year (and usually 2 times during the winter over here in snowey New Hampshire, USA).

Sea of sand 50s war movie very good plenty of action.

A very good film

The excellent film with equally excellent performances was originally shot in 1.85:1 aspect ratio and has been shown this way on Channel 4 and Film 4. But the DDHE DVD image is zoomed in to eliminate the black bars at the top and bottom and unfortunately, whoever the idiot was who did the transfer has zoomed in a bit too much, so that a lot of the image top, bottom and sides is missing, which means a lot of scenes where the top of the actors heads are cut off. All in all, the framing of the image looks very "tight" and you'd be better off with a recording of the Channel 4 / Film 4 version. My guess is that DDHE used an old transfer for this DVD dating back to pre-wide screen television days, when all wide screen films had to be zoomed in to elimate the black bars or be panned and scanned as a matter of course. In other words, a remastered version is needed for a DVD release far better than this one. I have given the film itself five stars...the transfer merits only one star.

This is not a famous film but probably deserves to be. It is up there with The Cruel Sea and the Dambusters for its almost documentary realism. It tells the story of a fairly typical raid by the Long Range Desert Group across the Libyan 'sea of sand' to destroy parked aircraft and/or fuel dumps behind Rommel's lines. What makes it so good is the realistic detail of the plot including routine (brew ups,navigation etc) as well as the fire fights and explosions. It also celebrates without sentimentality that special operations are all about the quality of the teamwork and the film's fantastic cast (Richard Attenborough, John Gregson, Andrew Faulds and Ray MacAnally amongst them) show how a disparate team of rogues,rookies,tough sergeants and staff college trained officers must pull together if the mission is not to be a disaster.