Tobruk (Special Edition) [Blu-ray]

A classic WWII Action that's been one of my favorites. I hadn't seen this in years and am glad to see it available on DVD.In North Africa things appeared grim for British forces. Erwin Rommel was winning the war with fewer resources and men. The British were doing their best bombing and sinking supply ships heading for Toburk where the Germans needed food, water, ammunition, and most of all....fuel. The British came up with a daring plan to send a group of commandos behind enemy lines to blow up vital fuel depots which means Rommel wouldn't be able to continue his drive to take Cairo and the Suez Canal.Rock Hudson stars as Major Craig, a Long Range Desert Group officer who came up with the plan of blowing up the fuel depots behind enemy lines with a handful of men. Nigel Green stars as Colonel Harker, the officer in charge. It was his plan to travel behind enemy lines disguised as prisoners, who then will attack the German forces to try and blow up the depots. George Peppard stars as Captain Bergman, A German-Jew working in the Special Interrogation Group who disguised themselves as German soldiers while in reality working for the British.This is based on a true incident that nearly changed the course of the war. You will watch the characters travel across diverse terrain as they attempt to infiltrate German lines and accomplish their mission. It's an exciting tale that will leave you glued to the screen.

Overall, the cast and presentation is fine - the production money well-spent - everyone doing their job and doing it well. However - and I should mention, both before and after 'Tobruk', Arthur Hiller has delivered some of my top-100 movies - comedy, drama 'whatever' -Now, back to 'Tobruk' - The close-ups are crisp, the action is as expected, the explosions 'work' as they should, and the actors do their part, BUT --- in so many scenes, beyond twenty or thirty feet, images appear slightly 'softened' - not actually blurred, but softened just enough to be an irritant.

I've always liked this film, a fictional raid on Rommel with Rock Hudson as an American oil geologist guiding the British Long Range Commando unit into Tobruk to blow up its supplies. The script is by actor Leo V. Gordon, who, after serving a term at Folsom Prison, was cast in a movie about that prison. Here he is in one of his rare good-guy roles. George Peppard leads a platoon of Jewish soldiers who had escaped Germany. There is a Nazi informer in this group. Great action scenes which were also used in the Richard Burton version of a similar movie. I would normally give this a 5 star rating, but the version I bought only allowed 5 plays which I was not aware of. Avoid this particular DVD version

Tobruk is one of my favorite WWII films of the 1960s and I've always wondered why it had not been released on DVD. I assumed it was a copyright problem or something. Well anyway this terrific action film is finally here. I remember seeing this film on a large screen on Broadway in New York City. Months later, it got to my local theater in Brooklyn and I saw it again (on a double-feature with 007 in "You Only Live Twice," no less.)Tobruk concerns a British army group assigned the job of getting through the desert to destroy Rommel's fuel reserves at Tobruk. To do this they pose as prisoners of war and are escorted by a special force of German Jews. The British Major doesn't trust the Jews and vice versa. Into the mix is a Canadian Major who had previously done work for oil companies in the area and is an expert concerning the desert. He is forcibly shanghaied into the operation and is not too thrilled to be there. He is played by Rock Hudson who was on a roll with this film and the great "Ice Station Zebra" the following year, 1968. The Jewish Captain in charge was played by George Peppard, then one of my favorites from" How The West Was Won". My favorite scene in the film is when Peppard tells Hudson that after the war, the Jews will have their own country, Israel, and "if someone comes looking for trouble, they'll know where to find us." Peppard is great in this film. The British Colonel is charge is played by Nigel Green (who four years earlier played Hercules in Harryhausen's "Jason and the Argonauts.")The tremendously exciting ending has the Brits attempting to destroy two large guns facing the fleet that is being sent to pick them up and Hudson hijacking a German tank to blow up the oil reserves that they were sent to destroy. The scenes with the guns were compared to "The Guns of Navarone" at the time. The scenes of Hudson pumping explosive shell after shell into the oil tanks and the resulting fires and explosions were spectacular on the big screen. Those scenes got the film an Oscar nomination for Best Special Effects. The film was written by rough, tough character actor Leo Gordon, who plays Sergeant Krug in this film. The film was produced by Gene Corman, Roger's brother.As stated previously, I have waited years for this to be released on DVD (although blu-ray would have been nicer.) With the release of this film and the release of the 1965 "Stagecoach" earlier in the year my list is slowly starting to shrink. Now how about "55 Days at Peking" next?

Late 1960's war movie with some super explosions and set pieces. Well shot, and directed and featuring a cast of US stars and good British support actors - on location shoots which added to the grande feel, which, at the time of its cinematic release - would have been spectacular. (Sequences were pinched by movies/TV movies produced afterwards to bulk out their meagre budgeted efforts). A few twists, some decent stunts - a script which allows an element of depth to the story (with some stereo typical characters) can't hide that it is a sanitised war movie....but at that time audiences were not yet ready for the realism we now have (with the likes of Saving Private Ryan and Hacksaw Ridge). It is all very 'Let 'em have it' with gritted teeth, heroic stands and valiant sacrifices.....pretty bloodless and no bad language......historically inaccurate and lacking in authenticity.......but its also 'Commando War Stories for Boys' come to life and its great to see again! (If you're under 40 you won't get that reference - and will probably be too PC to watch this anyway).

This film opens with an attempt to put the action in its historical context. Set during the North Africa campaign of WW2, it is ostensibly about disrupting Rommel's supply lines, which were already overextended, to prevent the Germans defeating the British in Egypt. Thereafter it's all about a group of men on their mission to destroy a German fuel dump in Tobruk. Rock Hudson is the slightly insubordinate Canadian Major who knows the ground and the locals, Nigel Green is the upper-class British Colonel who puts his devotion to the mission first at all costs, and George Peppard is a German Jew fighting for the British. None of the three really trusts or likes each other, with Hudson's and Green's characters verging on the anti-Semitic towards Peppard's. This gives the film its edge, and without it, it'd be pretty much a standard Desert War cliché of mine-fields, strafing fighters and avoiding enemy patrols. There's a bit of cloak and dagger with spies and traitors, and a fairly effective Big Fight at the end. All in all a good solid WW2 film with pretty good performances all round (even if I'm not entirely convinced by Peppard's German accent!)

The more interesting version of the 2 story shot around Tobruk Well cast and Techniscope shot cinematography effective 110 - screenplay and good taking into account Raid on Rommel 71 used a lot of the combat action sequence V good special effects also.

Classic film, good transfer to bluray.

This film was in a foreign language only English subtitles

No luck with my copy. It got the introductory titles out of the way and then there was just a blank screen..... Disappointed.

Ww2 and the allies have released a British officer from Vichy africa the unit is a mix of British soldiers and Jewish soldiers the idea is to get into tobruk and destroy. The oil depot ,very good film you don't get many with British soldiers in it.Picture quality. Very goof

Brought this for bf and he loves this film

Good quality

Very Good War film, No problems with the DiscNow I got both Blu Ray and DVD Disc's

I am very happy with this item.

Never saw this movie untill I ordered the Blu Ray release.Had no problems with this - picture and sound are fine - can't see this getting any better.

bought for my father-in-law, that's where he was stationed after the war

A very good film and I was pleased to find it on DVD so much better than the TV where you get adverts and they drive me mad. A good story and a good cast.

Tobruk is an old classic on blu-ray and should be in everyone's collection