FINALLY – Ice Cold in Alex (1959)

                    “Ice Cold in Alex” appears on some lists of the best war movies of all time.  I have been wanting to see it for years as part of my project to come up with my 100 Best War Movies.  Although seen often on British TV, it is not well-known in America.  Possibly because it got off to a rough start in the States as it was cut to only 79 minutes and shown under the ridiculous title “Desert Command”.  It was a big hit in Great Britain and was nominated for BAFTA’s for Best Film (losing to “Ben Hur”), Best British Film (losing to “Room at the Top”), Best Supporting Actor (Anthony Quayle), and Best British Screenplay.  The screenplay was based on a novel by Christopher Landon.  It was directed by J. Lee Thompson (Guns of Navarone), mostly in Libya.  It was a difficult shoot for the actors with the desert playing the role intended for it in the screenplay.  The copious sweating is real.  There was also a fly problem which was solved by dousing the cast with DDT.  The title comes from the desire of Capt. Anson (John Mills) to have a cold lager when they reach Alexandria.  That scene took fourteen takes and Mills was drunk by the end.  The scene was used forty years later in a Carlsberg lager commercial.  The actors made more from the commercial than from the film.

                    The movie opens up with narration outlining the situation in North Africa between the British 8^th Army and Rommel’s Afrika Korps.  “The Desert Rats” is a good companion movie.  Places like Tobruk “paid for their brief fame in piles of rubble and smoking ruins as the grim struggle surged to and fro…. This is one of two million stories -  it happens to be true.”  With Tobruk about to be besieged, Capt. Anson is ordered to evacuate most of his RASC Motor Ambulance Company.  He will take an ambulance (called a Katy) and is joined by Sergeant Major Pugh (Harry Andrews) and two nurses.  Denise is panicky and Diana (Sylvia Syms) is made of sterner stuff.   They pick up a South African solder named van der Poel (Quayle) who is charming, but suspicious.  Their trek to Alexandria and that cold brew will become an odyssey.  It’s them versus the desert.  The plot is a series of obstacles that they have to overcome.  These include two encounters with Germans, a trip through a minefield, a muddy quicksand scene, and the crossing of a depression.  Along the way, personalities are fleshed out and a mystery is solved.

                    There aren’t too many WWII movies giving credit to the ambulance corps, so “Ice Cold in Alex” is pretty unique.  However, it is not really about the ambulance corps, although a Katy plays a leading role.  It is more about a quartet who takes on the desert.  It fits firmly in the lost patrol subgenre, but avoids most of the well-worn clichés.  It manages to stay fresh by putting the lost group in some unique situations like the encounters with the Germans and the quicksand scene.  There are several edge of the seat moments enhanced by the “who will survive?” vibe you have in movies like this.  The main draw is the interaction between a fine ensemble.  While Syms is in over her head (her nicely coiffed head), the male leads are outstanding.  Mills is great as the burnt-out, alcoholic Anson.  He drinks six times in the first fifteen minutes.  Andrews is perfect as his level-headed exec.  But it’s Quayle who steals the show as the jolly giant Poel.  He has great fun with the role as Poel may be a spy, but he is still a valuable member of the quartet.

                    A strength of the film is its unpredictability.  It has the requisite romance for poster purposes, but the relationship between Anson and Diana is refreshingly mature.  The ending is satisfying (like the lager) and is partly responsible for the fondness the movie engenders in Brits.  As far as it being a true story, that certainly is artistic license as in reality they would not have survived the journey depicted in the movie.

                    The movie was worth the wait.  I had purposely avoided reading a lot about it and was unaware of even the basics of the plot.  I was surprised how different it was from most of the movies set in the North African campaign.  When you have seen as many war movies as I have, different is always welcome.  The unusual aspects of the plot and characters set it a cut above, but are not enough to propel it to greatness.  I would not place it among the 100 best war movies.  However, it is a must-see and justifiably well-loved.

GRADE  =  B