Sahara | |
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![]() Theatrical release poster | |
Directed by | Zoltán Korda |
Written by | James O'Hanlon (adaptation) |
Screenplay by | John Howard Lawson Zoltan Korda |
Story by | Philip MacDonald (as Philip Macdonald) |
Based on | The Thirteen 1936 Soviet film by Mikhail Romm |
Produced by | Harry Joe Brown |
Starring | Humphrey Bogart Bruce Bennett J. Carrol Naish Lloyd Bridges |
Cinematography | Rudolph Maté |
Edited by | Charles Nelson |
Music by | Miklós Rózsa |
Color process | Black and white |
Production company | Columbia Pictures |
Distributed by | Columbia Pictures |
Release date |
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Running time | 98 minutes |
Country | United States |
Language | English |
Box office | $2.3 million[1][2] |
Sahara is a 1943 American action war film directed by Zoltán Korda and starring Humphrey Bogart as an American tank commander in Libya who, along with a handful of Allied soldiers, tries to defend an isolated well with a limited supply of water from a German Afrika Korps battalion during the Western Desert Campaign of World War II.
The story is based on the novel Patrol by Philip MacDonald,[3] and an incident depicted in the 1936 Soviet film The Thirteen by Mikhail Romm. The adaptation is by John Howard Lawson, who later was a member of the blacklisted Hollywood Ten. Sahara was remade by André de Toth as a Western called Last of the Comanches (1953), and four decades later by Brian Trenchard-Smith as the American-Australian television film Sahara (1995).[4] Nine Men, released by Ealing Studios on 22 February 1943, has a similar basic plot line.
Critics praised the film for its blend of action, suspense and poignancy. J. Carrol Naish earned an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actor, Rudolph Maté was nominated for Best Cinematography (Black-and-White), and John Livadary was nominated for Best Sound.[5]