Captivating movie !

It’s not bad or unwatchable but despite the amplitude of the spectacle, the end result is underwhelming.

It's funny, it's tense, it features two great performances from two actors and the director expertly creates a web of odd tension where you actually don't know what is happening for the majority of the run time.

All of these films share one commonality, that being a kind of emotional center that humanizes a cast of monsters.

At first the film appears a bit of a mystery. Produced in 1943 when films tended to be either escapist or patriotic flag-wavers, the rather clunky start is puzzling: basic training for army newbies who are apparently unexceptional. The newbies are a complete mixture of classes and educational levels with nothing in common - a very mouthy ignorant one, a clever quiet swat. Their sergeant-instructor too is unexceptional - not a bully or tyrant rather quietly business like but fairly approachable. None showing any promise.This lot - the nine - find themselves dealing with their lorry stuck in the Libyan desert sand, separated from the main force. A enemy plane strafes them, destroying the truck and seriously injuring two. The truck quickly explodes destroying water, ammunition and food, leaving the men with their weapons and minimal supplies. The now 7 with two wounded men manage to hole up in a small stone building. A force of Italian soldiers perhaps 5 times larger with an armoured car discovers them and proceeds to attack.I'm no expert nor even amateur but what they achieve I guess is possible but absolute text book - that the film is a demonstration of what a well led force could achieve against superior odds but a badly led enemy. Because it is presented as a story with memorable individuals, all the (many?) lesson contained are more easily remembered. I am guessing that a great deal of thought would have been given to the lessons the film needed to teach The differences portrayed between the two forces is not bravery vs cowardice, competence vs incompetence of the squaddies but leadership, The British squaddies, left to themselves are shown making believable mistakes which in such a hard pressed situation clearly would be fatal.It's a clever bit of film-making, teaching by example - good and bad - the viewer gets wrapped up in the fate of the 9 so pays intense attention to the story. A lot is about adopting correct - ie helpful to group survival - attitudes. Interesting are the "Orders for Today" hand-written by the sergeant, stuck on the wall inside the building. Simple clear goals so all understand and which will survive in the likely event that the sergeant is killed and no longer able to lead.The ending appears on the optimistic side but not beyond belief. It's a question of leadership with a degree of luck. I am guessing the film is a counsel of perfection but that was the point: for people to watch, learn.

Sergeant Jack Lambert (Sergeant Watson) recounts a personal story to his new recruits who are crying out for action at a British army training camp. His story concerns an occasion when he was isolated in the African desert in a unit of 9 men. They stumbled across a small derelict shelter during a sand storm and, from this location, they held off against Italian troops who came calling.Lambert is trying to instil a British mentality that gives a little bit extra and that is conveyed by the phrase "umpetty poo", which itself is a terribly unfunny reworking of the French "un petit peu". It sounds similar once it is pointed out to you but it really is quite desperate and unimaginative. Still, Lambert does prove himself in the imagination department as his story is clearly made up. Those 9 guys would be dead in reality.The Italians are portrayed as wine-loving cowards and we get to see them running away on a few occasions as our British troops whoop like girls pretending to be larger in number than 9. It's just too much for the Italians – "whoop" "whoop". The film is OK as it goes but there is something lacking.

At the beginning of this film there is a lot of detail in the acting that could be easily missed. The story is mainly told in flash back, and the tension is held though out the whole time. Many of the first time audience must have saw this film bearing in mind that people they know, husbands and sons were fighting - doing their bit for king and country. The photography is well done, the acting is a bit rough in places but some how the the whole thing hangs together. There is no women cast in the film simply because the subject matter. I wonder how many more gems like this are hiddening in the vaults waiting to be converted to DVD.

This suspenseful film only runs 68 minutes, but it is packed with enough events for two full length films. 9 British soldiers on a convoy through the desert find themselves stuck when the Italians blow up their truck. The convoy moves on without them. The Brits trek trough the sand until they find an ancient hovel. There they hold out while being sieged by the Italians. Low on ammunition and water, they make it seem as if they have 40 men inside their little fort with plenty of ammo. Like the similar Sahara, they have to use their wits to survive. This all British production is a little known gem with many rewards. Look for a young Gordon Jackson of "The Great Escape." A must see for all fans of WWII films. Rating: 7 out of 10.