Ice Cold In Alex

Introduction

Ice Cold In Alex was a 1958 film based on a British novel of the same name by Christopher Landon, based on his experiences during the war. A long-time classic war film, Ice Cold In Alex is frequently shown on TV and has had a few releases on DVD and in the last year was part of a newspaper series of free war films on DVD. And now Studio Canal have decided to remaster it and release it on BD...

It's 1941, North Africa and Rommel's Afrika Korps launch an offensive against the Allied held town of Tobruk in Libya. Under massive bombardment and soon thought to be placed under siege by the advancing Germans, an evacuation is ordered. A battle weary transport pool officer, Captain Anson (John Mills), and his Sgt Major, Tom Pugh (Harry Andrews), commandeer a battered old ambulance called Kathy in an attempt to cross the desert and reach the safety of the British lines and the city of Alexandria, or Alex. Also passengers at this point are two nurses, Sisters Diana Murdoch (Sylvia Syms) and Denise Norton (Diane Claire), left behind in Tobruk when their evacuating ship leaves without them.

The party soon encounter a South African officer wandering about in the desert, Captain Van Der Poel (Anthony Quayle), who persuades Anson to let him come along after showing him two large bottles of gin that he happens to be carrying. Norton is fatally injured after a close encounter with some Germans, Van Der Poel's fluent language skills persuading the Afrika Korps advance unit to let the ambulance on its way.

The party, now reduced to four, come across a series of obstacles that threaten to curtail their progress through the desert. First there's a minefield that must be negotiated, a broken suspension spring, some quick sand and a rather steep sand bank. Van Der Poel is arousing suspicion as well, not only with his fluent German but also his rather efficent ablutions - wandering into the desert with a shovel at exactly the same time each day and always with his pack that is never out of his sight. And, of course, he doesn't know how to brew up properly...

Regardless, the other three decide to treat him as if nothing is out of the ordinary and all four are sustained through their hardships with the thought that tall, frothy, ice cold glasses of the best beer in the Middle East will be waiting for them in Alex - bought for them by Captain Anson.

Picture

The majority of the picture is quite superb, the only badly scratched frames I could see were at the very beginning using the stock film shots of the conflict this film was set in. There are the odd soft focussed shots but in the main the detail is pretty good, if not quite as sharp as would be preferable.

Audio

Mono soundtrack with good subtitling. The soundtrack by Leighton Lucas is suitably stirring, especially during some of the long framed shots in the Libyan desert.

Extras

Trailer - even the trailer appears to have been remastered. Good effort.

Sylvia Syms interview - rather endearing and funny up-to-date interview with the veteran actress, who makes it clear that whilst she enjoyed making the film, she didn't really have a choice as a contract artist with the studio at the time. Not only that, but the shoot in the Libyan desert was horrendous. They were going to Egypt initially but a little thing called The Suez Crisis put paid to that...

John Mills Home Movie's - Apparently John Mills took a 16mm colour camera with him whenever he went out on location and here you get to see silent footage shot during the location shoot for Ice Cold In Alex.

Photo Gallery - series of B&W still shots from the filming

Overall

Although it's set during the war and said war intrudes a couple of times, this isn't really a war film in the traditional sense. It's more a desert road movie and a tale of determination, courage and ingenuity in one of the most unforgiving environments in the world, the result being the enduring friendships that are forged under such extraordinary circumstances, Said friendships even overcoming blatantly obvious suspicions as to the identity of one of those amongst them.

The main quartet of actors are superb. John Mills is really on form as the battle fatigued officer who is clearly struggling with battle shock and alcoholism. Harry Andrews is a rock as the loyal Sgt Major, whilst Anthony Quayle does a superb job of playing a character with two personalities. Sylvia Syms looks rather lovely but also shows her mettle in being thrown into circumstances where lesser characters would have broken down. And as Syms herself explains in the included interview, she didn't really have a choice. As far as she was concerned they weren't acting most of the time, they were just 'getting on with it' - she also tells a great story about the lack of health and safety when she is left in front of the ambulance by herself near the end of the film.

This really is a superb film and the final scene in the bar in Alex is probably one of the most memorable in film history. Oddly enough, yet again Sylvia Syms gives a bit more information on this scene that places it a bit more in context. After the beer is poured the other three characters are all looking rather expectantly at Mills, you think story-wise that this is because it was his promise and therefore deserves that first beer. Apparently though, only Mills could down a pint in one and once you know that you get the feeling that they want to see Mills pull off this feat and the applause is genuinely for downing it in one rather than any part of the script. Of course, they used real beer and several shots, so Mills legs went from beneath him once he got off that stool.

Ice Cold In Alex is part of a series of BD releases from Studio Canal, the studio preserving and restoring old classic titles at a new state of the art cold storage facility at Pinewood Studios. It's about time some of the older films get a good release on this latest format...