Review of Desert Fox, The / The Desert Rats

Introduction

The Desert Fox (1951)
James Mason plays Nazi Field Marshall Rommel who gained notoriety for his successful North African campaigns. This big-budget action movie portrays not only his victories and ultimate defeat, but also his personal doubts and conflicts with his superiors back in Berlin.

The Desert Rats (1953)
This sequel is a sweeping evocation of the North Africa campaign during World War II. British commando Captain Tammy MacRoberts (Richard Burton) takes charge of a hopelessly outnumbered but stubbornly defiant 9th Australian division at Tobruk in 1941 in their heroic stand against Field Marshal Erwin Rommel (James Mason) and his Afrika Corps. Their new leader wastes no time in alienating his men by implying they are inferior, but the Australians prove themselves both plucky and amusing. Among the garrison is Tom Bartlett (Robert Newman), MacRoberts`s old English teacher at college who is a lowly volunteer and a raging alcoholic. When MacRoberts leads a commando raid behind enemy lines and is captured, he is taken to a German field hospital tent where he meets the infamous Rommel.

Video

The video for both movies is presented in the original theatrical ratio of 1.33:1 full-frame and given that both are a good 50 years old, is pretty good for the most part with limited grain and a relatively crisp image. There is some evidence of dirt on the print, but that is only to be expected for movies of this vintage.

I say for the most part, because some of the action sequences, notably the aerial bombardment sequence in the first movie suffer from noticeably poorer visual quality, with a great deal of dirt and very prominent grain.

Both movies are very well made, and the production stands up well 50 years down the line, with the movie making good use of location (combined with some obvious studio shots however) and a good sense of scale.

Audio

The soundtrack for both movies is presented in Dolby Digital Mono in English, and delivers crisp and understandable dialogue throughout.

Each film has plenty of action sound effects - gunfire, explosions, aircraft etc, all of which sound quite good despite the age and sound format.

Features

As is increasingly becoming the case with back catalogue movies from all studios, the only extra is the trailer - in this case a missed opportunity for some documentary footage of the real campaign.

The menus are static and functional.

Conclusion

Both of these films are considered to be amongst the classic World War II movies and when you watch them 50 years after they were made, it is easy to see why. Each film is very watchable, interesting and entertaining, helped by superb casts and performances, good action and excellent production values.

Technically the discs are excellent given the age of the movies, with good overall picture and sound quality. The lack of extras is disappointing, but with both movies available for the price of one, the package represents excellent value for money.

Recommended for fans of classic war movies.