Film Review
Ice Cold in Alex stands head
and shoulders above most British war films and even gives comparable
Hollywood blockbuster productions a good run for their
money. More a psychological drama than a conventional
action-oriented war film, it shows how four disparate individuals
manage to cohere into an effective team, and thereby survive the series
of seemingly insurmountable challenges they encounter as they cross the
deserts of North Africa in WWII. As individuals they will surely
die; as a group, they may survive, but only if they can overcome their
fears and prejudices. Director J. Lee Thompson embellishes
Christopher Landon's novel of the same title with some nerve-wracking
set-pieces, one of which (the nocturnal bog rescue) is filched
wholesale from H.G. Clouzot's
Le Salaire de la peur (1953).
Virtually all of the action revolves around the four main protagonists,
something that gives the film an incredibly tight focus and helps to
make it one of the most compelling films of its genre. John Mills
lives up to his reputation as one of Britain's finest screen actors
with his portrayal of a distinctly worse-for-wear officer who ends up
fighting on two fronts. Not only must his character overcome the
plethora of crises that befall his group as they try to cross the
desert (in a clapped out army ambulance), but also his own inner
demons, not least of which is a slight touch of dipsomania. This
was something of a groundbreaking role for Mills, who had hitherto been
cast as the epitome of British
sang
froid in the face of adversity in numerous war films.
Mills' portrayal of a man struggling to hold it together is matched by
an equally gripping performance from Anthony Quayle, who manages to
exude heroism and subtle menace in pretty well every shot.
Sylvia Syms and Harry Andrews complete the fab foursome admirably with
their equally convincing depiction of stoicism and resilience, whilst bringing
a touch of glamour and humour to the
proceedings.
One of Britain's most versatile filmmakers, J. Lee Thompson won
recognition early in his career with his social realist dramas but it
was
Ice Cold in Alex (winner
of the FIPRESCI Prize at the 1958 Berlin Film Festival) that established his
international reputation and led him to being invited to direct the
epic war film
The Guns of Navarone
(1961). Thompson's keen visual sense and flair for
suspenseful drama are very much in evidence in
Ice Cold in Alex, most notably in
the meticulously executed action sequences, which are staged, shot and
edited in a way that builds the tension to an almost unbearable
pitch. Yet this is much more than just an action film.
Thompson also allows plenty of space for the characters to breathe and
establish themselves as real people, reacting in different ways to the
obstacles that come their way.
Ice Cold
in Alex is survival drama at its most nail-biting and absorbing,
yet the film is also a resounding celebration of Britishness, evoking
the virtues that defined Britain during WWII
(decency, courage and bloody-minded resolve) more unashamedly than
perhaps any other war film. No wonder Hitler and his lot
lost the war, when they had plucky little things like John Mills and
Sylvia Syms to put them in their place.
© James Travers 2010
The above content is owned by frenchfilms.org and must not be copied.
Film Synopsis
Tobruk, 1942. With German forces encroaching further into North
Africa, a battle-weary English officer, Captain Anson, is ordered to
escort two nurses, Diana Murdoch and Denise Norton, to the British
lines in Alexandria. Accompanied by Sergeant Major Tom Pugh,
Anson and the nurses manage to leave the town in an old army ambulance
just before it comes under attack from German troops. A
short while later, they meet a South African soldier named Van der Poel
who persuades Anson to give him a lift in exchange for a few swigs of
gin. No sooner has the group navigated its way through a
minefield than it is spotted by a convoy of German tanks. Anson
panics and tries to make a break for it, but the German soldiers open
fire, fatally wounding Denise. Thinking that the nurse is
merely injured, the Germans allow the ambulance to continue on its
way. With their supplies of water and petrol running low, the
group ends up having to make a hazardous crossing through a region of
marshland. It is at this point that the resources of the group
are tested to the limit and Pugh's suspicions about Van der Poel are
confirmed...
© James Travers
The above content is owned by frenchfilms.org and must not be copied.