A riveting survival film in which Stewart and his cohorts give power-packed performances as a downed pilot and passengers awaiting death in the Sahara desert.
At first pilot Frank Towns (Stewart) assumes the blame for the crash landing, although it's clearly the fault of alcoholic navigator Lew Moran (Attenborough). For a while, the men await rescue in the broiling sun, conserving their water. British officer Capt. Harris (Finch), however, decides to
seek help from a passing caravan, but he gets more than he bargains for from the hostile Arabs. All seems hopeless until Heinrich Dorfmann (Kruger) announces that he can design a working single-engined plane from the wreck.
The crux of this gripping drama ultimately becomes the antagonism between pilot Towns and scientist Dorfmann, and Stewart and Kruger handle their encounters superbly--particularly in the scene where Towns learns that Dorfmann is a designer of model airplanes. Finch is convincing as the stoic
British officer, and Borgnine, Marquand, and Duryea give fine performances as stranded men. Aldrich's direction is sharp and well paced, and Heller's screenplay absorbing and authentic. leave a comment
