Ice Cold in Alex Review
Probably familiar to many for the Carlsberg advert that it spawned, even if they have not seen the film itself, this World War II thriller was originally released in the UK in 1958 following its success as the International Critics Award winner at the Berlin Film Festival that year. The film did not have an easy journey across the Atlantic though and was not released in the US until 1961, by which point it had been retitled Desert Attack and lost over forty minutes of its two hour running time.
The film centres on Captain Anson (John Mills) and Tom Pugh (Harry Andrews), who are tasked with transporting an army ambulance and two nurses across the unforgiving Libyan desert to their final destination, Alexandria. Mills turns in a wonderful performance as the battle scarred Captain Anson and his arc as a character adds an extra level of depth to the relatively straightforward A-Z plotting.
Although the plotting may be straightforward that is not to say it is too simple. Novelist and screenwriterChristopher Landon and director J. Lee Thompson do a wonderful job of piling on the difficulties that face the group crossing the desert and the introduction of the suspicious South African officer, Captain van der Poel (Anthony Quayle) and a romantic side story between Anson and nurse Diana (Sylvia Syms) ensure that the film ploughs forwards satisfyingly and remains always compelling.
J. Lee Thompson’s direction is assured and one feels very much with the group as the make their way across the desert. Thompson went on to move to Hollywood following Ice Cold in Alex and had solid hits with Guns of Navarone in 1961 (he was brought in to replace Alexander Mackendrick) and Cape Fear in 1962 but his career seemed to dive head-first into quicksand and his later films, including two Planet of the Apes sequels and far too many Chuck Norris and Charles Bronson films, never really lived up to such classics as Ice Cold in Alex.
A slightly different version of this review was originally posted at HeyUGuys.