Sahara (1943 American film)

Sahara
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Zoltán Korda
Written by	James O'Hanlon (adaptation)
Screenplay by	John Howard Lawson Zoltan Korda
Story by	Philip MacDonald (as Philip Macdonald)
Based on	The Thirteen 1936 Soviet film by Mikhail Romm
Produced by	Harry Joe Brown
Starring	Humphrey Bogart Bruce Bennett J. Carrol Naish Lloyd Bridges
Cinematography	Rudolph Maté
Edited by	Charles Nelson
Music by	Miklós Rózsa
Color process	Black and white
Production company	Columbia Pictures
Distributed by	Columbia Pictures
Release date	November 11, 1943 (1943-11-11)
Running time	98 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Box office	$2.3 million[1][2]

Sahara is a 1943 American action war film directed by Zoltán Korda and starring Humphrey Bogart as an American tank commander in Libya who, along with a handful of Allied soldiers, tries to defend an isolated well with a limited supply of water from a German Afrika Korps battalion during the Western Desert Campaign of World War II.

The story is based on the novel Patrol by Philip MacDonald,^[3] and an incident depicted in the 1936 Soviet film The Thirteen by Mikhail Romm. The adaptation is by John Howard Lawson, who later was a member of the blacklisted Hollywood Ten. Sahara was remade by André de Toth as a Western called Last of the Comanches (1953), and four decades later by Brian Trenchard-Smith as the American-Australian television film Sahara (1995).^[4] Nine Men, released by Ealing Studios on 22 February 1943, has a similar basic plot line.

Critics praised the film for its blend of action, suspense and poignancy. J. Carrol Naish earned an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actor, Rudolph Maté was nominated for Best Cinematography (Black-and-White), and John Livadary was nominated for Best Sound.^[5]