Lack of good storyline.

Blending excellent reporting and strong storytelling, this is a disturbing film truly stranger than fiction

The movie turns out to be a little better than the average. Starting from a romantic formula often seen in the cinema, it ends in the most predictable (and somewhat bland) way.

Great movie. Not sure what people expected but I found it highly entertaining.

There are a couple of problems right from the start with "Desert Commandos". The first problem is that the central figures are Germans soldiers in the middle of World War II, so it's hard to get involved and root for these guys. The second is that the particular mission they are assigned obviously would not succeed if you know your history. We are essentially watching a failure in action - and not a noble failure.I'll give the movie this: it looks pretty good. The production values are pretty solid, from the costumes to the various war machines, and the movie shoots on some eye-catching desert locations. However, while the movie looks good, it doesn't move very well. There is surprisingly very little action to be found here (the first real action scene does not come until 40% of the movie is over!) What really hurts the movie, however, is a severe lack of tension. The movie feels soft and without bite for the most part.There have been worse World War II movies - I've seen some of them. But there's little here to make it worth investing ninety minutes of your time.

This is an interesting plot, done only a few times, in which we follow the Axis invaders behind Allied lines ("The 49th Parallel", "Das Boot" are probably the two definitive classics of this sort).5 German commandos go on a far fetched plot to assassinate the Allied supreme leaders. To its credit, the officer in charge admits it is half cocked, and only agrees to allow the 5 to go because it doesn't interfere with any other plans. Realistic? Probably not, but probably more realistic than people today realize.Ken Clark, who is famous for the super cheese scene of being the blonde muscle man embracing the scantily clad blonde in one hand and packing a pistol in the other in "Attack of the Giant Leeches", goes to portraying a very believable bad guy. This was very typical of the evil Nazi. His cruelty and savagery come across in a convincing way in mixing with a civilized world. Very similar to the evil leader in "The 49th Parallel" in being a three dimensional and credible bad guy.The second in command is also believable, and quite credible for the time, as a German officer who is not a Nazi. The film serves much as a vehicle for this character to develop. In fact, even the other 3 Germans develop some character in their limited lines. While serving as an action desert film, it also gives some good characters. We probably would've liked to see more of them.And just about everything that happens, plot twists and characters who die, go totally against the grain for the late 1960s and early 1970s. We know, of course, the mission will fail, but we are surprised to see how some of this comes about.This may classify as just short of a hidden gem.

Don't go in with high expectations with this low budget Italian French WW2 actioner. I didn't and therefore was not disappointed. I got it part of the Mill Creek 50 Combat Classics which also had on it the Lee Van Cleef movie Commandos, and both are similar that besides being Italian WW2 Africa campaign movies, they both kind of disappoint. Both movies take us on a long long long road that is entirely too long to get to its final; destination. The ending for this one reminded me of an ethnic joke about a circular firing squad. It had some good promise and I wasn't expecting much but hoped it would be decent, I was wrong. Check out The Eagle Has Landed for a similar plot with some decent acting and budget, or if your looking for desert commando stuff, try Play Dirty or Tobruk, neither is perfect but both are a lot more exciting then this stuff and the print quality is bound to be much better to watch then this public domain throw away. I am being generous giving this a 5 but if your an Italian made war film fan that's about what it rates in my book. Less if your just a war film fan.

Splendid plot idea, but a little more work on it might have made the difference: some scenes are just too simplistic; when they enter the house of the French officer's mistress, it doesn't ring "true". The desert scenes are nice but a little more camera and light work might have made them beautiful. WW II movie directors who use modern hardware are killing me: for obvious financial reasons, he probably rented the equipment on the site from the Moroccan army: the aircraft, a Max Holste Broussard, was designed in the fifties; there wasn't a single WWII vintage tank: they were either Creusot-Loire AMX-13 or Panhard armored vehicles, designed in the fifties. It's a pity.