Simply Perfect

Excellent but underrated film

It's entirely possible that sending the audience out feeling lousy was intentional

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

An interesting comment by several reviewers - e.g. kitsilanoca-1 - is that the cast were not prima donnas. When Sir John Mills died his co-star in this film Sylvia Sims said that the whole cast was UNcomplaining about conditions. They had all just been through the war. Anthony Quayle for instance had been in the Special Operations Executive, the forerunner to the SAS, in Albania organising resistance. They were prepared to accept discomfort and even hardship in exactly the same way as any member of the crew. An attitude that was with them the whole of their lives. It may be this that makes the film so real and gritty.

I read a review that made me join IMDb and post "this" review. My brother and I absolutely LOVE this movie. We have "Movie" nights at home in Sydney, Australia. Some of the classics like "Ice Cold In Alex" aka "Desert Attack". We also love old war movies like "The Long and The Short And The Tall", "The Hill", "Yesterdays Enemy"..just to name a few. You should see My brother and I watching the part of "Ice Cold In Alex" where Captain Van Der Pol is in desperate trouble...man we are on the edge of our seats...every time we watch it! And the end where they cheers, in the Canopus bar, My brother and I always put down our glasses at exactly the same time as Anson does....get a life I can hear you saying...man we love it. The atmosphere is brilliant, the acting superb and the story line well it's one of the best. I've personally watched Ice Cold In Alex about 30 times and I'll never stop watching it. Do yourself a favor check this one out....you can't go wrong. Enjoy!! Terry

Ice Cold In Alex could never have been made during World War II at the time of the actual fighting. Though it benefits from location shooting in Libya where the action actually took place during the desert war.The time is after the second fall of Tobruk as the British are fleeing from the Libyan desert to regroup along the El Alamein line that General Auchinleck had staked out. John Mills is a captain with a drinking problem and he's in charge of a party of four driving an ambulance out which consists of RSM Harry Andrews and British nurses Sylvia Sims and Diane Clare. Along the way they pick up Anthony Quayle who is South African. He proves to be of invaluable assistance in getting through German lines twice and in other ways. But Quayle has a mission all his own.Coming in on the side of the Allies was a matter of considerable debate in the Union Of South Africa. Jan Christian Smuts carried the day for the Allies, but the opposition party which later imposed the apartheid policies were pro-Axis. They won the post war South African elections and held power until Nelson Mandela took over. The desert turns out to be the real enemy for this little band and they all pull together. One of the company does not make it to the end.In a way that Erwin Rommel would have liked, the Afrika Korps is not portrayed as inhuman monsters by any means. Interestingly enough in the same year Ice Cold In Alex came out, The Young Lions had a German officer machine-gunning helpless British stragglers just like this party is. Maximilian Schell was the Nazi who did the deed in that film and both of these films rank as among my favorite war films ever.The title refers to a cold beer that Mills is determined to have at a favorite bar of his in Alexandria. Ice Cold In Alex has some flawless performances by the entire cast, the desert travelers mesh very well as an ensemble group. The film ranks among the best work that all of the principal players ever did. And the filming in the actual location in Libya was able to blend some black and white newsreel footage in to the story without a seam showing.I saw this film when it first came out in theater in 1958. I was impressed with it then and even more so now.

This is another one of those films I remember watching at a young age on TV on a wet Sunday afternoon. There are only certain scenes I remember clearly, but having re-watched it today I realised for the first time just what a tremendous film it is. It's not your traditional war film, there is very little fighting but that doesn't matter, it's more about the characters and their battle for survival against the desert. But more of my thoughts later, here's a brief summary first (summary haters and those that don't wish to know anything about the plot please help crank that ambulance up the slope while I write the next paragraph).I guess I'd better give you a bit of background first. The film is set in North Africa in World War II, The British army are being pushed back along the coast of Libya towards Egypt by the Germans. Captain Anson, MSM Tom Pugh and two nurses, Sister Diana Murdoch and Sister Denise Norton are somehow left to find their own way to safety in an ambulance called 'Katy'. On the way they pick up a South African officer, Captain van der Poel, who at first seems OK, but later they become suspicious of. Amongst all this intrigue, Captain Anson comes to terms with his alcoholism and vows not to touch another drop until they get to Alexandria, where he will have an ice-cold lager, hence the title 'Ice-Cold in Alex'. There is so much more I would like to say about this one, but, in the interests of not giving spoilers away, I'll stop there.This is very much a character driven piece, and as such you are easily drawn into the story. For the most part the four main characters are totally captivating and you will be surprised how quickly the time passes… and it is quite a long film for its day. So, excellent performances from John Mills as Captain Anson, Sylvia Syms as Sister Diana Murdoch, Anthony Quayle as Captain van der Poel and Harry Andrews as MSM Tom Pugh.In some parts of the world I believe this film is known as 'Desert Attack', a pretty bad title I'm afraid. It conveys nothing of what the film is about and may have either misled or put some viewers off. It's not perfect, there are some technical issues and one moment that just didn't quite fit (for me). But at the end of the day, it's all about what they discover about Captain van der Poel and what they decide to do about it that makes this film so good. It's one of the best films I've seen that were made about World War II back in the days of black and white and so highly recommended.My score: 8.6/10