A film with more than the usual spoiler issues. Talking about it in any detail feels akin to handing you a gift-wrapped present and saying, "I hope you like it -- It's a thriller about a diabolical secret experiment."

It really made me laugh, but for some moments I was tearing up because I could relate so much.

The tone of this movie is interesting -- the stakes are both dramatic and high, but it's balanced with a lot of fun, tongue and cheek dialogue.

The storyline feels a little thin and moth-eaten in parts but this sequel is plenty of fun.

VIEWERS' GUIDE: The censor says, "Suitable for all". Who am I to argue?COMMENT: Although Mason again essays the role of Rommel, he makes only a few brief appearances and plays the character differently from his study in The Desert Fox. Half the time he speaks German with an English accent, and the other half English with a German accent! What is more, he comes closer to the conventional Hollywood portrait of the Nazi officer, playing Wagner in his tent and exchanging "Ve will conquer zee vorld!" dialogue with Richard Burton's sassy British POW.Of course, these changes are not directly attributable to Mason, but are the work of the scriptwriter and the director, who could not have anticipated that The Desert Fox and Desert Rats would be re-issued as a double bill. All the same, it is disconcerting.Otherwise, both writing and direction are very smooth. Richard Burton and Robert Newton are ingeniously worked into the cast, Robert Douglas makes an acceptable C.O. and there are some dinky-di Aussies on hand including Chips Rafferty, Charles Tingwell and Michael Pate (most of whose part, he tells me, landed on the cutting-room floor).The action scenes are excitingly staged, but on the whole the film is a mite disappointing. The direction is too restrained, too soberly realistic, and doesn't go all out for the grand adventure epic like Hathaway's Lives of a Bengal Lancer or Chauvel's 40,000 Horsemen that the film's publicity leads us to expect.On the other hand, the fictitious narrative involving Newton and Burton, though ingenious, is neither convincing enough nor sufficiently realistic to put the film in the semi-documentary category. So the film tends to fall between two stools. This is unfortunate as within its limits, the film does well, and successfully accomplishes what it sets out to do, namely to provide an entertaining and action-filled if fictitious narrative, set against the realistic backdrop of the siege of Tobruk.

Richard Burton was excellent as the hard-nosed Captain in the English army working along with a platoon of Australians in this 1953 film. Tobruk is the epicenter here as the English fought bravely there in an attempt to cut off the Germans from taking control of Egypt and shutting off the oil via the Suez Canal.He is equally matched by Robert Newton, a former schoolmaster taken to drink and a coward as well. The Burton character takes him under his wing and heeds his advice not to bring a fellow soldier up on charges for insubordination when the latter went on to save lives.In one raid Burton is captured by the Germans and gets to meet Field Marshal Rommel, always well played by James Mason. Was that Mason speaking German at the beginning? During Burton's capture, Mason suddenly speaks English. Burton's escape and return to his men was rushed through and the ending of successfully holding off the Germans at Tobruk was also hurried.

I had the pleasure of watching this intense, small movie the other night and what a fine depiction of war and responsibilities of command it indeed is. Burton expresses most eloquently the burden that those who must order attacks, and order death, face every day. This is a timeless message. The action is gritty and realistic, particularly given the time it was made. Not one missed beat. It can also be called cousin to THE DESERT FOX, also with James Mason as Rommel, a very similar film with a broader and longer(time element) story. Interestingly, both films carry non-credited narration by Michael Rennie. So they are a pair and quite fine together.Next I put TOBRUK into the player, the 1967 Universal film with Rock Hudson, George Peppard and many others. This epic is entirely different from RATS and the feeling is very much the BIG SCREEN Hollywood film. And yet some things are similar - blown up fuel and ammo dumps. Lotsa trucks and desert. TOBRUK in particular has always had a spectacular explosive ending, indeed one of the largest in cinema history in my opinion.Given the comparison, THE DESERT RATS is more interesting film, certainly the more realistic. It is smaller and touches upon profound subjects and has Richard Burton at his best. You cannot ask for a better evening than the company of this great actor.

Desert Rats is a 'good old stiff upper lip' yarn with angry young man, Richard Burton, putting in a blinder. The film is set in WW2, North Africa and Rommel has swept across North Africa. The film is about Tobruk and how the German Army were held back. Burton leads ANZAC troops through the trenches of warfare. Good fighters those ANZAC's it appears and the film is a real tribute to them. This is reinforced by the movie being in black and white and quite informative. The action is OK and I especially liked the black outfit Richard Burton dons for that gritty commando raid. There is also a top encounter between Burton and James Mason - Pacino and De Niro in Heat - but with Burton's angry young man act.I would recommend it if only for Richard Burton.