Great Film overall

Fresh and Exciting

Better than most people think

There is, somehow, an interesting story here, as well as some good acting. There are also some good scenes

I am sure there were hundreds of films based on World War II. In this case, the Allies are in Northern Africa where they capture German Nazi Rommel. I just wanted to see Richard Burton act in this film. The location is in the desert with the oppressive heat. The Allies are fighting the Nazis. The film is a depiction of the battle of Tobruk. I don't know much about the Second World War in Northern Africa but Rommel was also known as the desert fox. The cast is fine but the story line appears to be slow moving too. James Mason is fine as Rommel. I can't compare his performance to anybody playing Rommel so he was fine to me. I hate to write that my ignorance fails me when it comes to the battlefields of any war.

The Desert Rats is directed by Robert Wise and written by Richard Murphy. It stars Richard Burton, Robert Newton, Robert Douglas, Torin Thatcher, Chips Rafferty and James Mason. Music is by Leigh Harline and cinematography by Lucien Ballard.The follow up to The Desert Fox (it's not a sequel) from two years earlier, was in essence an attempt to readdress the balance after The Desert Fox annoyed certain quarters with its admiration for what a great soldier Field Marshal Rommel was. So here we have the battle of Tobruk orchestrated by the astute Robert Wise, the plot is simple, but the characterisations are most certainly not, with lead men Burton and Newton terrific.This important part of the war is given mature treatment, with the battle sequences realistically staged and the tactical nous of allied force leaders rightly given credence. Sadly Mason is barely in the picture, which is more frustrating when you witness the extended scene that is shared between Mason and Burton, a British film fan's dream right there. While elsewhere it should be noted that this is, perhaps inevitably, not an accurate history lesson, so students of Tobruk don't be basing your thesis on this telling.Still, a good quality war pic for sure. 7/10

Before Australia and New Zealand were threatened with attack on the home front, they sent as they did in the First World War, an expeditionary force to help Great Britain protect the Suez Canal, the lifeline of the British Empire. Aussies and Kiwis made a great deal of the army that General Wavell was commanding from Cairo. They have always had a reputation as an informal people and it's with a bit of surprise that spit and polish Scots officer Richard Burton is put in charge of a batallion in a forward area of the defense perimeter surrounding Tobruk. The men and Burton don't take to each other too readily, but gradually the troops grow to respect Burton as a courageous fighting man.Burton as it happens gets a bit of assistance from an unexpected quarter. His old schoolmaster Robert Newton had immigrated to Australia and enlisted in their army at the start of World War II. When not focusing on the battle sequences, The Desert Rats is about the relationship between Burton and Newton. All the rules about army discipline and separation of officers and enlisted men go by the boards here. Burton who's been under a strain like everyone else under siege at Tobruk gets a safety valve in Newton. An old friend from the past, a father figure if you will, gives Burton someone he can confide his innermost thoughts and fears to. Sad to say the alcoholic Mr. Newton gives a refrained and dignified performance as a middle aged alcoholic schoolmaster. A role he could understand all too well from real life. He complements Burton's performance every step of the way in this film. Look for some good performances from Australian actors Charles Tingwell and Chips Rafferty. Though this is a film about the Allied forces at Tobruk in 1941 and no Americans were officially fighting, this is an American production. So these two guys made their American cinema debuts. Tingwell never made another American film, but Rafferty came back a few times and his presence makes every film he's in just a bit better.You might recognize Michael Rennie's voice doing the offscreen narration for The Desert Rats. The Desert Rats is a timeless wartime classic about the strain of command at every level of the Armed Services.

The factual about the Germans using Thompson sub machine guns is only partially true....While the Germans did not outfit their troops with the extremely popular gun of American origin....it is an indisputable fact that throughout the war in all theaters....and especially in a hotly contested battle ...which the first "battle of Tobruk" certainly was....captured enemy weapons were frequently used as is evidenced even within the film when the "Rats" turned the Germans guns on them....by the way in one case it was clearly an "army surplus" 50 caliber heavy machine gun also American made.....but these little nits and picks do little to detract from the overall flow of the movie.