Product description

Ice Cold In Alex [1958]

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Average customer rating: 5.0

Binding : DVD
EAN : 5060034577232
Label : Optimum Home Entertainment
Manufacturer : Optimum Home Entertainment
Publisher : Optimum Home Entertainment
Release date : 2007-01-29
Title : Ice Cold In Alex [1958]
Actor : Array
Audience rating : Parental Guidance
Format : Array
Languages : Array
Number of items : 1
Original release date : 1958-01-01
Region code : 2
Running time : 124
Studio : Optimum Home Entertainment
Theatrical releaseDate : 1958

Customer reviews

review by: Underground man date: 2008-10-15 rating:

Together again'st the common foe
A battered old army ambulance is the last chance for five allied warriers after the fall of Tobruk. Two nurses, one of whom is killed during the evacuation when the wagon is strafed by a German plane, a sergeant major from the regular army, a South African captain who is picked up on the outskirts of town, all led by an English captain played by John Mills, who is somewhat fond of the odd tipple or two. Although there are one or two run ins with the Germans, the main enemy is the desert. The direct route to safety along the coast has been cut off, forcing them into the depression where they encounter quicksand and giant sand dunes, plus the constant extremes of daytime heat and bitter cold nights.

Not really a war film in the true sense of the word, more a film of courage and adventure with tension constantly building between the group as suspicions rise due to one of them being an enemy spy. Quite a poignant ending with the four survivors enjoying the ice cold beers in a bar, all trying to ensure that the traitor is handed over to the authorities as a p.o.w who had surrendered, rather than as a spy to be shot, they all knew they wouldn't have got through without each other.

Cracking support performances from Anthony Quaile, Harry Andrews and Sylvia Sims help to make this a worthy addition for any collection.

review by: Fluckey date: 2008-10-14 rating:

Quality of the highest order
This is a fantastic film full of tension and drama.I watched Ice Cold many years ago with my Granda who happened to be a desert rat.we both loved it.Watching it again now it has'nt lost any of its magic John Mills is superb as Capt Anson and Sylvia Simms is just Gorgeous throughout.The film is full of great scenes including one where Sylia Simms lets the Ambulance slide down a steep sand bank after the group had spent torturous hours getting it towards the summit.The scene in the bar at the end of the movie which was used for a Carlsberg ad some years ago is an absoloute classic.So glad I bought this DVD well worth six quid.

review by: movie maniac date: 2008-09-23 rating:

great film
this film ain't really a war film as such more of a drama that takes place during the war, you see no fighting what we get is a suspensful messmarising film that builds up and leaves you torn in 2 .if you ain't seen this b/w film then go and treat yourself because not many films can challenge it's magic from such a small cast ,this film is without doubt one of the greats.

review by: date: 2007-05-18 rating:

A fine, taut desert war film with fine performances and some unusual developments
Four people in an ambulance are struggling to cross the hot, blinding North African desert on their way from Tobruk to Alexandria. It's 1942 and Rommel's Africa Corps is just about to take Tobruk and continue its race to Egypt. There is Captain Anson (a blond John Mills), an ambulance officer stressed to the breaking point and just this shy of being an alcoholic; Sergeant Major Tom Pugh (Harry Andrews), a big, capable lifer who has been with Anson for several months and knows his weaknesses; Diana Murdoch (Sylvia Syms), a nurse who was stranded in Tobruk, who has a steady hand but has seen her friend, another nurse, die in an attack on the ambulance; and Captain van der Poel (Anthony Quayle), a strong, swaggering South African they meet in a deserted outpost. Captain Anson is persuaded to let van der Poel join them because van der Poel has three bottles of gin with him. He also carries something in a knapsack he refuses to let out of his sight.

Ice Cold in Alex is one of the best of the war movies Britain produced in the Fifties. It sets up a small group of people on a tense journey through a desolate landscape in a broken-down ambulance. We get to know these people...and we begin to worry whether Captain Anson is going to lose it every time he gets close to a bottle; whether van der Poel is truly a South African or a German spy; whether it will be Sergeant Pugh, or Nurse Syms, or van der Poel who'll get killed in one of the dangerous situations they encounter. And the movie has plenty of well-directed, tense situations coming one after the other. The four of them encounter mine fields that must be crossed, sand storms, Nazi ambushes and pursuits, capture by German troops they must talk their way out of (with van der Poel coming in handy), mechanical breakdowns and quicksand. And if there is one lesson they all learn, it's to never park your vehicle on the top of a giant sand dune.

The movie is unusual in that the hero is damaged goods. John Mills is excellent in portraying Captain Anson as a determined and stalwart British officer. He's even better at showing this man just a bit too eager for a drink, too quick to justify it, too close to breaking down when things don't work out. Mills was not a big man, and he has to dominate the movie next to two very big men, Harry Andrews and Anthony Quayle. Both are nearly a head taller than Mills. In one scene Mills as Anson collapses and Quayle must pick him up, carry him several steps to the rear of the ambulance and deposit him inside. This is all done in one shot. Quayle looks as if he's dealing with no more than a 50 pound bag of flour, yet Mills is definitely the one we watch during the movie. His Captain Anson may be falling apart, but he is determined to get the ambulance and its passengers to Alexandria. While he struggles to do so we can see that he's slowing pulling himself together. It's a nice performance. There also is almost no distraction from artificial romance. There is only the faintest hint of a possible relationship developing between Nurse Murdoch and Captain Anson, just a brief moonlight nuzzle and, much later, a realistic recognition of Anson's continuing demons and the difficulty of making personal plans in wartime. The movie also gives a much more subtle approach to the German enemy. At the conclusion, while the four of them are finally enjoying an ice-cold lager in an Alexandrian bar, one of them points out that, working together, they beat the desert, which was a bigger enemy than...well, you'll need to see the movie.

For those who like well-constructed films that don't let up, who like good performances and who like older British films, Ice Cold in Alex is worth having. The DVD transfer is just fine.

review by: date: 2007-04-24 rating:

Just about the best adventure film ever!
I really like old films and Ice Cold in Alex is just about the best ever!
It is on one hand a war film, then an adventure and a romance. Even after watching this film 50+ times I still get excited.

A must for any collection.

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