IDF armor in the Sinai, Yom Kippur War, 1973.
After the 1973 Yom Kippur War, a close friend who commanded a tank in the Sinai and killed at least 35 Egyptian tanks—“You forget to count after a while”—in a drunken moment said to yours truly: “You know what’s great about desert warfare? No civilians. No cities. No nothing. Just you and the enemy. If it wasn’t so damned bloody and awful it would be romantic.”
“Ice Cold Alex” (1958) Anthony Quayle, Sylvia Syms, John Mills and Harry Andrews.
Ice Cold in Alex (1958) is such a desert war film, a British production based on the novel of the same name. It’s 1942, the British have retreated from Tobruk. John Mills plays Anson, a British ambulance officer, suffering battle fatigue and alcoholism, who tries to get back safely to Alexandria where he dreams of downing an ice cold glass of beer. His passengers include the great character actor Harry Andrews, who nearly steals the show, two nurses, and a mysterious South African officer. Well crafted movies use a simple device to build tension and drama: obstacles. Your main character wants something so you put an obstacle in his path which he must overcome. And then you do it again, but with an even bigger obstacle. The obstacles keep getting bigger, and your hero acts even more heroically. In this film, the main obstacles are not Nazis—they appear as chivalrous knights of the desert—but the truck in which our group rides, a rickety hunk of steel that huffs and puffs its way across the Libyan desert. There’s a love story between Mills and Sylvia Syms, but it’s sadly unconvincing. Mills is no one’s idea of a dashing leading man and Syms is, well, where is the great Madeleine Carroll when we need her? Thanks to our Irish friend Ted Leddy, of Gubu World, for bringing this rather obscure film to our attention.
Violetta Davydovskaya as Princess Ksenia in “1612”.
1612, is a Russian movie that was, apparently, commissioned by the Kremlin in advance of the 2007, parliamentary elections. The film was released on November 1, 2007, to coincide with the celebrations of National Unity Day, marking the expulsion of Polish troops from Moscow. One must ask: Is this Soviet propaganda? In a sense, I suppose it is. Yet it’s still a rousing historical drama that takes place during the time of The Troubles in 17th century Russia. After the brutal slaughter of Tsar Boris Gudunov and his family chaos engulfs the land. There is war and famine. Andrei, a slave, answering the call of patriotism and his deeply held mystical faith—this is a very Russian movie—sets out on a quest to rescue Princess Ksenia, in a beautifully modulated performance by Violetta Davydovskaya, the missing daughter of Godunuv. Some of the images in this film are absolutely riveting. The Polish cavalry—this film will not be popular with a Polish audience—are outfitted with feathered wings that make them look like destroying angels. And Princess Ksenia’s relationship with her captor is perversely fascinating as a study in the Stockholm Syndrome.
On far right is Irina Björklund as a Finnish nurse in “Ambush,” 1999.
Ambush (1999) from Finland, takes place during the Continuation War, in which Finland reluctantly allied itself with Germany in order to resist Russian invasion. It should be noted that Finnish Jews fought with conspicuous bravery in this war and Marshall Mannerheim, the great Finnish leader refused to hand over Finnish Jews to the Nazis. Anyway, our film follows the exploits of Lt. Eero Perkola, Peter Franzen, and Irina Björklund as Kaarina Vainikainen, Lt. Perkola’s love. Sent out on a dangerous mission—this is a bicycle squad, quite the odd image for American viewers—to scout Russian positions, Lt. Perkola leads a platoon of soldiers who, in classic dramatic fashion, represent various moral and religious points of view. There is a communist, a religious mystic, a psycho killer, and a clumsy but lovable dork. Lt. Perkola is all square jawed and noble as the squad leader. The film is strictly a local affair. The Finnish alliance with Germany is never mentioned. Patriotism and an old fashioned love story are at the heart of this handsome movie and along with some very impressive battle scene “Ambush” marks yet another fine movie that views Finnish history through the prism of war.
Ariel Chaim Avrech, ZT'L, May His Righteous Memory be a Blessing.
20 Comments
The tank is an American M 48. You can tell by the curved bow and its height. It is much taller than Soviet tanks. It has been updated with the Vickers 105mm gun that was used on the US M 60 and the Centurions.
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Not surprising that a neo-Czarist film wouldn’t be popular with Poles, but it sounds as though the Polish hussars might well be depicted accurately. The winged hussars were prominent in Jan Sobieski’s breaking of the Ottoman siege of Vienna some in 1683.
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may your son’s ariel’s neshama have an aliyah.
btw do you know what type of a tank that is in the photo from the yom kippur war. it looks to me like a t-54/55 russian battle tank which the israelis had a number of, having captured them in 67.it doesnt look like the american m-48 or 60s or like the british centurions or french tanks.
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susruta:
I’m not familiar with tank profiles but yes, this tank does have the rounded turret of the Russian tanks which the IDF “borrowed” from Arabs who fled the battlefield leaving pristine tanks.
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exdemexlib….Irish history…while it’s a novel rather than a formal history, I strongly recommend Thomas Flanagan’s “Year of the French”, which Ralph Peters referred to as “the best historical novel written in English, at least in the 20th century.” It’s about the episode in the late 1700s when the French landed a force in a remote part of Ireland to encourage/support revolution against English rule, with many flashbacks to earlier Irish history.
There was a movie made from this book, I believe for Irish TV, I would love to figure out how to get a copy.
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Robert, this is a bit off topic, but would you consider writing about 2 movie-related topics I’ve always wondered about?
When I was a kid, I always watched the credits. Of course, back in our day you didn’t get up to change the channel for 30 seconds (no remotes) so you often watched the credits if you were staying on the same channel (1 of 3-4 available channels, in my case). Credits didn’t roll by so fast back then and there weren’t any picture-in-picture ads for what’s coming up next either. Finally, one of the big changes is that movies used to have the credits at the beginning, not the end. From the performers perspective, I never understood why they changed. Do you have any ideas?
Anyway, because I watched the credits, I know that the Westmore’s were a big name in Hollywood/TV makeup artistry. I remember Bud, Wally, Perc(y), and more recently Michael. If I remember correctly, they have something of a family lineage for make-up, don’t they?
My second question is about sound. When I was younger it seemed like everything was done by the Glen Glenn Sound company. Wikipedia has a limited article about the company — it says they were used in over 20,000 productions and the company was sold in 1986 to “Todd AO”… What happened to this company? It seemed they used to be dominant in the industry until they were bought. Did they hit financial troubles? Did a new technology antiquate their techniques? I’ve always been curious about it and there really isn’t much I can find through Google.
Thanks,
Joe
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Thanks Robert – I will have to put these on my list!
For many years I had as my business partner a Finnish woman – her father was a ski trooper in the Continuation War. She is so proud of him. You have to admit for a country the size and population of Finland to take on Stalin – and hold him, took some Sisu a particular Finnish term for extreme guts and courage (Your Israeli tank commander obviously has it!)
On desert warfare, he has a great description – and other I picked up reading Steven Pressfield’s historical novel Killing Rommel , where he compared desert warfare to not land battles, but ocean battles.
When an enemy is vanquished the front can roll 100s of miles across the sand – just like a sea battle.
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Bill:
I have great admiration for the Finnish people. In a funny way Finland reminds me of Israel. Both are relatively newly founded countries who have been forced to fight for their existence against implacable foes. In contrast to the rest of Western Europe patriotism seems to be alive and well in Finland. I actually hate to travel but the one country I’d love to visit is Finland. For several years now I’ve had a killer idea for a film that takes place in Finland but predictibly my pitches to Hollywood have been met with dull stares.
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Robert
Thanks for the link and the kind words. I too have seen “Ambush” several times and am a big fan. Did you know that the actor George Gaynes (thats right, the guy who played Commandant Lassard in all the Police Acadamy movies) fought for the Finns against the Soviets in 1940 during the winter war. So I have read anyway. I would love to authenticate this. It shouldn’t be too hard to do so, Gaynes (95) still lives.
The British actor Christopher Lee (also still living), who frequently played Dracula and was the bad guy in ”The Man with the Golden Gun” also volunteered to fight for the Finnish in 1940.
Ted
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Israel and Finland have one other big thing in common. They both fled from other lands and pogroms – Finland I believe around the 12th century (Genghis Khan?)
Everyone “assumes” the Finns are Scandinavian but their language – which is nothing like Swedish, Danish or Norwegian – is related to Hungarian.
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Robert, you’re pitching to the wrong people. There’s a bit of a craze in the UK at the moment for Scandinavian stuff, especially Scandinavian cop shows. Try pitching your script to Sky TV.
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Hi, Robert.
It’s “Ice Cold In Alex”. The title refers to what they’re striving for: the beer at the bar in Alexandria. John Mills insisted that takes of him downing his pint weren’t quite right and needed to be done again. I’m not sure anyone knows how many takes he did in the end, but he was apparently rather drunk by the take that appears in the film. The entire scene was lifted and used by Carlsberg as an advert in the UK sometime around 1990 — with no embellishment or editing, as none is needed — making the film very famous here. It’s a classic.
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Squander Tow:
I am so embarrassed that I got the title wrong. I have no excuse except maybe my mind is going. Thanks so much for the correction.
Re: Mills and the booze. I’ve seen this method acting quite a bit in Hollywood and it drives me crazy. I always feel like saying to the actor: “Why don’t you try acting!? That’s why we hired you!” But of course I have to respect the actor’s process which means enduring their mishigas.
You know, it’s funny, but the very best film actors”—Jean Harlow, Cary Grant, Irene Dunne, John Wayne, Barbara Stanwyck, Clark Gable, Joan Crawford, Henry Fonda, Bette Davis, Jimmy Stewart, etc.—never relied on The Method. They were hugely talented people who worked very hard at the their craft.
This is, by the way, the best kept secret in Hollywood: how darned hard is the work of making movies.
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Robert:
Sylvia is not Madeleine Carroll, but she was a lovely looking woman and a wonderful actress. Still at it successfully. Did well as The Queen Mother to Helen Mirren’s Elizabeth not too long ago. As for Mills, I met him briefly on the set of “Chuka.” Rod Taylor was the star and producer. (There is a lot too that.) Mills was slight, handsome and not one bit compelling, nevertheless, at least somewhat important. I had set Louis Hayward for a part in it, and that was a tough task for me as I was still a little boy, sort of. Louis was still compelling, but did not get the correct showcase. My fault and the cosmos. In any case, he would have been grand in John’s part.
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When I read about how long many spend on the set – it is a well kept secret. And for those who worked under Wm Wyler – they have a love-hate relationship with him. He’d make them do sometimes dozens of takes and not know what they did wrong.
Many times, I read, they did nothing wrong – he was just trying to get different versions and sort it out in the cutting room.
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I think he just liked the beer. Or he was doing it for God & country.
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Hi, Robert.
No, Mills was no method actor. He just wanted to get drunk. “No, that still wasn’t quite right, I’ll have to do it again. Pour me another pint.”
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Will try to see these. (haven’t seen or heard of any of them).
Thanks Ted, for pointing out the Irish one.
BTW, Did 40 Shades of Grey get shown in Ireland yet?
(I confess to knowing very little about Ireland. The only contact viewpoint I have is from Pete Hamill, an American journalist and author, of Irish ancestry.
I became interested when I learnt that a very famous copy of the talmud was printed in Dublin, and did some checking about the Jews of Ireland.
Irish history is a bit hard for me to follow, as it is quite involved. I sort of got lost in the history of Viking attacks and atrocities against the native Irish, and wondered why a people proud of their Gaelic heritage, would keep Viking names for some of their cities,
[was told that Dublin is a Viking name, not a Gaelic one. and that the Gaelic name was Baile Átha Cliath]
So, for fear of reading a history that might be one-sided, I stopped.
(If you could recommend one, I would be interested.
Tried looking for your e-mail adress on your blog, but couldn’t find a ‘contact’ listing,)
Robert,
Sorry for the OT rambling
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exdemexlib
I have not yet seen “40 Shades of Grey” so I assume it hasn’t come out. I would be astonished if it did and I missed it. I am looking forward to it. I have heard it described as the most objective documentary ever made about Israel palestine.
Irish history is refreshing in that it is very different to the rest of Europe and the world. Our political and military history is entirely our own and rarely has to be considered in a wider geopolitical context. As a result, non Irish people can read about it and call it as they see it without ideology or their own history getting in the way. While I am something of an authority on 20th century Irish history my knowledge of earlier centuries is sadly lacking. But I am told that “A History of Ireland” by Jonathan Bardon is a great read.
Dublin was founded so long ago (9th century) that there is still dispute over the origins of the name. Baile Atha Cliath is a more modern Gaelic version of the capital but as a scholar of Gaelic I am one of those who believe that Dublin does in fact originate from the old Irish for “black pool”.
Irish Jewish history is fascinating. I am currently trying to learn more on the subject. There is a wonderful Jewish Irish museum in Dublin that I would recommend to anyone. Unfortunately Ireland never experienced a post war economic boom like the rest of the western world and thousands of Irish Jews emigrated to Israel and the US in the 50s bringing a near end to Irish Jewish history. However Jews in Ireland remain well represented in politics and culture despite the Jewish popluation being under 3000.
If I can help in any other way let me know tedleddy@yahoo.co.uk
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Ted:
Regarding Irish Jews: I’ve always been struck that James Joyce chose as the main character of his epic novel “Ulysses,” Leopold Bloom, an Irish Jew.
I wonder: how does this resonate in Ireland?
By the way, one of the very best books about Israel and Zionism, “The Siege,” (1989) was written by the great Irish politician, diplomat, and historian, Conor Cruise O’Brien.
Here’s a link to used editions: http://www.amazon.com/The-Siege-Saga-Zionism-Israel/dp/0297783939.
Thanks again for recommending “Ice Cold In Alex.”
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