BATTLE OF EL AMEMEIN, THE

aka La battaglia di El Alamein (I), La bataille d'El Alamein (Fr), Königstiger vor El Alamein (WG)
1968
Italy/France
Mino Loy and Luciano Martino for Zenith Cin.ca (Rome), Les Films Corona (Paris)
Director: Calvin Jackson Padget [Giorgio Ferroni]
Story & screenplay: Ernesto Gastaldi, Remigio Del Grosso
Music: Carlo Rustichelli
Cinematography: Sergio D'Offizi {Eastmancolor}
Editor: Eugenio Alabiso
Set design: Emilio D'Andria
Cameraman: Giuseppe Gatti
Filmed: Cinecittà
Release information: Registered 11.12.68. Italy (23.01.69, 100 mins), France (21.05.69, 100 mins), West Germany (16.01.70, 90 mins)
Cast: Frederick Stafford (Lieutenant Giorgio Borri), George Hilton (Lieutenant Graham), Enrico Maria Salerno (Claudio Borri), Robert Hossein (Field Marshall Rommel), Ira Furstenberg (Marta), Micael Rennie (General Montgomery), Marco Guglielmi (Captain Hubert, a German Officer), Ettore Manni, Edoardo Toniolo, Gerard Herter (General Schwarz, a German officer), Renato Romano (General Clifton, a British officer), Max Dean [Massimo Righi] (Vannucci, an Italian soldier), Giulio Donnini, Tom Felleghi (Colonel Bartome, a German officer), Piero Palermini, Giovanni Pazzafini (the Sergeant Major), Massimo Farinelli, Giuseppe Castellano (an Italian soldier), Mario Chiocchio, Luigi Scavran, Luigi Gatti, Adalberto Rossetti, Gaultiero Isnenghi, Antonietta Fiorito, Ugo Adinolfi, Giuseppe Addobbati, Salvatore Borgese (Capo, an Italian soldier), Manlio Busoni, Andrea Fantasia

This is available as one of the films on the Battles of WW2 DVD set. It's a bootleg, and the quality isn't really that fantastic - but looking on the good side it is extremely cheap. Also on the boxset are Gianfranco Parolini's Five For Hell, Jose Luis Merino's Battle of the Last Panzer (aka Hell Commandos) and a UK TV movie, Hitler's SS.

Despite being second billed here, George Hilton really only has a minor role as a British Lieutenant who's main purpose is to install the awareness in idealistic Italian hero, Giorgio, that even his enemies are human and capable of being more than the monsters which they are demonised as. In fact, he doesn't last into the second hour, his death freeing the plot to concentrate on it's doomed protagonists. He does, however, manage to pull a fit bird with big hair and eyeliner while watching a belly dancer in a sleazy den. Nice going, George.

It's quite pleasantly unusual to come across a second world war film which looks at events through the eyes of individuals on the losing side. Often dismissed as mere Italianate propaganda, The Battle of El Alemein is in fact a fast moving action picture that comes to the conclusion that virtually every film of it's type seems to come to ; that war is pretty damn silly, and the ones who pay are the ones who don't have any say in events in the first place.

Africa, 1942, and the Axis alliance between Germany and Italy has held the upper hand in the desert war. This is by no small means due to the military skill of Field Marshall Rommel (Robert Hossein), who is unfortunately suffering from kidney problems and general fatigue. Already knowing that their superiority is on the wane, he is ordered home to rest by Hitler. Meanwhile, the English forces are being rallied by the newly arrived Montgomery (Michael Rennie), and begin to drive back their enemies from the positions which they had gained.

Interspersed with these events is the story of Giorgio (Frederick Stafford), a young officer who has come to lead his squadron after the untimely death of his Captain. He is at first unpopular with his men, who understandably resent his apparent disregard for their lives in his quest for medals and glory. Slowly, however, he begins to gain their respect as he learns that he is dealing with real people rather than simple statistics. He is also helped by the prescience of his brother Paolo (Enrico Maria Salerno in a variety of silly hats), an experienced Sergeant Major who seconds himself to their aid.

Aside from the variety of humorous plummy accents on display, Battle is an enjoyable, pacey production that obviously had a fairly decent budget and uses it's familiar Almeirian locations well. As an example of the short lived war film genre that flourished in the late sixties (other Euro examples being Alberto De martino's Dirty Heroes (Dalle Ardenne all'inferno, 67) and Mino Loy's Desert Battle (La Battaglia del deserto, 1969), it seems to be a slight less gung-ho enterprise than normal. Not to say that you don't get the normal heroics, but there's an underlying fatalism and a political awareness that taints the energetic narrative.

Director Giorgio Ferroni was a more than capable craftsman who's CV is choc-a-bloc with interesting titles like Mill of the Stone Women (Il Mulino delle donne di pietra, 1960), one of the few gothic horrors to rightfully compare to the best of Mario Bava, and The Bacchantes (I Baccanti, 1961) , a poetic peplum which is one of my personal favourites. The large cast is literally stuffed with recognisable craggy faces, but the standout performance comes from Enrico Maria Salerno, a hugely underrated actor who died of cancer in 1994.

Matt B