It's dark days in North Africa during WWII. Captain Jim Leith (Richard Burton) and Major David Brand (Curt Jürgens) arrive in Egypt to interview for a special mission. Leith is a former archaeologist with experience in Libya and fluent in Arabic. Brand is a stuffy untested officer with 13 years in the army but little experience in the foreign land. Brand's wife Jane turns out to be Leith's former lover. Both men are assigned the mission with Brand as the commander. The small expendable thirty men group goes behind the lines to steal plans from German headquarters in Benghazi.
It's highly convenient about Jane. If a story does that, it needs an iconic line like "of all the gin joints in all the towns in all the world". The movie needs better writing. The action is not that big. There is a lot of desert. It's a lot of sand. The mission is questionable and their escape is badly planned. Despite any shortcomings, the movie does have Burton and it's a functional war adventure/character struggle.
It's highly convenient about Jane. If a story does that, it needs an iconic line like "of all the gin joints in all the towns in all the world". The movie needs better writing. The action is not that big. There is a lot of desert. It's a lot of sand. The mission is questionable and their escape is badly planned. Despite any shortcomings, the movie does have Burton and it's a functional war adventure/character struggle.