Destination Gobi (1953) User Reviews

Talk about ridiculous but true!

[planktonrules · 7/10 · 26 March 2011]

The plot of this movie seemed to make little sense, so I did a bit of research on the web and it appears to actually be based on real events from WWII--some of the strangest events you could imagine. Richard Widmark stars as a leader of a group of US Navy personnel stationed in Mongolia--YES, Mongolia! It seems they are a very isolated weather station but why the Navy was sent there is beyond me! In case they are attacked by the Japanese, they enlist the help of local herdsmen by providing them with nice new saddles--YES, saddles. As I said, it's all very hard to imagine but based on real events.

Unfortunately for our small but intrepid group, their base IS attacked by the Japanese Air Force and their equipment ruined. As they are in the middle of no where and the American commanders must assume they are dead, they seem to have no choice to to make their way east--though the coast is over 800 miles from their base.

While this is certainly not a great film, it's a great one for someone who loves WWII history--as it certainly doesn't get any more unusual than this. Plus, the film is enjoyable, well-acted and likable. Truly an odd movie but reasonably well made with its mostly American-Indian supporting cast.

Better than average war film which gets extra credit for its unique setting in the Gobi Desert.

[Slim-4 · 6/10 · 14 January 2000]

This film has the feel of a documentary as sailor Richard Widmark frets at his role at a remote weather station in the Gobi Desert and yearns to get a ship under him again. Ultimately, he returns to the sea in an unexpected fashion.

The relationship between the sailors and the nomadic Mongols is a crucial part of the film. The nomads are credibly portrayed as human beings who are neither all good or all bad. The film gets high marks for its portrayal of the Mongol culture. It would have been so easy for the film to show people who looked like the Native American Indians Hollywood films are so comfortable with. The Mongol yurts have a realistic look and the film truly succeeds here in portraying a different and likeable culture.

There is little action in this film, but that's really not a problem. The unusual and probably unique story line more than makes up for it. The ending is a little hard to believe, but remember that anything is possible in films. Enjoy it.

Mongols, Meterorologist and McHale.

[hitchcockthelegend · 6/10 · 16 November 2010]

Destination Gobi is directed by Robert Wise and written by Everett Freeman. It stars Richard Widmark, Don Taylor, Casey Adams & Murvyn Vye.

"In the Navy records in Washington, there is an obscure entry reading 'Saddles for Gobi.' This film is based on the story behind that entry--one of the strangest stories of World War II."

An odd story makes for an oddly entertaining yarn as Widmark and co troop across the Gobi Desert after a Japanese air attack on their weather station base. Other problems exist too, as the Mongol tribe they have befriended may not actually be friends. Poor Widmark, he's a Navy man out in the desert and the motley crew under his command are getting rather restless.

Amazingly based on a true incident, tho we can safely assume there's much poetic license used by the makers, Destination Gobi has a nice blend of action, drama, adventure and comedy. The cast work well as a unit and run with the oddity of the plot, while Wise directs with customary assuredness. It's not one you would sit thru too often once viewed for the first time, but while it's on it's never less than engaging . 6.5/10

i was quite young when I saw this

[whitefell · 9 November 2002]

My father was a part of this group, they were actually called SACO. He liked this movie, thought it was somewhat accurate. He was a Navy Chief Petty Officer, a Medic, he loved Mongolia, it reminded him of Montana, where he grew up, and he admired the people. He liked the humor in it. They were actually a sort of obscure, almost "guerilla" group. Kind of like Navy Calvary. I thought it was called "Saddles for SACO", (maybe another earlier title?). He always felt it was a great mistake to underestimate the indigenous people, he used to use Mr.Custer as an example. All the West Point training or Annapolis , for that , purpose , may not help you in the end.And he told me, all Americans think they're John Wayne, unfortunately, those ponies didn't always know.

The amazing and true story of some brave sailors who fought their way out of the sands of Mongolia

[ma-cortes · 6/10 · 29 June 2018]

Likeable American war movie about a group of valiant sailors who escape through the Gobi desert .The surprising tale of Uncle Sam's "sailors on camels" , a little US naval detachment who battled throughout the Mongolian desert. Along the way the sailors attempt to engage local the Mongol tribesman to attack Japanese ; but things go wrong when those respond by bombing the station .Set in 1944 inner Mongolia , where a team of US Navy specialists run a weather station , they are forced to a marathon trek across the sunny desert where are harassed and attacked by Japanese warplanes , taken prisoners , but helped by local Mongol nomads whom deliver 60 horse saddles and become them into an expert Mongolian cavalry .

This a sympathetic movie in which interest and entertainment never fall . The screenplay contains implausible adventures , goodhumoured scenes , tongue-in-cheek excitement , agreeable situations with the laughs in the right places .Widmark plays an US Navy officer assigned to take charge a bunch of meteorologistics at a remote weather station , when a Japanese attack leaving to him and his company alone in the wilderness to fend for themselves , Richard gives the film enough security and authority . And he is backed by a magnificent cast that includes Don Taylor , Russell Collins , Murvyn Vye , Casey Adams , Willis Bouchey , Darryl Hickman , Rodolfo Acosta , Richard Loo and Earl Holliman , Martin Milner film debut . And Paiute Indians living in reservation where was shot the movie played Mongol extras .

Musical score from Alfred Newman and Sol Kaplan is highly commendable. Colorful cinematography in Technicolor by Charles Clarke , being Wise's first color movie . Being filmed on location in Nixon and Fallon and other Indians reservation . Produced and released by 2oth century Fox and well directed by Robert Wise who never lets the action sag .Wise was a good director who made films in all kinds of genres , nowadays , some of them considered classic movies , such as : Musical : West side story , The sound of music ; SciFi: The day the Earth stood , Andromeda strain , Star Trek the motion picture ; Terror : The haunting , The body snatchers, , Audrey Rose , Curse of cat people ; Wartime : Run silent Run deep , The Desert Rats ; Historical : Helen of Troy ; Western : Tribute to a bad man ; Drama : I want to live , The Set-up , among others

"One is grateful for the bitter as well as the sweet"

[Steffi_P · 6/10 · 21 March 2009]

There were a lot of WW2 pictures made in the late 40s and early 50s, made as uncomplicated gung-ho nostalgia, doubling as propaganda for the ongoing war in Korea. By and large they were cheap and cheerful affairs; poorly scripted and poorly acted. Destination Gobi is just such a picture, its main exception being that it is somewhat spruced up by the direction of the great Robert Wise.

Being relatively low-budget Destination Gobi is rather short on action, instead relying upon suspense sequences and musings on military life for its entertainment value. Sadly the screenplay isn't quite up to the task. There is a sprinkling of quasi-philosophical dialogue, most of which is feeble and unconvincing (the only line I liked was the one about Inner Mongolia being "hotter, dryer and inner"). The characters are the usual B-movie one-dimensionals, and many scenes are so lacking in credibility the tension can't work because there is no real sense of danger.

This is where Robert Wise comes in. It's often interesting, albeit dissatisfying, to see a really top-notch director slumming it in a B-unit – to see what they can make out of the weakest of elements. This is especially true of Wise, who had no ego and always aimed to make the best out of whatever the studios threw at him. This is his first colour picture and, as far as I know his earliest to really make use of wide-open spaces. Most of Wise's pictures up until now had been gritty thrillers, and even his 1948 horse opera Blood on the Moon is – literally – a dark Western. It's been remarked by others that the landscape in Destination Gobi is filmed to show off its beauty, but also watch Wise's timing. It would be normal convention to cut to a landscape shot after the opening scene at SACO HQ, but in fact Wise takes care not to properly show us the desert and emphasises the smallness and darkness of the tent. Only after the Mongols have been introduced do we get these breathtaking outdoor shots. The contrast is striking and it makes us associate the Mongols with the beauty of the location, even if only subconsciously.

I am sure Wise knew he had been given a bum script, and he takes advantage of the quiet moments. Wise's direction was generally at its best when there was no dialogue anyway (check out Lawrence Tierney in Born to Kill) and he particularly seemed to like drawing out these moments and giving the actors space to emote. Consequently there is tenderness uncharacteristic of such a picture when the soldiers mourn a fallen comrade, opening the scene with a respectful long shot of the gravesite. Again the natural beauty of the landscape is used, this time as a bittersweet counterpoint.

The cast is headed by Richard Widmark, who like Wise was good at what he did yet spent much of his career in B-flicks. And, as with Wise, we can look at this positively and say that he at least leant some quality to pictures that have very little else going for them. He can't quite make the appalling dialogue sound plausible, but at least he emotes well and has strong presence. The Mongol characters may not be granted any dignity by the screenplay, but at least the reliable Murvyn Vye turns in a dignified performance as Chief Kengtu, adding a layer of personality to the character that is not there in the script.

These little oases of quality do not prevent Destination Gobi from mostly being a desert of mediocrity. Studying Robert Wise's work, this is like a little exercise in thoughtful direction, but nothing more because there isn't enough depth to the story or characters to make it pay off. And who would expect more from a ninety-minute no-brainer? However, at least the efforts of Wise (as well as renowned art directors Lyle Wheeler and Lewis Creber, and cinematographer Charles Clarke – well-deserved honourable mentions) have made it nice to look at. It's occasionally even entertaining as well.

Entertaining and Balanced Movie

[Jetsetcat · 7/10 · 7 February 2016]

(Spoilers) I wholly disagree with the couple of reviews above. The movie portrayed the Mongols as civilised, intelligent, insightful and ultimately outsmarting all the others portrayed, by securing the safety of the US forces. They spoke their own language amongst themselves and were only shown using monosyllabic English when communicating with the Americans. Exactly what you would expect from people whose knowledge of English was very limited. OK, this not the best movie ever made, but shot in Technicolor and mostly on location, it is worth a view for that alone. As for being "triumphalist", that is just not the case. How does being saved by the Mongols come across as triumphalist? The Japanese were, if anything, portrayed as far more humane then their actual behaviour in WW2. As for the plot, it was based on true events. Any attempt to jazz it up for entertainment's sake would have been wrong.

An unusual WW2 story

[Leofwine_draca · 6/10 · 9 December 2016]

DESTINATION GOBI is another desert-based WW2 movie, directed by Robert Wise - no stranger to the genre having made THE DESERT RATS - and featuring the ubiquitous Richard Widmark heading an otherwise undistinguished cast. This one's a little different, telling the true story of navy men running a weather research station in Mongolia, who find themselves under attack by the Japanese and who team up with Mongol forces to fight them.

I enjoy war films like this which are a little different from the norm, exploring theatres of war usually avoided in the popular books and films on the subject. DESTINATION GOBI isn't a great movie but it does keep you watching just to find out what happens. Widmark is a reliable lynch pin on which to hang the movie although the supporting cast disappoint, particularly the US actors pretending to be Mongolian which never works. There isn't a wealth of action here, but that which does occur is authentic (the plane attack is very well portrayed) and the suspense keeps you going until the end.

Saddle Up, Mongols

[bkoganbing · 6/10 · 23 October 2007]

Destination Gobi finds Richard Widmark assigned as the ranking non-commissioned officer on a Navy weather station in the Gobi Desert. Wrap your mind around that concept, Navy personnel in the middle of the Gobi Desert.

It's not an assignment that a guy who was a CPO on the USS Enterprise in 1944 is looking for. But that's what he's drawn. Widmark is to assist Captain Russell Collins in setting up one of a series of weather station in Inner Mongolia, that is that part of Mongolia located inside the Great Wall of China.

Collins is a meteorologist with a Navy commission, so Widmark is really the guy in charge. Setting up the advance outpost, the dozen or so sailors have to establish good relations with the local Mongol tribesmen who pretty much live as they did under Genghis Khan. The gifts that put it over are a requisition for some old army saddles from the late U.S. Cavalry.

Later on the Japanese bomb the station and Collins and others are killed. It's up to Widmark to get his men out of the Gobi Desert and avoid falling into the hands of the Japanese. The Mongols and their saddles prove to be of invaluable assistance.

I think Destination Gobi got a bit off track after the Japanese attack. The first part of the film was quite good, especially depicting the Mongol culture. But after the attack the escapades of the men trying to get to U.S. lines which in this case means to Eastern China and across the water to Okinawa was a bit much. The Japanese were shown to be as dumb as the Axis powers were shown during World War II and the height of the propaganda films made back then. Richard Loo who played so many nasty Japanese back in the day was the Japanese commander and he must have had a recurring case of deja vu.

Still Widmark does a fine job as does Murvyn Vye who is the head Mongol. They are ably supported by such stalwart character players as Don Taylor, Martin Milner, Casey Adams, Darryl Hickman, and Earl Holliman.

Destination Gobi could have been a much better film.

McHale's Navy

[richardchatten · 7/10 · 6 March 2021]

The title suggests something more rugged. But for once they weren't joking when the opening crawl declared this "one of the strangest stories of World War II" (although they probably were when they cast Mervyn Vye as the leader of "the First Mongolian Cavalry". While another of the locals is a kleptomaniac nicknamed 'Harpo' who like his namesake communicates through mime).

The tale of "a bunch of weathermen chasing balloons" across Inner Mongolia, the most arduous part of shooting Robert Wise's first colour film was probably lugging the enormous Technicolor camera about; which paradoxically makes it incongruously pretty to contemplate.

Desert Make Navy Chief Mad.

[rmax304823 · 4/10 · 25 July 2015]

I must say I enjoyed this a lot when I first saw it, but that was many years ago and I was a child. Today, after movies have been more or less modernized, it seems really crude. Careless may be a better word.

Half a dozen Navy men are sent to a remote weather station in Inner Mongolia. They are joined at the oasis by a group of Mongol nomads, for whom they request saddles from the U.S. Army. A Japanese air attack drives off the Mongols, destroys the radio, and kills the officer in command, leaving Chief Boatswain's Mate Widmark to lead the men in an attempt to reach the sea, hundreds of miles away.

The location shooting in Nevada depicts the arid grasslands of southeastern Inner Mongolia with some accuracy. The performances may be good too but it's impossible to tell because the script is so clumsy, as if aimed at kids who were my age when I first saw it.

No kidding. It's written as if written by a computer with a low IQ. The Mongols are properly dressed and their housing is accurate but they are nothing more than generic "natives" with strange customs, full of suspicion, and puzzled by a camera. "Desert make Navy Chief Mad," says Sitting Bull -- I mean Murvyn Vye, the white man who plays the Mongol chief.

There is one scene, though, that I find more amusing than I did on first viewing, and that's the scene in which Widmark has filled a large weather balloon with helium and is about to release it. It always reminds me of when I was a deck hand on a Coast Guard cutter at a weather station in the Pacific. The meteorologists used helium balloons with tails of radar-reflecting tinsel. One night, one of the snipes got into the weather shack, filled one of the balloons and brought it below where the crew lay stacked in their bunks, passing the balloon around and taking big hits off it. What you wind up with is cerebral anoxia because the more helium you breathe, the less oxygen you get. I can't help laughing when I remember those dozen sailors lolling around and saying in these squeaky Mickey-Mouse helium voices: "Man, I never been so stoned." Mais, je divage. Where was I? Yes, the movie. ALL of the dialog sound utterly trite, down to the wisecracks. There is the inevitable attractive native girl. "Well, it looks like you made a big hit with her; I don't know how you do it." "It's my training as a meteorologist, son. I can take one look at her and tell weather." (That's the best crack in the movie.) Richard Widmark's narration is up to the standard. "The heat swam up to you like too much batter in a waffle iron." That raises the question of whether the writer, Freeman, had learned how to write from reading lots of Raymond Chandler.

The second half of the film devolves into a "journey" movie with bedraggled men hauling themselves across blinding-white sand dunes praying the next oasis may be just over the next hill. They acquire camels from the Mongols. Their riding camels is treated as an epic comic event, accompanied by an antic version of "Anchors Away." And when the men change out of their dusty khakis and don dark Mongol gear with those clown hats, why it's just a zany laff riot.

The men are captured by the Japanese, imprisoned, stage an escape, steal a Chinese junk, and sail to Okinawa. I know it was directed by Robert Wise but he doesn't seem to have put much into it, and the writers were asleep at the helm. It could have been a comedy thriller if it had been handled right, with Burt Lancaster swinging from the shrouds.

Entertaining movie

[theghettodweller · 8/10 · 13 December 2013]

I saw Destination Gobi in 1953. I looked for a copy of the movie for years until I was able to get it on DVD. I have watched this movie several times since, and enjoy each viewing.

I differ from some of the more critical reviews. Too often the reviews come off as the "want-to- be movie critics", who seem to nitpick this and that. They fail to recognize that some movies are meant for just entertainment. Destination Gobi falls into this category. It wasn't meant to become Movie of the Year, nor to compete with Gone With the Wind.

I have most of the war movies made in my DVD library. World War II created many Hollywood opportunities in creating movies, along with governmental approval to boost patriotism. And, Hollywood produced many, some great, others poor. Movie goers liked some, disliked others. It's just a matter of one's own personal view of what they're looking for in a film. If it's for their desire to have an opportunity to become a pseudo-movie critic, then so be it. I watch movies for entertainment

WW2 film set in the Gobi Desert

[gordonl56 · 7/10 · 20 October 2015]

DESTINATION GOBI – 1953

Richard Widmark scored in a whole series of excellent film noir and westerns during the first 15 or so years of his career. His war films though are a mixed bag with most being average at best. (1950's Halls of Montezuma being the best of the bunch)

It is late 1944 and the war in the Pacific is drawing nearer to Japan. The US Navy sets up several weather stations in the Gobi Desert. These are to supply weather information so the Navy can plan their attacks etc.

A small group of ratings with one officer, Russell Collins, and a Chief Petty Officer, Widmark, set up one of these stations. Months go by and the men send in daily radio reports and wait for the weekly supply air-drop. The place is blazing hot by day and freezing cold by night. The men are bored silly.

A group of Mongol nomads arrive and set up camp. The nomads are led by Murvyn Vye. Relations between the Navy men and the Mongols are good for the most part. The Navy decides to form the Mongol horsemen into a protection detail. They fly in 60 old US Cavalry saddles for the Mongols.

Everyone seems happy with the deal till several Japanese aircraft pay a less than friendly visit. Several Mongols are killed along with the Navy officer, Collins. The station radio gear is shot to pieces and the Navy men are left alone when the Mongols all bug out.

Now in charge, Widmark decides to lead the men to the sea 800 miles away. The rest of the film follows their run-ins with various Mongol groups including Vye's bunch again. They end up at the coast and are gobbled up by the local Japanese garrison. Vye and his Mongols come to the rescue and break the Navy men out.

The whole group, Navy and Mongols alike, swipe a Chinese junk and set sail for Okinawa. There are a couple more close calls with death as they overcome a Japanese patrol craft and are nearly sunk by U.S. Navy aircraft.

The rest of the cast includes, Earl Holliman, Martin Milner, Darryl Hickman, Max Showalter and Don Taylor. Richard Loo also puts in one of his patented bits as a Japanese officer.

The story is apparently based on a real event. How much of the film story is real, or not, I'm not sure. Instead of playing the story straight, they keep throwing in comic bits which really do not work. Having said that, five time Oscar nominated, and four time winner, director Robert Wise, does a nice job moving the film along. Four time Oscar nominated, two time winner, cinematographer, Charles G Clarke supplies some nice camera-work.

At 90 minutes it moves along fast enough to be entertaining.

Lacked Suspense

[Uriah43 · 4/10 · 8 August 2015]

Although he has no interest in any assignment other than one at sea, a sailor by the name of "CPO Samuel T. McHale" (Richard Widmark) is sent into the middle of the Gobi Desert during World War 2 to assist a meteorologist set up a weather station. Not only does he have to deal with the inhospitable weather but his team also has to be alert for Japanese patrols and Mongol bandits as well. Although it had the advantage of being film in color during a period when most movies were produced in black and white, this particular movie didn't have the excitement and grandeur that I honestly expected to see in a picture of this type. Perhaps it was the extremely basic dialogue or the general lack of suspense but something seemed to be missing. Now that's not to say that this was necessarily a bad movie because it wasn't. However, I personally think it could have been better and as a result I have rated it accordingly.

Unusual Story for WW2

[gstevens-2 · 15 August 2002]

I saw this movie on television years ago. Thankfully it was filmed in color, which only serves to enhance the appearance of the Mongol culture depicted in the film. Richard Widmark is always fun to watch and watching the two opposite cultures Mongol and Navy try to deal with each other was interesting. The story was unusual although mostly factual and would like to see it again, even purchase it. It manages to keep your attention mostly without explosions and chaos typical of a wartime environment. Good movie!

DESTINATION GOBI (Robert Wise, 1953) **1/2

[Bunuel1976 · 6/10 · 3 April 2008]

While supposedly presenting “one of the strangest stories of WWII” (denoted in historical records merely by the cryptic phrase “Saddles For Gobi” – explained later), this film hardly constitutes the most engrossing or exciting war adventure to be depicted on the screen…and, besides, emerges as an even greater disappointment coming from a director of Wise’s stature! That said, the unusual desert location and attractive color cinematography makes it a pleasant – if forgettable – actioner. Apart from this, the fact that it’s one of Wise’s (and star Richard Widmark’s) rarest efforts, has made me leap at the chance of acquiring a copy of it (albeit an imperfect one, given the alarmingly frequent jerkiness of the image) – gleaned from a broadcast on French Satellite TV! – particularly in view of Widmark’s recent passing.

The interesting thing here is that, what starts off as a routine mission involving U.S. Navy personnel operating in a desert weather station, develops into a story of survival – as, following an aerial attack by the Japanese, the remaining members of the outfit trek towards the sea in an attempt to reach the Navy base on duty at Okinawa. Ironically, both the studio (Fox) and the star involved had already made a film about that campaign – Lewis Milestone’s HALLS OF MONTEZUMA (1950), which I’d watched on Italian TV but may check out again now (on DVD-R) as part of my ongoing Widmark tribute.

Amidst the typical camaraderie, the men suffer the elements, manage an unexpected alliance with a horde of Mongols (achieved by procuring the latter with saddles for their horses requisitioned from the U.S.!), are conned by a shady camel merchant, apparently betrayed to the Japanese forces by the Mongols themselves (though it transpires that the latter’s internment camp is actually close to the seashore) and then fight off the enemy on a ramshackle river boat. In the end, it’s certainly watchable and efficiently enough handled – but, as I said, the material per se isn’t inspiring enough to bring out the best from the talents involved…

decent movie worth watching ...

[Sherparsa · 7/10 · 12 July 2018]

Saw its title and brief story on tv last week or so and wasn't attracted ... but saw it tonight and well, it's true you shouldn't judge a book by its cover! didn't feel betrayed or lost after watching this little yet really nice movie ... there were many parts about it that brought a smile to my lips and overall i have to say it was quite a 'discovery' for me ... an underrated forgotten work perhaps?

Hollywood historical hokum.

[mark.waltz · 7/10 · 1 June 2022]

Based on a true story, it's hard to determine what part of it is fictionalized and what part of it actually happened, but it's fascinating nonetheless. A good performance by Richard Widmark and professional direction by Robert Wise, as well as good desert location photography, helps make this World War II story an amazing adventure about the necessity of survival and the desperation to stay out of enemy hands. It's also about finding necessary allies who may not have the same heights of cultural elements in common but finding what they do have so they can aide each other during wartime.

In this case, it's a group of sailors led by Widmark's McHale (jokes are obvious so I'm not going there) who encounter a group of nomad Mongolians who live inside the Great Wall of China and are avoiding Japanese conquest, aiding the Americans in traveling across the very hot desert where they do eventually end up being captured by the Japanese. Their efforts to escape as well as aide to the war are documented with many amusing situations occurring which includes the trade of saddles for other necessities and the Mongolian's fascination with something that they've never seen before called a camera.

In researching this film, it appears that much of the detail is accurate although I doubt that anyone of Mongolian descent looked like Murvyn Vye. The all male cast includes Don Taylor, Martin Milner, Max Showalter and Darryl Hickman, and the difference in the many characters provides plenty of entertainment. Action-packed and fast-moving, it's a unique war story that is pretty believable although some of the situations are questionable. Perhaps not a movie that Robert Wise would have choose to direct if he had the choice, but his professional hand is obvious in making it a cinematic treat.

Weather forecasters on camel

[jgcorrea · 6/10 · 25 November 2019]

Destination Gobi is a Technicolor film directed by master craftsman Robert Wise. Richard Widmark plays a longtime Navy man who improbably finds himself "babysitting" a small crew of Navy weathermen stationed in the Gobi Desert. The team is responsible for helping to forecast weather in the Pacific Theatre. The film is said to be based on a true story, and the script blends sarcastic humor, poignancy, and flashes of action to create a somewhat absorbing WWII saga. Ain't it a rare thing to see meteorologic seers attempting to evade a Japanese army while riding camels across the desert? The cinematography was by Charles G. Clarke , who creates some striking shots with the Nevada Desert standing in for the Gobi. A favorite scene is when the weathermen pass their Skipper's burial place as they leave camp, against a backdrop of a beautiful cloud-filled sky. A serviceable music score was composed by Sol Kaplan.

It's fine

[rdoyle29 · 7/10 · 1 January 2023]

Richard Widmark is a naval officer during WWII who finds himself assigned to be the military liaison to a remote weather station in Mongolia. When they hear that the Japanese have been sighted in the Gobi desert, they make a deal with a tribe of Mongol nomads trading US saddles for help against the Japanese. When Japanese planes attack their camp killing the commander and destroying their radio, the Mongols leave and Widmark decides that they'll all walk across the Gobi desert to the sea.

Robert Wise's first colour film is an unusual and fairly engaging war film with a bunch of disparate parts that never really come together into a compelling whole. Widmark makes for a good lead and the odd assortment of actors playing his men include Don Taylor, Max Showalter, Martin Milner and Chipmunks impresario Ross Bagdasarian. It's got suspense, it's got humor ... it's fine.

The film is pretty respectful of the Mongols despite the fact that all the speaking parts are Americans in makeup.

Another US how-we-won-the-war movie with US-stereotypes of other cultures

[qljsystems · 1/10 · 6 April 2008]

Hollywood was awash with triumphalist movies about the US military's comrades-in-arms in the first 10 years after the war in a self-congratulating furore to re-write history according to US attitudes and prejudices. You know the routine: sassy one-liners, everyone's nickname is "Mac" or "Buddy", everyone looks like a hero, serious leg-wounds that hospitalize us mortals are laughed off as inconvenient flesh-wounds that only need a quick bandage. Not for the Japs or Jerries, of course. The nasty-horrible baddies pepper the battlefield with bullets and grenades and one US hero dies; the US lieutenant fires his pistol once and a squadron of Nazi tanks explode and a thousand enemy soldiers writhe on the floor in screaming death-throes. Ha, ha, ha... ho, ho, ho... this is how we won the war, boys! It's so clichéd it could pass for pantomime.

Destination Gobi is no exception. Watching this movie demonstrates how much our attitudes have changed.

This is another one of those movies, but with the added bonus of being set in the Gobi Desert... if the Gobi Desert looks anything like California. The Mongols are suspicious savages - little more than replicas of the caricatured American Indians, but wearing supposed Mongolian clothes instead. The Mongols ride big, US Cavalry style horses and speak in monosyllabic words. They steal stuff from the US navy men. They want to kill one of them for using a camera, naturally. Makes sense, of course... since the Mongolians are ignorant savages who don't respect the brave US military servicemen and they all think a little camera's going to kill them.

It never occurred to the film-makers to actually visit Mongolia and find out that the Mongolians ride small but sturdy ponies, live on a diet of goats and sheep milk and meat, learn how to wrestle for a centuries-old tradition of annual competitions, thunder across the desert and steppes on their ponies for countless miles in great tribal gatherings, have a typical Far Eastern respect for foreigners and strangers and their possessions and are a modest, reserved breed of people who live a tough existence in one of the most windswept places on earth. If the film-makers had, the Mongolians in this movie wouldn't have ended up looking like Klingons in fur caftans.

Of course, the brave, all-knowing US servicemen in this movie drill the Mongolians in cavalry techniques. Only stands to reason, naturally. If it weren't for the US Cavalry in the Middle Ages, Genghis Khan wouldn't have sacked China, traversed the endless Russian Steppes, crushed a mighty East Indian kingdom guarded by walled fortress cities, crossed the unexplored Arabian Desert, sieged Baghdad while it was being invaded by Crusaders, and thundered into a startled Europe.

Having been raised on a diet of such laughable caricatures and cultural superiority (as we all were in the 1960s, 70s and 80s), is it any wonder that the US faces current levels of fragile international relations?

Great humane tongue in cheek drama

[michaelter · 10/10 · 28 April 2002]

Can't believe this one is from 1953, it feels like it was done last year.

The vistas and the panoramas of the desert are stunning and the cultural representation of Chinese and Mongols is authentic without any Hollywood tricks, which is amazing not only for 1953 but for 2002 as well.

Destination Okinawa

[michaelarmer · 5/10 · 21 December 2019]

That's what the title should have been, because they were already in the Gobi when the Japs came after them and they had to escape, Okinawa being the place they wanted to reach when escaping.

Despite that it is supposed to be a true story, but there are a lot of errors in this film, a real lot, one of the major ones is Geography. They were supposed to be at an Oasis called Chingwen, no such Oasis exists in Inner Mongolia, nor anywhere in the Gobi Desert region (even with different pinyin spelling), the oasis where they pointed to on the map (at start of film) is called Ejin Qi (pronounced Herjin Chee), which is an Oasis area with 2 lakes, Juyan & Subo Naoer, fed from the river Hei He, with a few settlements around, none which sound even similar to Chingwen. None of the place names they came across were real names (Peiping was the nearest which they probably meant BeiJing or as it was known by the west at that time - Peking), and the village which they arrived in was just over the Great Wall, yet it had a port on a sea coast, the Great Wall is several hundred miles from the sea even at its closest point, they claimed it was 800 miles to the sea from their location "Chingwen", the oasis they were supposed to be at is about 1100m from the nearest sea. The Great wall looked more like a English fortress town wall, like Chester, not like the Chinese Great Wall.

Something which worried me about the film are parts which summed up the attitudes of USA at that time, firstly the fact that when two Japanese planes approached, the Americans opened fire straight away, not waiting to see if they had been discovered, a case of American thinking of Shoot First, ask questions later!, which gave them away, if they had not opened fire the Japs might not have discovered them, just seeing a tribe of mongols at the Oasis, in the film up until that point the Japs had not discovered them yet. Secondly one of the weathermen took a fancy to a young pretty mongol girl (played by a Chinese woman who was actually 22 but looked 13), who looked underage, yet every other character acted as if that was normal, fortunately the character did not have sex with the girl nor take her back home at the end, but it just shows the attitude of American men in the 1950's (film was made in 1952-53), that grown men dating underage girls was normal, I suppose it was the times, it is hard to judge yesteryear by today's standards, but I am sure it was still "wrong" then. Nowadays he would be locked away for many years, acquiring the tag of Paedophile!

One of my criticisms of many Hollywood films is not using actors of the nationality they are supposed to be portraying, and this film is not much different, the mongol extras were played by American Natives, which was reasonably ok, since all american natives are descended from ancient mongols who managed to cross the land bridge from Siberia to Alaska, so they look more similar to mongols than any other race, but some of the main actors that were supposed to be Mongol/Chinese/Japanese were actually European Americans (although he was a good actor, the Mongol chief was played by a guy from Massachusetts!), at least some of the Japanese were actually Japanese Americans. Despite these "faults/problems", the film was adventurous and entertaining, some of the acting was Ok, Widmark as the star was best, I have always thought him to be a good dramatic film actor. The photography was very good, using Nevada and Arizona as the Gobi, although still a bit greener than the Gobi (one of the driest deserts on Earth, I know I have visited the Gobi myself) they were a close match, the direction was ok from the noted director Robert Wise, but not one of his best, he did his best with the material at hand I suppose. Music was average.

The best thing of the entire film was the Chinese village, I have been to several old Chinese villages (including one where I was told no westerner had been before) and it was very realistic, they must of got a "real" Chinese person to design it as it was spot on.

5 out of 10 for Richard Widmark, Photography and the Chinese Village.

The poor Mongols

[mulveymeister · 1/10 · 14 October 2008]

The UKs Channel 4 TV is showing a series of WW2 action films. They vary in quality, but this is the worst so far. The acting is wooden, the film is clichéd, the screenplay is lazy and the Mongolian culture is so insulted by Hollywood's 1950s image of indigenous peoples. Look at the wonderful family film 'The Cave of the Yellow Dog' to see the Mongols as they wish to be viewed. Find some wonderful films starring Richard Widmark (How the West was Won, Judgement at Nuremberg or The Alamo for example) rather than this rubbish. Whilst Everett Freeman was a prolific Hollywood writer, this was Edmond G. Love's only film. I am not surprised to see a long list of uncredited actors. Robert Wise was such an accomplished director, he must have been very inexperienced to do this work. He went on to direct classics like West Side Story, the Sound of Music and even Star Trek. This should be allowed to slip away uncredited to protect his good name.I cannot give more than 1 out of 10.

I watched this in 1960-1-2? On TV in Norfolk...

[RebBacchus · 10/10 · 8 April 2020]

While my Dad was flying ASW helicopters and recovering astronauts. I asked him about the Gobi and it turned out he knew one of the men. Dad was class of '46 that graduated in '45, and before he went to flight school he was in China while the Communist we're taking over.

I asked him how important it really was to have a weather station there and he said it was vital! Subs could provide some weather data but they really need a longer range forecast that the subs couldn't provide.

Most folks don't know that the firebombing of Tokyo produced more deaths and destruction than the A-Bomb. Those missions had to have data from Gobi to be successful.

They were brave men and had we taken advantage of the relationships they formed the history of Mongolia might have been different.