Tank Force (1958) User Reviews

Enjoyable desert adventure, WW2 style

[Leofwine_draca · 6/10 · 18 September 2016]

I caught this on TV under the title TANK FORCE. It's a British WW2 movie made up to look like an American film with Victor Mature as the imported lead and to the film's credit it always convinces as a bigger budgeted production. While scenes of tank warfare are limited to moments at the beginning and end, for the most part this is a fitfully exciting desert adventure with some suspense and incident to see it through.

The film features a mature Mature and a very good Leo Genn as allies who are sent to an Italian prisoner of war camp in North Africa and who vow to escape. The supporting cast is populated by the familiar faces of Anthony Newley, Percy Herbert, George Coulouris, and many others. Once the plot gets going it trundles along quite nicely with the usual run of plot twists, betrayals, and sudden death, and there's even time for a scene of romance or two here and there. Genn in particular is very good as the Brit with the stiff upper lip and the exciting climax rounds things off quite nicely.

Victor Mature Vs. The Africa Corps

[boblipton · 6/10 · 28 June 2019]

A British tank unit is captured in the dark days of the North African campaign of the Second World War, including sketchy (by British standards) Victor Mature. He's there because his Jewish wife was killed by Nazis, so he tried to kill Goebbels. Also because they needed an American star for this British production to satisfy Columbia Pictures. Anyway, they escape and wander around Lybia.

Terence Young's movie is a disturbing mixture of standard tropes from POW movies, THE BRIDGE ON THE RIVER KWAI, and bits that I have only noticed in THE GREAT ESCAPE. Perhaps they were stories floating around, perhaps the screenwriters (including Young) had read the memoirs, and perhaps Young was drawing on his own wartime experience, as he did with his earlier THEY WERE NOT DIVIDED. The mixture of cliches and oddities gives the movie and interesting but erratic pacing. Certainly the actors, including Leo Genn and Anthony Newly help, as does the brilliant on-site Technicolor camerawork by Ted Moore.

Tanks a Million!

[The_Dying_Flutchman · 5/10 · 8 November 2011]

"Tank Force!" is an American paid for WWII programmer starring an aging Victor Mature and a supporting cast of of British stalwarts lead by Leo Genn the kind of English character actor who made many B movies that much more watchable.

The plot revolves around a prisoner of war camp in the Libyan desert populated by the usual stereotypes including the young, at the time, song and dance man, Anthony Newley. Five members of the camp belong to a tank battalion who at this juncture are obviously tankless,but being typical and jovial beyond reproach, break out and go wandering through the dunes looking for a safe place to crash. They find it in an old oasis hotel filled to overflowing with the usual churlish Nazi horde. And would you believe, an old girlfriend of Mr. Mature. She gives them food and water and is bumped off in a shorter order than it would have taken the kitchen to order up. Poor Luciana Paluzzo is kissed on the forehead, covered up with a blanket and left to find a job in a better flick than this one.

The five sand fleas wander off into the Libyan night pursued by Nazis and a nasty Arab chieftain. Everything deserty you can think of happens to them until they are caught. Old Vic endures the torture of a thousand knives until a nice German flings a map of dune country at them along with a loaded pistol.The kraut then turns and shoots himself undoubtedly disturbed by the insane torture perpetrated on Mr. Vic.

It all ends with a B movie finale as the proto Rat Patrol steals a German tank and kills everybody in sight.

A serviceable time waster, then, with opening and closing tank battles in 1958 widescreen and color. Hail Columbia! The movie company that is.

Victor is over mature

[malcolmgsw · 6/10 · 3 November 2015]

This is a film made here in the UK by Warwick Films,the partnership of Irwin Allen and Cubby Broccoli.They generally specialised in making up market action films in colour with an American star.In this instance it is Victor Mature who at 46 is a bit overage for any army let alone the British tank corp.His rational for being in the British Army is all a bit silly as is the script which at times seems to be a boys own adventure.He has the stoical Leo Genn in support.Anthony Newley,a rising star at the time is the cockney private,normally played by Sam Kydd,and in one of his last films,before his tragic early death,Bonar Celleano.The problem with the film is the star and the script.Otherwise it is entertaining.

Westerns go to WW2

[GianfrancoSpada · 7/10 · 28 July 2023]

Good ingredients: cast, location, plot that could have produced a masterpiece but fall a bit short. I understand that accuracy of military vehicles wasn't crucial in a film from the late '50s, but in this case, there's a total confusion of vehicles and weaponry. It's hard to fully immerse oneself in the setting when you see vehicles from a period after the war. The sound also has many flaws, as the weapons sound like they're from a typical Western movie. In fact, it feels like a typical Western movie transported to World War II.

There's a lack of creativity in the plot development, as it always seems too easy to escape (from prisoner camps, ambushes, etc.).

My score would be an 8, but I have to deduct a point for the extremely inaccurate use of the vehicles used.

Keep Fumbling the capture

[bkoganbing · 4/10 · 8 November 2011]

Tank Force is a curious combination of The Great Escape and Desperate Journey. Only four British prisoners one of them an American and another one a Pole, manage to escape in what should have been a more successful operation from combined German and Italian custody on the African front.

Leo Genn is one of the escapees and he's a strict by the book disciplinarian. Bonar Colleano plays the Pole who has enlisted in the British Army after his country surrendered. He's fighting his own private war with the Axis and does not take to discipline easily.

But in that regard he's nothing to Victor Mature. He's an American who was married to a Jewish wife and who tried to assassinate Joe Goebbels and escaped Nazi custody. When the Axis finds out Mature's in their custody, he has to escape and quick because he won't be treated like any other prisoner of war.

Desperate Journey was one of my least favorite Errol Flynn movies. It shows the Nazis as the stupidest kind of people imaginable. When the fantastic four of Mature, Genn, Newley, and Colleano escape in the African desert, both the Nazis and the Italians keep fumbling the capture. It was getting ridiculous after a while.

The quality of Mature's work went down considerably after he left 20th Century Fox for the most part and Tank Force is a prime example.

Tank Force! Review

[JoeytheBrit · 6/10 · 15 April 2020]

Members of the eponymous tank force languishing in a North African POW camp in North Africa during WWII plan a daring escape. An ageing Victor Mature looks out of place surrounded by a host of British character actors in an otherwise solid little action picture filmed in Technicolor. Its routine plot is enlivened by strong action in the opening and closing scenes, a Polish character who switches repeatedly from good guy to bad, and an interesting German officer with a conscience.

Sands of the Desert

[richardchatten · 4/10 · 9 September 2020]

A meaner version of 'The Great Escape' set in North Africa rather than Europe, gathering together for the first time 'Thunderball's director, cameraman and femme fatale (while the supporting cast includes Robert Rietty, who dubbed Largo).

As a Warwick production it inevitably includes unfunny comedy relief from Anthony Newley, (along with Anne Aubrey in her film debut). Most of the Germans are played by Brits, although Bonar Colleano (shortly afterwards killed in a car crash) is ironically dubbed and sporting a bleached crewcut as a Pole.

Vic slumming it with the Brits.

[planktonrules · 6/10 · 1 May 2024]

"Tank Force" is set in North Africa during WWII. The story begins with an Axis victory and many Brits are captured. Among them is Thatcher (Victor Mature)...a middle-aged American who somehow got into a British unit. I have no idea if Americans served with the British infantry or tank corps during the war, though I know some American volunteers did fly for the RAF. It seems Thatcher is more eager than most to escape the Italian/German POW camp, as some time before he made an attempt on Goebbels' life...and the Germans would love to know his identity. So, this means he had better escape...and soon.

Most of this movie consists of the characters on the run from the Axis...hoping to eventually reach Allied lines. Occasionally, they fight it out with the baddies. Otherwise, that's about all there is to it. It's not bad though not especially deep as well. I also think the Goebbels angle was unnecessary and even detracted a bit from the film, as it's hard imagining anyone in this situation ever having any chance of escaping.

By the way, according to IMDB there is an American edit as well as a British edit for this film and the longer of the two is the British one. The copy I had ran 86 minutes and was the American version.

Also, the 'German' tanks in the film are British and the halftracks are American. This sort of thing doesn't particularly bother me, as nearly all the German vehicles were destroyed in the war and simply weren't available for movies.

World War II Action in North Africa

[Uriah43 · 5/10 · 29 October 2016]

This movie begins with a tank battle in the desert of North Africa between the Axis allies of Germany and Italy against Great Britain. Following a devastating victory by the Germans several British soldiers are taken prisoner with one particular American soldier by the name of "Sergeant David Thatcher" (Victor Mature) captured as well. However, there is more to Sergeant Thatcher than meets the eye and the Germans have a special interest in him above all of the other soldiers they have captured. At any rate, rather than possibly spoil the film for those who haven't seen it I will just say that although the film starts out with a tank battle there are relatively few scenes involving tanks at all. As a matter of fact, most of this movie involves a desperate attempt by a few allied soldiers to escape while the Germans and Italians are in hot pursuit. In any case, it was a decent Grade-B film for the most part with plenty of action and adequate acting throughout and I have rated it accordingly. Average.

No time to die (UK title)

[coltras35 · 7/10 · 13 January 2024]

In this WW II adventure, five brave Allies endeavor to escape from an Italian POW camp in North Africa. They succeed, but their trials are not over as they must still cross the burning Libyan desert to get safely behind Allied lines. En route they are captured by a Nazi-loving sheik. The sheik takes considerable time to decide the fate of the escapees; in that time, the five manage to escape again. This time they kill their captors.

Though it stars the charismatic Victor Mature, the focus isn't just on him, the other cast members such as Leo Genn, Anthony Newley and Bonar Colleano -who steals the scene as a soldier gone kill mad - get screen time. It's a solid WWII POW escape film with a strong boys own adventure leanings - there's some tense moments and a ton of explosions courtesy of WWII real tanks that blow things up everywhere. Character development is curtailed due to the frantic and a sense of urgency of the escape and adventure where things happen. Superb desert scenery that is depicted as a harsh environment than in a dreamy and romantic adds some grit. Victor Mature is excellent as always, the scene where he holds a dead Luciana Paluzzi and covers her with a blanket is touchingly done.

some good tank action

[SnoopyStyle · 5/10 · 27 June 2019]

British armor forces get routed by the Germans in WWII North Africa. Daniel Thatcher (Victor Mature) is one of those taken. Immediately, he makes an escape attempt even without permission. He is quickly recaptured. The American had actually tried to assassinate Josef Goebbels and would be a prized captive.

I like this movie until that one German soldier. It's the start of a series of unfortunate plot turns. The movie starts with some good tank action. The prison camp is standard. The escape runs into a couple of obstacles. When that one German soldier turns, the movie goes into bad melodrama. There are contrivances and bad plot points. At least, it finishes with some more solid tank action.

Lame, clumsy and boring.

[addygeezer · 1/10 · 28 February 2021]

Lame, clumsy and boring. Laughable waste of time and effort. I don't understand the previous ratings. Poor acting and action. Terrible production and direction.

Oh man... I have seen bad movies, but this...

[jlpicard1701E · 3/10 · 12 January 2022]

Let me talk as a somehow expert on World War II, and believe me I have also seen other ridiculous and badly fumbled war movies of this kind, such as the 1965 produced "Battle of the Bulge".

What were the producers thinking?

Well, for one, back in 1958 and in 1965 many people really didn't care much about historic accuracy in WWII movies, just because much of the material that would explain such things was not as yet available.

So, what were these movies really like?

Well, call it war adventure/fantasy, since some themes were just ludicrous at best, and in many cases also very inaccurate.

Even "Battle of the Bulge" came out attempting to display one of the most pivotal and actually vital battles of the late part of the war, and despite its two and a half hours in length, managed just to become such an adventure movie without much historical background rather than its title.

For instance, they never actually pointed out where the various skirmishes between U. S. Troops/Tankers and the German Tank Force took place and the uniforms themselves seemed a bit taken from a theatrical wardrobe, rather than being the right ones worn both by German and American soldiers in the latter part of the war.

And as in "Battle of the Bulge" even in "Tank Force" you find fake German Tanks.

Granted, at that time much of the German material was used for scrap, but with some effort producers could have found some remnants, having been delivered to Arab Armies, and seemingly even Israel had some for training.

And yet, depicting Tiger tanks with British Centurions is outlandish at best, just like in "BotB" using Patton Tanks to depict King Tigers was indeed stupid.

But while finding actual Tiger or King Tiger tanks would have been difficult, also because a very few were at any time present in Africa since 1942, or later in Belgium, one could have easily have opted for readily available Panzer IVs and Panzer III, which were easily available from Spain, Arab Countries and as said, even Israel, if anyone had made his homework properly.

Especially the Panzer IV was a formidable foe and many times confused by Americans with a Tiger tank.

Now let's see the British side. They used Cromwells to probably depict Valentines. The Cromwell entered the fray late in WWII and was not used in Africa but vastly employed since D-Day in North-Western Europe.

And then the final insult. Huge Iron Crosses highly visible on the sides of the Centurions and repeated in the front and rear of the same. Add to this a very visible Swastika also painted on the side of these tanks.

This is truly madness. German tanks seldom wore highly visible National insignias on their tanks and vehicles, ever since their bad experience in the Polish Campaign in 1939, where they were used by the Polish Forces to identify them and knock them out.

If ever they would have had small Emblems on their turrets together with the platoon and regiment number (if ever) and in the front and rear the symbol of the Afrika Corps, which was a Palm Tree with a small swastika in its midst, and this, painted in white.

Such gross mistakes could have easily been avoided, but no one seemed to care.

Besides the story in itself is preposterous since no one ever attempted to kill Joseph Goebbels, also because being a very high ranking Official within the Nazi Party had a vast and highly well trained personal guard protecting him that would have immediately reacted by killing the would be killer.

Many were the movies dealing with the African campaign and only a very few actually were of some worth. Not even movies like "Tobruk" or the Italo/French produced "Battle of El Alamein" were or are to be considered serious efforts at depicting the true events, but rather adventurous fictions.

The only exceptions being "The Big Red One", "Patton", "The Desert Fox" and "The Desert Rats", although the former two only depicted two specific events in that Campaign.

More recently, at least in the early millennium did the Italians produce a TV movie also called "El Alamein" depicting a dramatized but at least accurate depiction of that battle.

It is amazing to me to see that no one ever made a serious effort to at least try to come up with something genuine and honest regarding the African Campaign.

But for that matter,, we are still waiting an honest and thorough account of what really happened during the so called Battle of the Bulge, which a movie alone will never be able to fully satisfy, due to its complexity, and that I must assume will only be feasible if produced as a mini series.

Still, this movie is a stinker, at least in my view, and unless you don't really care about historic fact and rather prefer the big bang factor, might still satisfy you, but as a WWII movie it is a completely wasted effort.

I gave it three stars for the efforts made by the cast and stuntmen in it, but if I had been in it as an actor, I would have been ashamed to ever receiving a credit for it.

Suspenseful WWII epic packs notable plethora of prestigious Brit actors along with the American Victor Mature.

[ma-cortes · 5/10 · 11 April 2024]

This exciting war/adventure about a misfit band of soldiers on a daring mission while flee from a camp from Lybia desert. Tank Force! (1958) is set during WW2 in North Africa, an American sergeant, Daniel Thatcher (Victor Mature) serving with the British 8th Army in a British tank corps in North Africa. He and most of his unit (Leo Genn, Anthony Newley, Bonar Colleano) are captured by the Germans, and imprisoned at a concentration camp. But Nazis learn his identity as a man who once tried to assassinate Josef Goebbels, Hitler's right-hand man. He hatches various plans of escape from the POW camp. The escaped prisoners throughout desert trying to make their bid to freedom , including pursuits and tank attacks. When iron men in iron monsters fought for a continent !. Hitting the Screen With Irresistible Force!. And introducing...Italy's most exciting new film firebrand Luciana Paluzzi !. The Titanic Battle of World War II! When the men from the ranks held the Desert - in Tanks !.

This WW2 movie is packed with noisy action, suspense, thrills, spectacular tank combats and is quite entertaining. By the time the plentiful action and incident get under way, there's not much time to relax either. This is the story of four men who believed in freedom, and had the guts to seek it across the burning desert. This is a thrilling, if implausible WWII adventure that has its good moments here and there. Director Terence Young (who had previously served in the British Army) and his cast were shooting in the Libyan and Morocco deserts for 8 weeks. The film was internationally released as No time to die ! Or Tank Force!. Runtime film is adequate, 86 min minutes, but isn't boring and gets lots of amusement for the fast-movement. From the beginning until the ending , the action movie is continuous. Interesting screenplay by director Terence Young himself, Merle Miller and "loosely based" on author Ronald Kemp's "No Time to Die" novel (London, 1954). It is co-written by veteran James Bond film series writer Richard Maibaum who co-wrote thirteen Bond movies and collaborated with producer Albert R. 'Cubby' Broccoli on eight other pictures . This is one of the best of several movies about commandos and imprisoned soldiers from beyond behind enemy lines. The film is more in the wake of the concentration camps with a study of the characters, and their getaway as will be the later ¨John Sturges' The Great Escape¨ more than the style of commando subgenre as ¨Dirty dozen¨,¨Tobruk¨, ¨Kelly's heroes¨ , ¨Where eagles dare ¨ and the group of films that were made regarding to warlike adventures during the 1960-1970 years about special forces in dangerous missions. However, Tank Force!(1958) obtained limited success at the box office.

The film is mediocre, but you really can't blame Victor Mature as a tough Sergeant for his idiomatic choice of command to his fellow escapees from an Italian prison camp in the Libyan desert. Because he is laying that almost inevitable role in British movies of the Fifties, the token Yank. Mature became one of Hollywood's busiest and most popular actors after the war , though rarely was he given the critical respect he often deserved. These enjoyable films were all ordinarily played by Mature who was nearly at his most agile and deft style , as he starred various Adventure films and was superstar of Hollywood epics . His roles in John Ford's My darling Clementine (1946) and in Henry Hathaway's Kiss of the death (1947) were among his finest work, though he moved more and more frequently into more exotic roles in films like Samson y Delilah (1949) and Sinuhe, the Egyptian (1954) . Never an energetic actor nor one of great artistic pretensions, he nevertheless continued as a Hollywood stalwart both in programme and in more prominent films like The Robe (1953). More interested in golf than acting, his appearances diminished through the 1960s, but he made a stunning comeback of sorts in a hilarious romp as a very Victor Mature-like actor in Neil Simon's Zorro (1966). One of six movies (Zarak, The Bandit of Zhobe, Safari..) that Victor Mature made for the British production company Warwick Films. Warwick was set up by Irving Allen and Albert R. Broccoli, and its main purpose was that it offered a Europea lifeline to fading Hollywood stars such as Mature, Robert Taylor and Alan Ladd. Victor Mature is well aaccompanied by a good secondary cast - mainly made up of British actors-, such as: Leo Genn, Anthony Newley, Bonar Colleano, Anne Aubrey, George Coulouris, Alfred Burke, David Lodge and the wasted italian Luciana Paluzzi, who Terence Young himself, shortly after, would lead her to success as a Bond girl in Thunderball (1965).

The motion picture was professionally directed by Terence Young, though has some flaws and failures. Young participated in the Royal Armored Corps as an officer during the Second World War. Terence Young was an uneven filmmaker with hits and flops. As he made three of the best Bond films: Doctor No , Thunderball, From Russia with love, he also directed other genres , Western : Red Sun , Drama/intrigue : Klansman, Bloodline , Jigsaw man , The poppy is also flower, wait until dark ; Costumer : Adventures of Moll Flanders , Adventure : The Rover and WWII : Triple Cross. Rating 5,5/10 , acceptable and passable . The movie will appeal to WWII buffs.