The Black Tent (1956) User Reviews

Mildly entertaining, visually splendid, but it could have been much better.

[robin-moss2 · 5/10 · 13 January 2007]

"The Black Tent" was made several years before "Lawrence Of Arabia." Had it been made ten years later, it would have been accused of plagiarism. Instead it can be said in some respects to anticipate "Lawrence of Arabia".

After The Second World War, the heir to an extensive British country estate complete with enormous house and agricultural land travels to Libya to learn what happened to his brother. With one Arab to guide him, he journeys by camel across the vast deserts to talk with a tribal chief - as also happened in "Lawrence". After various delays, he is given his brother's diary and learns the truth. During the war, his brother had become detached from his regiment and had been the sole Briton amongst Arabs - as was the case in "Lawrence Of Arabia" He had led Arab fighters in ambushes on enemy patrols - as also happened in "Lawrence Of Arabia". The brother had married the daughter of the tribal chief, and eventually had been killed in action against German soldiers. Again like "Lawrence Of Arabia" the cinematography - here in VistaVision and Technicolor - shows the vastness of the desert and makes it strangely beautiful.

Unlike "Lawrence Of Arabia" "The Black Tent" had a journeyman director, and was made with little attention to detail or realism. All the Arabs speak English fluently and with Received Pronunciation! Even more ludicrously, the younger brother travels across the desert by camel wearing a suit and tie and city shoes! He does not even break into a sweat! More seriously, there is no tension in the movie. The action sequences are unimaginatively staged, and scenes where suspense should be agonising - such as when Germans enter the Arab camp and discover the British soldier's gun or when German soldiers visit an ancient ruin and take photographs of themselves within a few yards of the fugitive British soldier - are entirely free of tension.

"The Black Tent" is mildly entertaining and is certainly visually splendid, but it could and should have been much better.

An interesting idea, though its execution is a bit slow and dull.

[planktonrules · 6/10 · 26 October 2013]

"The Black Tent" begins with a man in Britain being told that his brother, the heir to the family fortune, MIGHT still be alive in North Africa--over a decade after he was assumed to have died fighting in WWII. However, when he tracks down the Bedoins who sheltered and healed him during the war, they deny having any other knowledge of him. After he leaves, however, he finds his brother's diary--someone had stuck it in his belongings in order to let him know the truth. Most of what follows is a flashback--flashbacks where you learn that the brother was like a son to the Chief and that he even eventually married the man's daughter! But the story goes beyond that--he even organized the locals into a small guerrilla army which attacked Axis troops! What happened next? See the film.

By far the best thing about this movie is the location shooting. The amazing ruins at Sabratha, Libya serve as a backdrop as is the nearby desert. However beautiful this is, however, the story itself isn't that captivating. Now it isn't because the idea is bad--it's not. But he execution seemed very plodding and flat. The writing could have been better and the actors a bit more charismatic. Still, a watchable adventure tale that is reasonably watchable.

Well it's more multi-coloured than black.

[hitchcockthelegend · 5/10 · 9 March 2015]

But I'm just being facetious!

Brian Desmond Hurst directs, Anthony Steel and André Morell star, Bryan Forbes and Robin Maugham write, William Alwyn scores the music and Desmond Dickinson photographs in VistaVision Technicolor.

It looks lovely, the Libya locations amazing, yet it's a dull and uneventful movie. Story concerns Capt. David Holland (Steel), who during WWII in the North African campaign gets injured and winds up being nursed by some Bedouin natives. He promptly becomes part of the crowd, falls in love with the Sheik's daughter and instigates a repel the Nazis front with the natives. But what happened next? Holland's brother, Col. Sir Charles (Donald Sinden), travels to Libya to find out.

What he finds is obviously what we find out, that there's an inter racial romance at the heart of the story, some mistrust, loyalties born, a small scale battle and a double edged sword of a finale. It's all very contrived and mismatched, while some of the acting comes dangerously close to being parody supreme. Not good really and the tech guys deserve a better movie, and so do we. Oh well, if nothing else it obviously inspired Lawrence of Arabia. Hee hee hee. 5/10

Great scenery, terrible plot

[duncankennett · 5/10 · 30 January 2003]

Even as a fan of Donald Sinden, this is only an OK offering. The most enjoyable part has to be the amazing locations, set in Libya. The original story was obviously a long novel that was a real struggle to compress into a script

Inch Allah.

[ulicknormanowen · 7/10 · 19 October 2022]

An unfairly underrated movie, the rating of which not reflecting its genuine qualities.

The screenplay is brilliantly constructed, and may baffle the viewer ;when the movie begings ,Sinden seems to play the principal ,but after some twenty minutes,Anthony Steele becomes the true star ; his diary is a good idea. The returns to present are rare but thoroughly relevant ;till the very end ,one does not know what has become of the missing brother .

Falsely called "war movie", it's closer to melodramatic exotic adventures ; WW2 is only a background and the historical events are only tidings (Rommel's victory , then El Alamein) ; the German intervenes in the Bedouin's camp and the director takes advantage of the ruins (the film almost entirely filmed on location) but it only leads to a small ambush.

The essential concerns the relationship between a handsome British officer and a gorgeous bedouin girl;Please do not compare it to epics such as "Lawrence of Arabia " ; its purpose is to depict the huge gap between the Bedouins' humble life and the British civilization ,which creates the final dilemma. It may delude for some time ,when David asks the girl to follow her in his land of pastures of plenty ,but would have it been possible even if......?

An Arabian Nights interval during World War II

[bkoganbing · 2/10 · 16 January 2016]

A whole lot of good British actors who've seen and done better in their careers were wasted in this potboiler of a World War II movie with an Arabian Nights interval. The Black Tent tells the story of Donald Sinden going into the desert to find what happened to his brother Anthony Steel who is missing in action.

What a time Steel had as Sinden learns when he's given the diary that Steel kept. He was in a firefight with some of Rommel's troops and was the only survivor. Steel manages to make his way to Sheik Andre Morrell's camp at an oasis near a Roman ruin and their has a little romantic interlude with his daughter Anna-Maria Sandri. Some of Rommel's stragglers make their way to the sheik's camp, but they're dealt with.

During all this time while Steel's having a little R&R the Axis take Tobruk, but then the Eighth Army beats them at El Alamein and puts them in full retreat. When that happens Steel pulls a Lawrence Of Arabia and leads the sheik's men in an ambush on some of Rommel's troops. Wouldn't want anyone to think he was on extended furlough would we?

Sadly Steel is killed, but Sinden discovers that he's got himself a juvenile nephew now. He offers young Terence Sharkey a choice, come back to the United Kingdom for a life as a gentleman or stay in Grandpa's tent. What do you think he chooses?

I guess my review is in the form of this jocular synopsis of this very bad movie. Even Donald Pleasance as Sinden's desert guide is wasted here. Pleasance and all the rest of the cast just look downright embarrassed. They summon up all the enthusiasm of someone awaiting a proctologist.

When you've got location footage like this, I can forgive the slow pacing.

[mark.waltz · 6/10 · 8 July 2022]

In watching this amazing movie, I feel like I flew from the USA to Libya and back in 90 minutes and got to spend time at some of the most beautiful desert locations I'll never see in real life. When the amazingly handsome Anthony Steel walks around the ruins of a real life ancient temple, I felt like I had gone back in time, and indeed, the way the beautiful Anna Maria Sandri is dressed, I would have believed that I was living in the days of the ancient Hebrews and Egyptians rather than modern times which is when it takes place.

The film is pulled through flashback with Steel revealed to be dead end brother Donald Sinden reading his diaries and letters upon arriving in this amazing land. From there, the film starts to tell the love story of Steel and Sandri, and it's obvious from the start that it's going to be a tragic romance. The film moves at a very slow pace which gives it a literary feel, and it is through the exotic locations is that the viewer will get drawn into it. The beautiful color photography is aided by a gorgeous musical score, and some very thoughtful conversations between Steel and André Morell, Sandri's father who is sympathetic to their plight but won't agree to a marriage. I could almost see an opera being built around this it is that classical in theme and touching. Still bothered by the slow pacing which had me fidgety when the action stopped.

A competent if unspectacular war movie

[Sjhm · 5/10 · 26 November 2011]

Comparisons have been made between this film and Lawrence of Arabia; a rather unfair comparison in my view. Lawrence of Arabia is based on the actual life and exploits of T. E. Lawrence, set in the First World War. This is a war film in the mould of Tobruk, set in WWII, where it does fall down is in the long drawn out romance scenes which are something of a distraction. The script rather reflects the attitudes of the time, and you do have to suspend disbelief a few times, especially as Donald Sinden's character crosses the desert by camel dressed in city clothes, yet remains immaculate throughout. The nomads all speak perfect English, they can even rustle up a German interpreter when needed, yet have remained entirely unaffected by the outside world. There really isn't much plot to speak of, yet the cinematography lends the story some distinction. Average and inoffensive.

WWII romance mystery with exotic scenarios from the British Rank factory

[ma-cortes · 6/10 · 2 December 2019]

Intriguing adventure/WWII yarn dealing with a wealthy heir (Donald Sinden) is worried when his eldest brother (Anthony Steel) fails to return home from North African campaign , as Rommel's Africa Korps have vanquished the British army in Tobruk . As brother Donald Sinden is packed off to discover that he's fallen for a Sheik's (Andre Morell) daughter (Anna Maria Sandri) and thrown in an adventurous life with a Bedouin tribe in the Libyan African desert.

Drama , mystery , intrigue , romance story in which the alleged heir of a fortune is worried about the eldest sibling who occupies the ancestral seat has disappeared during the African campaign and then he sets out in his quest . Well written by actor/director Bryan Forbes and Robin Maughan , based on his novel . Pleasantly filmed romantic drama , all very stiff-upper-lip , here outstanding a pretty good main and support cast . As stiff Anthony Steel gives a passable acting as the British soldier who joins the Bedouin and romances the native chief's daughter , subsequently marrying her and then he helps the tribe fight off a Nazi attack . Along with the beautiful Italian actress who had a brief career, Anna Maria Sandri , giving a below-average acting . Other actors appearing as Donald Sinden and Andre Morell provide better performances . Furthermore , prestigious British secondaries as Donald Pleasence , Ralph Truman , Anthony Bushell , Michael Craig , Anton Diffring in his usual Nazi role, Bryan Forbes himseld as a dying Soldier and Nanette Newman uncredited as Mabrouka's voice.

It packs a colorful and sunny cinematography by Desmond Dickinson , shot on location in Roman ruins, Sabratha, Libya and Pinewood Studios, Iver Heath, Buckinghamshire, Compton Wynyates, Warwickshire, England, UK . It conatins an atmospheric and evocative musical score by William Alwyn ,adding Arabian sounds . The motion picture nicely produced by Earl St. John , being professionally directed by Brian Desmond Hurst , though I has some failures . Brian arranges to flatten the interest out of potentially thrilling material . Hurst was a craftsman , probably best known to modern audiences as the director of exotic adventures , WWII , Christmas and controversial films . He made what is generally considered to be Ireland's first sound film, Irish Hearts (1934). Two years later he made a film that caused the authorities in his native Northern Ireland to forbid it from being shown there : Ourselves Alone (1936), a story of the 1921 Irish rebellion against British rule , being the English language equivalent of the name for the Irish political party "Sinn Féin", it was banned in his native Northern Ireland at the time of its release in 1936, although it has since achieved critical and is shown in museums and other public access points in Northern Ireland . And he , subsequently , went back his Irish roots in other films as Hungry Hill (1947) . Hurst ran into censorship troubles again with his adaptation of Edgar Allan Poe's The Tell-Tale Heart (1934), which was prohibited in many areas of Great Britain for being "too horrible" for public exhibition. These incidents didn't deter Hurst from making controversial films, however. He turned out the dark On the night of the fire (1939) in 1939, regarded as one of the first British "noir" films . During the war Hurst made such films as Dangerous Moonlight (1941), a well-regarded story of an American newswoman in England who falls in love with an exiled Polish pianist who wants to return to his country to fight the Nazis , this film also popularized the musical number "Warsaw Concerto". After the war he made what he regarded as his favorite film, Theirs Is the Glory (1946), about the disastrous British-American wartime operation at Arnhem in Holland, which became Britain's biggest-grossing film for almost a decade . The film he is most famous for results to be Scrooge (1951) with Alastair Sim, considered by critics and audiences alike to be the best and definitive film version of Charles Dickens' classic novel "A Christmas Carol" . He is also noted for his World War II film The lion has wings (1939) . Among his other successes was Malta story (1953), about the defiant resistance of the military and civilian populations on the island of Malta against relentless Nazi bombing during the war, and Simba (1955), about the Mau-Mau rebellion against British colonial rule in Kenya . And other movies as ¨Trottie true¨, ¨The Mark of Cain¨ , ¨Behind the mask¨, and ¨Dangerous Exile¨ about the French Revolution . He retired in 1963 after "John Millington Synge's Playboy of the Western World" which was his final picture , and died in London in 1986.

Let's go to the cinema.

[jromanbaker · 2/10 · 28 July 2019]

I cannot believe that in the so-called drab days of the 1950's that even in VistaVision and colour anyone would want to see this stilted film. Donald Sinden is believably bored by the whole thing ( he is like a zombie ) and Anthony Steel perks up a bit as he has a better role. The stereotypes are awful with most actors who are Libyan clearly white. Andre Morell who is usually good tries hard to pretend that he is involved, but it is acting destroyed by terrible dialogue. It may have played to children at weekends but I cannot imagine any adult would want to go with them. At the most they would have enjoyed the action scenes, but the awful dialogue would have defeated them.

Brian Desmond Hurst made some passable films, but this is not one of them. Anton Diffring as a very verbal German speaking in German makes his scenes believable as he momentarily brought the film to life. He did not take the role seriously for a moment and was fun to watch. If only the rest was. Avoid even on a rainy afternoon. It crops up on English T,V. fairly often.

Lawrence of Libya, or love among the ruins between Tobruk and El Alamein

[clanciai · 9/10 · 3 November 2017]

Brian Desmond Hurst made many great films but was not much of a director. He often took care of immensely great and interesting stories with great action and fascinating intrigue and had a knack for getting outstanding music to them as well, but his films are annoyingly impersonal, as if he didn't care about the actors but just focused on getting it all done and the story told. This is one of those films, typical of him, telling a great story, featuring characters of considerable interest, but coming out with only a very conventional and almost expressionless product. He just couldn't dramatize.

There are many other assets to this film, though, like the photography with the epic and extremely romantic environment, the most romantic scenes taking place in the ruins of an ancient amphitheatre, the most spectacular part of the film, and dwelling long on a very comprehensive Libyan wedding among the bedouins. We don't have many films from Libya, this is from long before the days of Khadaffi and Isis and all that jazz, and what you are shown is a paradise among the bedouins in the shadow of the dramatic turnings of the second world war by Tobruk and El Alamein.

What especially lifts this film is the splendid music by William Alwyn adding another dimension of colours to the already resplendently colourful film, enhancing especially the romantic scenes with that extra touch which the actors and dialogue are not able to provide.

The script is by Bryan Forbes together with the author of the novel, Robin Maugham, and there is nothing wrong with the script, the saga being so humanly interesting as it is, but such a tale could have been made so much more of. It's the stuff of Lawrence of Arabia, Rudolf Valentino's sheiks and even of Charlton Heston's Moses in the desert.

Of course you come to think of Hurst's other films, like "Dangerous Moonlight" (with the Warsaw Concerto), "Simba" (of Mau-Mau in Kenya), the Malta Story with Alec Guinness, Hungry Hill and The Lion has Wings, and they all suffer from the same thing: great stories, but crippled by lack of flesh to the bones, as if the director thought the actors were of secondary importance to the epic.

Nevertheless, it's definitely worth giving a chance, for its exotic settings, its great story (with a surprisingly apt end), its splendidly coloured desert environments, its romance among the ruins, and its very vivid music, the most alive part of the film.

The Mystery Is How They Could String It Out For Two Hours

[chrisdl_heath · 4/10 · 13 September 2010]

This film can be summed up as follows: sumptuous photography; turgid plot; wooden acting.

The mystery is how they could string it out for two hours. The story is that there isn't a story - it's just a travelogue across the Libyan desert. Michael Craig, who was hot property in British cinema back then, is a blacked-up Arab sheik and has no lines that I can remember. Blink and you miss him. I just couldn't work out what Anthony Steele would see in the love interest. Donald Sinden looks as though he has the mood of someone who has got out of bed the wrong side every morning of the shoot.

The only thing that must have stopped this from bombing at the box office was the novelty for the cinema-going public in grey, smog-ridden 1950s Britain of seeing 'real', 'desert' sand in colour, something they could have done on the sea front at Clacton or Bournemouth.

A bit turgid

[Leofwine_draca · 4/10 · 23 May 2018]

THE BLACK TENT is a British wartime drama told in flashback for the most part. It's a slow-moving production that unfortunately focuses on romantic material for way too much of the running time, making what plays out quite the bore. It's a pity, because there are elements of interest in the narrative here, and at times it does get quite moving. The colour photography looks great; the supporting cast has many interesting faces including Andre Morell and Donald Pleasence, mostly playing Arab characters, bizarrely enough.

Location Good, Film not so Great

[Picgoer · 5/10 · 3 May 2022]

There really isn't much positive to say about the film other than that it uses a lot of location shots and is colourful.

The main actors, most of whom had their moments of stardom at different times had difficulty making much of their parts, even Andre Morrell. Anton Differing and Frederick Jaeger were believable as both were German speakers and seemed to have a whale of a time without the constraints of acting in their second language, English.

The film is worth a watch but not one that I'd make an effort to see again.