ma-cortes 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

frank-dm001 (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.

MartinHafer 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.

mulveymeister 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.