tieman64 Directed by Cy Endfield, a director renowned for his somewhat unconventional epics, "Sands of the Kalahari" watches as a small aircraft crashes in the deserts of Namibia. The aircraft's occupants struggle to survive.Though intermittently interesting, "Kalahari" is mostly dull and dated. The film's "Lord of the Flies" styled plot watches as some crash survivors feud and develop factions. Others reveal themselves to be "naturally suited" to leadership, killing and survival. The film climaxes with our cast being rescued. One survivor, played by Stuart Whitman, remains behind. Here he lords over a tribe of baboons, adjudicated their King by the very law of the jungle the rest of Endfield's cast desperately flee. The photogenic Susanna York co-stars.6/10 – Worth one viewing. See "The King of Pigs".

mark.waltz And the donkey, the antelope, the zebra, not to mention the scorpion. It's all the locust's fault for getting in the way of the plane that leaves a group of people stranded in the African wilderness. Typically, the men go wild, killing more of God's creatures than they can either eat or wear. While that aspect of the story makes you angry, it also makes you think. Unfortunately, the promise of an entertaining message film quickly turns into a predictable rip-off of "And Then There Were None" where members of the group start to disappear as two of the men begin to fight predictably over the only woman. Colorful photography cannot overcome the tedious and unlikable characters. Some funny moments, particularly the cute donkey, but continuous animal cruelty gets to be too much. As "Planet of the Baboons", the over-all effect of the film is quite a let-down.

Rick Koenig I'm basing this review on recollection, but I was elated to find recently that it can be ordered, and on DVD no less. Long-time fans of this mostly-overlooked if not forgotten film will be eager to get their hands on a copy. If you like a ripping good adventure story with enough social dynamics for three movies, this is well worth considering.You can find plot outlines here or elsewhere, so I won't rehash that. Suffice it to say that having seen this film in its theatrical release many decades ago, it still is pretty vivid in my memory. As others have noted, this film deserves much more attention than it got. You might think you've seen movies like this before, but this one steps outside the usual caricatures and gives you some meaty, real people you can identify with and mostly care about. The acting by Stuart Whitman is exceptional, as his character reacts to the predicament and he becomes what he feels he must become to survive. He is changed inexorably and ultimately. The others are not just window-dressing and they all turn in fine performances. As others have noted, this does have a rather surprising conclusion you won't soon forget. And I agree with the reviewer who commends the filmmaker for not doing the usual Hollywood "cop out". Life doesn't go as we plan, and neither does this movie. Nothing trite here!"Sands of the Kalahari" hearkens back to an era where films didn't rely on special effects or cheap emotional appeals to win an audience. How many films like that do you see today? This is one movie you can really sink your teeth into. Tense, unforgettable, even haunting. Seriously. It's that good.

Leofwine_draca Now forgotten aside from an occasional airing on daytime TV – where I was lucky enough to catch it – SANDS OF THE KALAHARI is a B-movie version of Hollywood's FLIGHT OF THE PHOENIX. Like that film, it concerns a group of plane crash survivors attempting to adapt to live in an inhospitable desert climate, but there the similarities end. SANDS OF THE KALAHARI is very much smaller scale in scope, concentrating on group dynamics over big plotting and looking at what happens when disparate personalities are forced to work together.The first half of the film is a little dull, I'll accept that. Spain stands in for Africa, and it works…I never questioned the bleakness of the surrounds for a second. But the characters are dry and dull and the film is saddled with an extremely lacklustre female lead, played by Susannah York. In the second half, the film throws us a decent twist and delivers an unexpected story which gets better and better as it goes on. By the end I had been thoroughly engrossed in and entertained by the story.Stuart Whitman is no Jimmy Stewart, but he enjoys a multi-faceted role here and commands the screen like few leading men. Stanley Baker, here reteaming with director Cy Endfield a year after ZULU, is also excellent value for money. Believe me, this film is no ZULU, but it is a nice surprise for a B-movie. Add in a couple of distinguished Brit actors (Harry Andrews, Nigel Davenport), some killer baboons and plenty of in-fighting and you have an unfairly forgotten little effort.