Desert Victory poster

Desert Victory( 1943)

TV-MAWarDocumentary
60%
User
Score

The most terrifying scenes ever taken under fire!

Overview

A featureless land fit only for war, as the narrator, J. L. Hodson stated in the early scenes: "If war was to be fought then let it begin here". In endless miles of rock-strewn scrub desert, where civilians hardly existed. Desert Victory tells the story of the Allied campaign to drive Germany and Italy from North Africa is analysed, with the major portion of the film examining the battles at El Alamein, including some re-enactment. Won "Best Documentary Feature" at the 16th Academy Awards in 1944.

    Top Billed Cast

    1. cast image

      Harold Alexander

      Self (archive footage)

    2. cast image

      Winston Churchill

      Self (archive footage)

    3. cast image

      Adolf Hitler

      Self (archive footage)

    4. cast image

      Bernard L. Montgomery

      Self (archive footage)

    5. cast image

      Erwin Rommel

      Self (archive footage)

    6. cast image

      Claude Auchinleck

      Self (archive footage) (uncredited)

    7. cast image

      Alan Brooke

      Self (archive footage) (uncredited)

    8. cast image

      Alan Cunningham

      Self (archive footage) (uncredited)

    9. cast image

      Joseph Goebbels

      Self (archive footage) (uncredited)

    10. cast image

      Henry Harwood

      Self (archive footage) (uncredited)

    11. cast image

      J.L. Hodson

      Narrator (voice) (uncredited)

    12. cast image

      Arthur Tedder

      Self (archive footage) (uncredited)

    13. cast image

      Wilhelm von Thoma

      Self (archive footage) (uncredited)

    Social

    Review 1Discussion

    A review by CinemaSerf

    6
    Written by CinemaSerf on Mon Jul 07 2025
    This wartime documentary has one advantage over many of it’s contemporaries. It’s a largely self-contained story of the planning and execution of a battle from the Second World War that was actually won. It’s also a much more internationalist depiction of the activities by soldiers of many different nations that fought against Rommel’s hitherto unbeaten Afrika Korps across Mesapotamia and towards El Alamein, a mere sixty miles from Alexandria and not much farther from the crucial Suez Canal. There is an astonishing collection of wartime photography to supplement a narration that is frequently q...

    Media

    Videos 0Backdrops 1Posters 3

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    Facts

    Status

    Released

    Original Language

    English

    Budget

    -

    Revenue

    -

    Keywords