Main Cast: Dana Andrews, Märta Torén, Stephen McNally, Jeff Chandler, Phillip Friend
Release Year: 1949
Country: US
Run Time: 100 minutes
Plot
Sword in the Desert is set in Palestine during World War II. Dana Andrews plays an American seaman engaged in smuggling European Jewish refugees into the Holy Land, despite the restrictions levied by the British occupation troops. Fifth-billed Jeff Chandler makes his movie debut as an Israeli rebel leader; his performance garnered so much fan mail that Chandler was given a seven-year contract at Universal. Few of those letters came from Britain, where Sword in the Desert ran into distribution difficulties due to its blatant anti-British slant--especially as manifested in the underground radio broadcasts of leading lady Marta Toren. The principal complaint was that the British seemed to be the sole villains in the script, which virtually ignored the Arab resistance to the formation of Israel. Sword in the Desert represents a low-key warm-up to the blood-and-thunder excesses of Otto Preminger's 1960 Exodus. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Hugh French - Maj. Sorrell; Liam Redmond - McCarthy; Lowell Gilmore - Maj. Stephens; Stanley Logan - Col. Bruce Evans; Hayden Rorke - Capt. Beaumont; George Tyne - Dov; Peter Coe - Tarn; Paul Marion - Jeno; Marten Lamont - Capt. Fletcher; Paul Brinegar - British Soldier; Campbell Copelin - Sgt. Chapel; James Craven - Brig. Gen. Vincent; Art Foster - Sgt. Rummins; Martin Garralaga - Ahmed the Great; Robin Hughes - Soldier; Shepard Menken; Emil Rameau - Old Man; Gilchrist Stuart - Radio Operator; Joe Turkel; David Wolfe - Gershon; Jerry Paris - Levitan; Jack Webb - Hoffman; George Dockstader; Dennis Dengate - Driver; Russ Kaplan - Haganah Soldier
Credit
Alexander Golitzen - Art Director, Bernard Herzbrun - Art Director, George Sherman - Director, Otto Ludwig - Editor, Frank Skinner - Composer (Music Score), Bud Westmore - Makeup, Emile LaVigne - Makeup, Irving Glassberg - Cinematographer, Robert Buckner - Producer, Al Fields - Set Designer, Russell A. Gausman - Set Designer, Nick Carmona - Special Effects, Robert Buckner - Screenwriter
The film presents the moral struggle of an American Captain, played by Dana Andrews, who ferries illegal Jewish immigrants into Palestine to fight against the British authorities there.
The Evening Standard claimed that the film was "not for the eyes of Britons" and the Daily Telegraph insisted that British audiences would be surprised to see the unwonted harshness with which the British troops in the film treated Jewish civilians. There were demonstrations and disturbances outside the New Gallery, London, when the film opened there on 2 February 1950, and pamphlets supporting the Union Movement were distributed to people wanting to see it. Five days later, the Public Control Committee of London Country Council followed the advice of the Home Office and prohibited further public showings of the film in order to prevent further scenes of rowdiness by what it termed fascist elements. It ignored the protest from the National Council for Civil Liberties that its action constituted a ban on free speech.
