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S E A R C H    D V D B e a v e r

(aka "Port Said" or "Somewhere in the Sahara")

 

Directed by Zoltán Korda
USA 1943

 

Humphrey Bogart (The Harder They Fall), Bruce Bennett (Undertow) and J. Carrol Naish (The Lives of a Bengal Lancer) star in Sahara, a thrilling tale of World War II heroism from director Zoltán Korda (A Woman’s Vengeance).

Separated from his unit following the fall of Tobruk, Master Sergeant Joe Gunn (Bogart) and his crew flee in a tank across the Sahara, picking up a variety of stragglers and prisoners along the way. With their survival entirely dependent on the water from a depleted well, the group must defend it against a whole German battalion.

Produced by Harry Joe Brown (Buchanan Rides Alone) and shot under harsh conditions in the unforgiving landscape of the Colorado Desert, the production of Sahara utilised an entire US Army division as extras, adding to the film’s gritty sense of realism.

Posters

Theatrical Release: September 2nd, 1943

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Review: Indicator - Region 'B' - Blu-ray

Box Cover

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Bonus Captures:

Distribution Indicator - Region 'B' - Blu-ray
Runtime 1:37:41.897        
Video

1.37:1 1080P Single-layered Blu-ray

Disc Size: 24,945,265,670 bytes

Feature: 20,350,928,064 bytes

Video Bitrate: 24.59 Mbps

Codec: MPEG-4 AVC Video

NOTE: The Vertical axis represents the bits transferred per second. The Horizontal is the time in minutes.

Bitrate Blu-ray:

Audio

LPCM Audio English 768 kbps 1.0 / 48 kHz / 768 kbps / 16-bit
Commentary:

Dolby Digital Audio English 112 kbps 2.0 / 48 kHz / 112 kbps / DN -30dB

Subtitles English (SDH), None
Features Release Information:
Studio:
Indicator

 

1.37:1 1080P Single-layered Blu-ray

Disc Size: 24,945,265,670 bytes

Feature: 20,350,928,064 bytes

Video Bitrate: 24.59 Mbps

Codec: MPEG-4 AVC Video

 

Edition Details:

• Audio commentary with screenwriter and novelist C Courtney Joyner (2025)
• Small Miracles (2025, 12:33): in-depth appreciation by Ehsan Khoshbakht, curator, filmmaker, and editor of The Lady with the Torch: Columbia Pictures 1929–1959
• Building a Tank (1942, 19:39): documentary short on the work of the Detroit Tank Arsenal, and the manufacture and testing of the M3 Lee tank which prominently features in Sahara
• The Siege of Tobruk (1942, 17:41): documentary short produced by the UK’s Army Film Unit detailing the World War II military campaign in the North African port of Tobruk during 1941, which preceded the events portrayed in Sahara
• Original theatrical trailer (1:39)
• Image gallery: promotional and publicity material
Limited edition exclusive 40-page booklet with a new essay by Imogen Sara Smith, an archival on-set profile of Humphrey Bogart, an archival interview with actor Kurt Kreuger, a look at how the film’s promotion assisted the war effort, new writing on the short films, and film credits


Blu-ray Release Date:
January 20th, 2025
Transparent Blu-ray Case inside slipcase

Chapters 10

 

 

Comments:

NOTE: The below Blu-ray captures were taken directly from the Blu-ray disc.

ADDITION: Indicator Blu-ray (January 2025): Indicator have transferred Zoltán Korda's Sahara to Blu-ray. It is cited as being from a "High Definition remaster". Aside from the occasional emulsion damage (mostly seen in the sky - see below) the resulting 1080P image is an appreciated bump over the older SD transfers. There is more information in the frame on all four edges, improved contrast and effusive grain-support. This is quite a welcome boost over the DVD. 

NOTE: We have added 64 more large resolution Blu-ray captures (in lossless PNG format) for DVDBeaver Patrons HERE

On their Blu-ray, Indicator use a linear PCM mono track (16-bit) in the original English language. Sahara has battles, a strafing plane, tanks, rifle-fire and stock footage moments that come through with modest depth and score by Miklós Rózsa (The Man in Half Moon Street, Time Out of Mind, The Green Cockatoo, Kiss the Blood Off My Hands, The Killers, The Lost Weekend, The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes, The Strange Love of Martha Ivers, Double Indemnity)  sounding clean with consistent dialogue in the lossless transfer. Indicator offer optional English (SDH) subtitles on their Region 'B' Blu-ray.

The Indicator Blu-ray offers a new commentary by screenwriter and novelist C. Courtney Joyner (The Savage B's: A Tribute to B-Horror). He describes Sahara as one of Bogart's "loan-out' films to Columbia - his second home after Warner. He tells us that by the time the film was released there was already a victory in Africa for the Allies. The story is based on the novel Patrol by Philip MacDonald and he talks about director Zoltán Korda, Bogart, Bruce Bennett, J. Carrol Naish, Lloyd Bridges, Rex Ingram, Richard Aherne, Dan Duryea and others plus cinematographer Rudolph Maté and more. It's at Joyner's consistently high standard. Small Miracles is a new, in-depth, dozen-minute, appreciation by Ehsan Khoshbakht, curator, filmmaker, and editor of The Lady with the Torch: Columbia Pictures 1929–1959 which focuses on the over 3 decades sandwiched between Roy William Neill’s 1929 Wall Street with Ralph Ince and Aileen Pringle, and Budd Boetticher’s 1959 Ride Lonesome. Indicator include two vintage shorts; 1942's Building a Tank is a 20-minute documentary on the work of the Detroit Tank Arsenal, and the manufacture and testing of the M3 Lee tank which prominently features in Sahara. Alex Bryce's The Siege of Tobruk was made in 1942 and is a documentary short produced by the UK’s Army Film Unit detailing the World War II military campaign in the North African seaport city of Tobruk, in Libya, during 1941, which preceded the events portrayed in Sahara. Lastly, there is a an original theatrical trailer, Indicator's usual image gallery: promotional and publicity material and the package contains a limited edition exclusive 40-page booklet with a new essay by Imogen Sara Smith (In Lonely Places: Film Noir Beyond the City,) an archival on-set profile of Humphrey Bogart, an archival interview with actor Kurt Kreuger, a look at how the film’s promotion assisted the war effort, new writing on the short films, and film credits.   

Zoltán Korda's Sahara focuses on the crew of Lulubelle, a United States Army, 28-ton, M3 Lee tank attached to the British Eighth Army. This is an extremely well-made, balanced, paced war film... and there are zero females in Sahara. As the war was still on in Africa, during the production, it forced the filmmakers to be very flexible with the direction of the story. The final assault by the Germans shifts into a full-blown surrender due to their lack of water. News surfaces of the Allied victory at the First Battle of El Alamein, turning back Erwin Rommel's 'Afrika Korps'. Sahara is effectively-acted and a superb display of the camaraderie established in a desperate war 'life or death' situation. I'm so glad that Indicator have released this Blu-ray. Great extras and a riveting war film. Strongly recommended!

Gary Tooze

 


Menus / Extras

 


CLICK EACH BLU-RAY CAPTURE TO SEE ALL IMAGES IN FULL 1920X1080 RESOLUTION

 

1) Sony - Region 2 - PAL - TOP

2) Indicator - Region 'B' - Blu-ray BOTTOM

 

 


1) Sony - Region 2 - PAL - TOP

2) Indicator - Region 'B' - Blu-ray BOTTOM

 

 


1) Sony - Region 2 - PAL - TOP

2) Indicator - Region 'B' - Blu-ray BOTTOM

 

 


1) Sony - Region 2 - PAL - TOP

2) Indicator - Region 'B' - Blu-ray BOTTOM

 

 


1) Sony - Region 2 - PAL - TOP

2) Indicator - Region 'B' - Blu-ray BOTTOM

 

 


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Damage Samples

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Box Cover

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Bonus Captures:

Distribution Indicator - Region 'B' - Blu-ray


 


 

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