Introduction

Desert Victory is a 1943 film produced by the British Ministry of Information, documenting the Allies’ North African campaign against Field Marshal Erwin Rommel and the Afrika Korps.

It was followed by Tunisian Victory in 1944.

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Outline

This documentary traces the struggle between General Erwin Rommel and Field Marshal Bernard Montgomery, from the German’s defeat at El Alamein to Tripoli.

The film was produced by David MacDonald and directed by Roy Boulting who also directed Tunisian Victory and Burma Victory. Like the famous “Why We Fight” series of films by Frank Capra, Desert Victory relies heavily on captured German newsreel footage. Many of the most famous sequences in the film have been excerpted and appear with frequency in History Channel and A&E productions. The film won a special Oscar in 1943 and the 1951 film The Desert Fox: The Story of Rommel took sections of the film for its battle footage.

The film has been criticised for emphasising the British role in the victory, while playing down the American contribution to the battle. Mark Harris, author of the “Five Came Back: A Story of Hollywood and the Second World War,” a book about the role that five prominent Hollywood directors played in the war, has stated in an interview on Turner Classic Movies that when asked about the omission, the British war department retorted that the Americans “didn’t have any good footage.”

Production & Filming Details

• Director(s): Roy Boutling.
• Producer(s): David MacDonald.
• Writer(s): James Lansdale Hodson.
• Production: Army Film and Photographic Unit and Royal Air Force Film Production Unit.
• Distributor(s): Ministry of Information (UK) and 20th Century Fox (US).
• Release Date: March 1943.
• Running Time: 60 minutes.
• Country: UK.
• Language: English.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bRRNyMA-mBI