Product Details

• Actors: George Hilton, Michael Rennie
• Directors: Gorgio Ferroni
• Format: NTSC
• Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. Read more about DVD formats.)
  
• Number of discs: 1
• Rated: NR (Not Rated)
• Studio: Miracle Pictures
• DVD Release Date: February 2, 2002
• Run Time: 94 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 2.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (14 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B00067GHRC
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #147,675 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Editorial Reviews

The world's mightiest tank armadas are hot on each others track. It's the US Army and the Brits vs. Rommel in a battle for desert supremacy.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars True account of Italian Bravery, July 5, 2002

By A Customer

This review is from: Battle of El Alamein [VHS] (VHS Tape)

I came across this little gem of a film over 20 years ago, although the dubbing is "B" rate and this version was mercilessly cut,it is still a very good war movie for anyone interested in the desert war to see in that it recounts one Italian chapter of the battle of El alamein that is not very well known to many English viewers.

It follows the actual British 8th army and Italian documented records of the account, which we get to see refreshingly this time from the Italians side.

This movie was produced as a low budget production portraying the heroic and desperate attempts of a bersaglieri regiment to stop the advancing hordes of allied armour from decimating the outnumbered Italian Infantry and remaining light tank division in the last few days of the battle of El alamein.

The great thing about this flick is that we actually get to see the Bersaglieri and ariete (two of Italy's elite divisions) in action.

Unfortunately for many the actual feats of bravery achieved by the Italians in WWII have been kept out of the English press for propaganda reasons for many a year and only recently are we finding modern historians acknowledging the Italians true fighting spirit during that war in better researched well balanced publications about WW2 using solid sources from both sides..

The ending to this movie is indeed awesome, facing superior armour we see the bad leadership that caused the Italians to eventually lose this conflict in the desert in effect, we also get to see some tank battle strategy in action.

We witness the courage of the Ariete division in poorly armoured small tanks ( later nicknamed "steel coffins")relentlessly charging the better armoured more powerful sherman, matildas and crusader tanks of the allies knowing their eventual fate but pursuing the fight to the end.

In fact the last actual documented recorded message in WW2 intercepted by the british from the Italian ariete medium tank division to Commando supremo was "Ariete engaging enemy now -till the end"

And this film sums up their determined fighting spirit and fateful end.

We then find the Bersaglieri out of munitions preparing to fight the tank divisions leading a molotov coctail charge against the british in a suicide mission.

These were actual feats that are recorded by both Italian and British sources , so the film does do justice to history in these regards as the bersaglieri were fiercely patriotic many of them chose death rather than capture.

The End portrays the British command finally capturing their objective against the outnumbered Italian defenders whereby the British award the remaining few Bersaglieri a full military salute and honour them for bravery before taking the few left as prisoners.

I enjoyed this movie not because of the quality of production, because it is evident that the production was very low budget indeed, but for the factual portrayal of the actual battle- this alone is a good reason for the war movie enthusiast to view and enjoy this film..

I thoroughly recommend it!!

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Cheap and cheerful, December 19, 2004

By 

jono pollock - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Battle of El Alamein (DVD)

Well what can i say this is the first film ive seen which focus's on Italien troops for a change.It mainly focus's on an Italien company of soldiers who are fighting for survival during the battle of el alamien.The film is fairly cheap, half the tanks are obviously models n the others are Russian with an Iron cross put on them.It doesnt really stand up say to longest day or a bridge too far but is acurate to events.It watchable ill say that even though half the brits sound like they have got really bad colds and most of its dubbed.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Good Movie, Bad VHS, January 28, 2002

By 

Benjamin E. Cressy (NH USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Battle of El Alamein [VHS] (VHS Tape)

This was a really good Italian war movie. However, the copy ... is currently offering from Congress Entertainment, is of low quality. It is from an unrestored, bad-looking negative and runs only 80 minutes, rather than the 105 release time and the 92 minute length advertised. It's hard to follow; some scenes are obviously removed. In one part Rommel is recalled to Berlin for a long rest, only to be seen in Africa 10 minutes later! It's not worth the ... price for something this bad. If a full-length restored print is ever released then GO BUY IT! Until then, ignore this print.