The Black Tent

1956
5.5| 1h33m| en
Details

During the British retreat through Libya, a British officer takes shelter with a group of Arab Bedouin. He marries the chief's daughter. Sometime later, his younger brother, who had believed him to be dead, is informed that he may be alive in Libya - prompting him to set out and search for him.

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Also starring Anna Maria Sandri

Reviews

LastingAware The greatest movie ever!
Btexxamar I like Black Panther, but I didn't like this movie.
FrogGlace In other words,this film is a surreal ride.
Jakoba True to its essence, the characters remain on the same line and manage to entertain the viewer, each highlighting their own distinctive qualities or touches.
bkoganbing A whole lot of good British actors who've seen and done better in their careers were wasted in this potboiler of a World War II movie with an Arabian Nights interval. The Black Tent tells the story of Donald Sinden going into the desert to find what happened to his brother Anthony Steel who is missing in action. What a time Steel had as Sinden learns when he's given the diary that Steel kept. He was in a firefight with some of Rommel's troops and was the only survivor. Steel manages to make his way to Sheik Andre Morrell's camp at an oasis near a Roman ruin and their has a little romantic interlude with his daughter Anna-Maria Sandri. Some of Rommel's stragglers make their way to the sheik's camp, but they're dealt with.During all this time while Steel's having a little R&R the Axis take Tobruk, but then the Eighth Army beats them at El Alamein and puts them in full retreat. When that happens Steel pulls a Lawrence Of Arabia and leads the sheik's men in an ambush on some of Rommel's troops. Wouldn't want anyone to think he was on extended furlough would we? Sadly Steel is killed, but Sinden discovers that he's got himself a juvenile nephew now. He offers young Terence Sharkey a choice, come back to the United Kingdom for a life as a gentleman or stay in Grandpa's tent. What do you think he chooses?I guess my review is in the form of this jocular synopsis of this very bad movie. Even Donald Pleasance as Sinden's desert guide is wasted here. Pleasance and all the rest of the cast just look downright embarrassed. They summon up all the enthusiasm of someone awaiting a proctologist.
Spikeopath But I'm just being facetious! Brian Desmond Hurst directs, Anthony Steel and André Morell star, Bryan Forbes and Robin Maugham write, William Alwyn scores the music and Desmond Dickinson photographs in VistaVision Technicolor.It looks lovely, the Libya locations amazing, yet it's a dull and uneventful movie. Story concerns Capt. David Holland (Steel), who during WWII in the North African campaign gets injured and winds up being nursed by some Bedouin natives. He promptly becomes part of the crowd, falls in love with the Sheik's daughter and instigates a repel the Nazis front with the natives. But what happened next? Holland's brother, Col. Sir Charles (Donald Sinden), travels to Libya to find out.What he finds is obviously what we find out, that there's an inter racial romance at the heart of the story, some mistrust, loyalties born, a small scale battle and a double edged sword of a finale. It's all very contrived and mismatched, while some of the acting comes dangerously close to being parody supreme. Not good really and the tech guys deserve a better movie, and so do we. Oh well, if nothing else it obviously inspired Lawrence of Arabia. Hee hee hee. 5/10
MartinHafer "The Black Tent" begins with a man in Britain being told that his brother, the heir to the family fortune, MIGHT still be alive in North Africa--over a decade after he was assumed to have died fighting in WWII. However, when he tracks down the Bedoins who sheltered and healed him during the war, they deny having any other knowledge of him. After he leaves, however, he finds his brother's diary--someone had stuck it in his belongings in order to let him know the truth. Most of what follows is a flashback--flashbacks where you learn that the brother was like a son to the Chief and that he even eventually married the man's daughter! But the story goes beyond that--he even organized the locals into a small guerrilla army which attacked Axis troops! What happened next? See the film.By far the best thing about this movie is the location shooting. The amazing ruins at Sabratha, Libya serve as a backdrop as is the nearby desert. However beautiful this is, however, the story itself isn't that captivating. Now it isn't because the idea is bad--it's not. But he execution seemed very plodding and flat. The writing could have been better and the actors a bit more charismatic. Still, a watchable adventure tale that is reasonably watchable.
Robin Moss "The Black Tent" was made several years before "Lawrence Of Arabia." Had it been made ten years later, it would have been accused of plagiarism. Instead it can be said in some respects to anticipate "Lawrence of Arabia".After The Second World War, the heir to an extensive British country estate complete with enormous house and agricultural land travels to Libya to learn what happened to his brother. With one Arab to guide him, he journeys by camel across the vast deserts to talk with a tribal chief - as also happened in "Lawrence". After various delays, he is given his brother's diary and learns the truth. During the war, his brother had become detached from his regiment and had been the sole Briton amongst Arabs - as was the case in "Lawrence Of Arabia" He had led Arab fighters in ambushes on enemy patrols - as also happened in "Lawrence Of Arabia". The brother had married the daughter of the tribal chief, and eventually had been killed in action against German soldiers. Again like "Lawrence Of Arabia" the cinematography - here in VistaVision and Technicolor - shows the vastness of the desert and makes it strangely beautiful.Unlike "Lawrence Of Arabia" "The Black Tent" had a journeyman director, and was made with little attention to detail or realism. All the Arabs speak English fluently and with Received Pronunciation! Even more ludicrously, the younger brother travels across the desert by camel wearing a suit and tie and city shoes! He does not even break into a sweat! More seriously, there is no tension in the movie. The action sequences are unimaginatively staged, and scenes where suspense should be agonising - such as when Germans enter the Arab camp and discover the British soldier's gun or when German soldiers visit an ancient ruin and take photographs of themselves within a few yards of the fugitive British soldier - are entirely free of tension."The Black Tent" is mildly entertaining and is certainly visually splendid, but it could and should have been much better.