BITTER VICTORY

American director Nicholas Ray would, at first glance, seem to be a rather curious choice to helm a World War II action film. Better known for such classics as THEY LIVE BY NIGHT (1949), IN A LONELY PLACE (1950), ON DANGEROUS GROUND (1952), MACAO (1952), REBEL WITHOUT A CAUSE (1955) and BIGGER THAN LIFE (1956), Ray did have one war movie, FLYING LEATHERNECKS (1951) under his belt. And a Nicholas Ray directed war movie is bound to be something different from the usual run of the mill fare. 

BITTER VICTORY (1957)  is the story of two men, Major David Brand (Curt Jurgens) and Captain Jim Leith (Richard Burton) who clash in North Africa during WWII. As it turns out, Leith, a combat veteran, had a brief but torrid affair with Jane (Ruth Roman), before she married Brand. Leith still carries a torch for Jane and she is still romantically attracted to the dashing young soldier. 

The British high command orders a commando raid on Benghazi to capture Nazi documents stored there. It's a dangerous mission but Brand, with no field experience, is given command of the operation due to his seniority and rank. Leith is assigned his second in command. The rest of the squad is composed of veteran British actors including Nigel Green and Christopher Lee. 

Ray wastes no time in getting the men to their objective where Brand freezes under stress, unable to kill a German sentry. It's up to Leith to do the dirty work and the operation continues. The men get the documents as ordered and put their escape plan into action. But the camels that were supposed to carry the men back to the rendezvous point don't show up, forcing the men to set off across the North African desert on foot. 

They're ambushed by a Nazi patrol and a vicious gun battle leaves most of the Germans dead except for Colonel Lutze (Fred Matter), whom the commandos take prisoner. Brand is clearly in over his head and he depends upon Leith to make the hard decisions. But when Brand sees a scorpion about to attack Leith, he does nothing to interfere, letting the man be stung, becoming unable to continue the journey. When a fierce sand storm erupts, it's Leith that saves Brand from certain death, dying in the process. The rest of his men believe Brand killed Leith and view him with suspicion for the rest of the trek.

The men finally meet up with British forces but while celebrating, they ignore Colonel Lutze who puts the bags containing the documents to the torch. Only one bag is able to be salvaged but it's enough for Brand to be recognized as a hero by the British top brass and awarded a medal for heroism under fire, a medal he most certainly doesn't deserve.

BITTER VICTORY is an interesting, offbeat and first rate little war movie that is unflinching it depicting some rather atrocious war crimes (on both sides). Burton and Jurgens seem to genuinely hate each other while Roman harbors deep feelings for both men. Cynical and uncompromising, BITTER VICTORY is well worth seeing for fans of Nicholas Ray and World War II films. 

Recommended.