Jimmy Stewart is "Towns" who flies his dilapidated aircraft around the North African oilfields. When once such trip ends in a crash, they find themselves stuck in the desert short of water, and of ideas as to how to get themselves home. Until that is, the rather superior "Dorfmann" (Hardy Krüger) concocts a plan to perform industrial surgery on the wreckage and maybe get them airborne again. What now ensues is a tautly directed series of escapades as the personalities of crew and passengers clash; the desert takes it's toll on the sanity of some, the Bedouin on the lives of others - but can they get out? Richard Attenborough is superb, as is the usually reliable Peter Finch and his sergeant Ronald Fraser - but it is the psychological duel between "Towns" and "Dorfmann" that stands out. Both actors really draw the audience into their predicament, and their characterisations work well to raise the palpable tension before an ending that ties together the surreal with the enjoyable in an innovative and exciting fashion. This is certainly one of Stewart's better performances, and is certainly well worth a watch.
