One of the best films i have seen

Excellent characters with emotional depth. My wife, daughter and granddaughter all enjoyed it...and me, too! Very good movie! You won't be disappointed.

Each character in this movie — down to the smallest one — is an individual rather than a type, prone to spontaneous changes of mood and sometimes amusing outbursts of pettiness or ill humor.

There are moments that feel comical, some horrific, and some downright inspiring but the tonal shifts hardly matter as the end results come to a film that's perfect for this time.

Saw this film while stationed at a remote site in the military. As I remember, it was one of the few movies, at the time, that really made me laugh. It so resembled the nuttiness of everyday military life. It displays attitudes of peoples from different cultures required to depend upon each other for survival. It shows that war, itself, is a national problem while the average soldier is really not so different from his enemy. If this were on DVD, I would purchase it, in a heartbeat. The truths brought forward in this story are as meaningful today as when I saw it in 1962. Best yet, every member of the military audience viewing it, laughed until they rolled. It didn't matter what their political orientation, the humor was there for all to see. If a fan of "King of Hearts", I recommend it.

Another good war movie. Who says war movies need to have blood and violence? This was a battle of wits between the Italian commander and the British commander.This movie has all the elements that precipitate war. Two armies that do not speak the same language with claims to past glory. And in the end they find themselves as men with a common goal - to survive in the desert.The football scene was interesting in that, peeled down to basics, the men found a common passion. Could it be saying that conflict can be settled in a sportsmanlike manner? The funniest dialogue I found was when the British commander ordered the Italians to dig a latrine in the middle of the desert because it was the civilised thing to do. The Italian commander retorted, "My people were building sewers while your people were painting themselves blue."

During this african war of 1941, Alberto Sordi (italian captain) fights against David Niven (British major). This comedy is for fraternity and against stupid wars like many... The script is good. Sordi is excelent as usual but his opponent Niven is a sub-category actor. With a better british actor, I'll give 9. My vote: 8

I saw this movie on TV years ago. Sadly I haven't seen it for at least five years, not even on cable. The story deals with the interplay between Italian and British units, mostly focusing on the commanding officers on each side. Sordi and Niven couldn't have been better in their roles. Against the backdrop of the African WW2 campaign the two sides seem to be more of a nuisance to each other than effective participants in the war, but towards the end of the movie we are given a reminder of the tendency to become egotistic as being a major world power involved in a campaign which totally ignores the native population in the country being fought over.This is a very appropriate touch to the movie. The two sides(Brits & Italians) were not the only game in town. I would love to see this movie out on video or DVD and would purchase it immediately.