Ice Cold in Alex (60th Anniversary Edition) (Blu-ray) (1958) |
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Ice Cold in Alex (60th Anniversary Edition) (Blu-ray) (1958) |
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| General | Extras | ||
| Category | War |
Featurette-Steve Chibnall on J.Lee Thompson (12:34) Featurette-Interview with Melanie Williams (15:39) Interviews-Cast-Sylvia Syms (21:50) Featurette-John Mills Home Movie Footage (15:01) Trailer-Old Trailer (3:20) Gallery-Behind the Scenes Stills Gallery Featurette-A Very British War Movie Documentary (12:58) |
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| Rating |
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| Year Of Production | 1958 | ||
| Running Time | 130:16 | ||
| RSDL / Flipper | Dual Layered | Cast & Crew | |
| Start Up | Menu | ||
| Region Coding | 3,4 | Directed By | J. Lee Thompson |
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Studio
Distributor |
Ass British Pic Corp Sony Pictures Home Entertain |
Starring |
John Mills Harry Andrews Sylvia Syms Anthony Quayle Diane Clare |
| Case | Standard Blu-ray | ||
| RPI | ? | Music | leighton lucas |
| Video | Audio | ||
| Pan & Scan/Full Frame | None | English Linear PCM 48/16 2.0 mono | |
| Widescreen Aspect Ratio | 1.66:1 | ||
| 16x9 Enhancement |
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| Video Format | 1080p | ||
| Original Aspect Ratio | 1.66:1 | Miscellaneous | |
| Jacket Pictures | No | ||
| Subtitles | English for the Hearing Impaired | Smoking | Yes |
| Annoying Product Placement | No | ||
| Action In or After Credits | No | ||
North Africa 1942 – with the German army closing in on Tobruk and the Allies in full retreat an ambulance containing Captain Anson (John Mills), M.S.M. Pugh (Harry Andrews) and two nursing sisters, Sister Murdoch (Sylvia Syms) and Sister Norton (Diane Clare) is separated from the other retreating troops and forced to venture away from the road into the desert where they pick up South African Captain van der Poel (Anthony Quayle). Captain Anson is not in good shape; he has seen far too much of war and is drinking heavily and on the verge of a breakdown. When a bad decision on his part leads to the death of one of their party, Anson resolves to not have a drink until they have an ice cold beer in Alexandra. But before that happens they will have to travel over 600 miles of desert and negotiate minefields, German patrols, sand dunes, mechanical problems, quicksand, the heat, the wind and lack of water, all the time starting to suspect that van der Poel may not be who he says he is.
Ice Cold in Alex is based on a novel by Christopher Landon and directed by J. Lee Thompson, whose later credits included The Guns of Navarone (1961) and a couple of the Planet of the Apes sequels (1972 / 1973). Ice Cold in Alex is very much one of the line of classic black and white British war films of the 1950s such as Malta Story (1953), The Cruel Sea (1953), Above Us the Waves (1955), Dunkirk (1958) or Sink the Bismarck (1960) that avoided gung-ho histrionics and false heroics also having an understated, realistic, sometimes almost documentary, feel. Many of these films, including Above Us the Waves and Dunkirk starred John Mills as the quintessential Englishman, unflappable, dependable, solid; it is noted a number of times in the extra features on this Blu-ray that one of the unusual things about Ice Cold in Alex is that Mills is playing somewhat against type as Captain Anson, a heavy drinker and a man who is not in control of himself. This is sort of true; but it always feels a bit staged and of course it is John Mills so we know that he will pull himself together, and get the girl as well. Other unusual aspects of Ice Cold in Alex include the character of a strong capable woman, not normal in a war film of the period (and Sylvia Syms does an excellent job), and the sympathetic treatment of Germans. One must remember that this was less than 15 years after the end of the war; it is perhaps no surprise that Ice Cold in Alex was well received in Germany and won a prize at the Berlin International Film Festival; one must add, though, that Ice Cold in Alex was also very well received in Britain.
While it is set during the war, and there are a couple of minor action sequences, Ice Cold in Alex is not really a war film. Instead it is a film about a road trip in hostile conditions, people against the elements. It includes a mystery and some well-staged, tense sequences such as the minefield, the quicksand or the slow cranking of the ambulance up a towering sand dune. There are also beautiful images filmed by cinematographer Gilbert Taylor (who later shot Star Wars IV- A New Hope (1977)) of a tiny ambulance travelling through the wide expanses of the desert. The film is certainly long at 130 minutes, it is episodic and with sedate pacing; this was not to American tastes as the US distributor slashed the running time almost in half to 76 minutes in 1961 and retitled it Desert Attack! Thankfully, this Blu-ray is the full version allowing the characters to develop and the tension to build.
Ice Cold in Alex is presented in the 1.66:1 aspect ratio, in black and white, in 1080p using the MPEG-4 AVC code.
This is a clean restored print. Blacks, grey scales and shadow detail are excellent, detail being clear enough to be able to see clearly the stunt driver in the supposedly empty ambulance as it runs “out of control” down a sand dune as well as sweat drops and grime on faces. I did not see any marks or artefacts although there may be one slight frame jump. Pleasing grain is present.
English subtitles for the hearing impaired are available.
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Audio is English LPCM 2.0 mono. The film was released in theatres with a mono audio track.
Dialogue is clear. The effects, including the explosions, gunshots and engines, are good, sounding quite deep and strident. The music by Francis Chagrin is dramatic when used. There is obviously no surround or subwoofer use. There is no hiss or crackle.
There are no lip synchronisation issues.
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Academic Chibnall speaks a little about Thompson’s early career and the themes that Thompson was interested in but then concentrates on the making of Ice Cold in Alex talking about the DP and editor, the cast, changes in the film from the book, locations, battles with the censors and reactions to the film. It includes black and white stills and film clips. Worthwhile.
Williams is another academic and she talks specifically about Ice Cold in Alex including where it fits within British wars films then being made, where it was different, the casting, the unusual, for a war film, female role, J. Lee Thompson, the film’s themes, battles with the censors, reactions to the film and the influence of the film. It includes black and white stills and film clips. Again worthwhile.
Syms is candid and very amusing as she answers text questions about her memories of shooting Ice Cold in Alex. She talks about how she got involved, her character, director J. Lee Thompson, the other cast members, her reaction to the censorship of the love scene and she provides a wealth of anecdotes about filming in the Libyan Desert. A hoot.
16 mm, silent, colour home movie footage shot in Libya in 1958 with the cast and crew on location, interacting with the locals and the local children, sightseeing at the Roman ruins and relaxing on the beach. On location they really were in the middle of nowhere! The colours are amazingly vivid; there are a range of artefacts but mostly the footage is well preserved.
This may be the old trailer but it is in very good condition.
13 on location stills. Silent, they can be advanced using the remote or automatically.
An extract from the 1999 documentary made for Channel 4 A Very British War Movie. This looks at John Mills and the different type of character he played in Ice Cold in Alex, conditions on location in the desert, Sylvia Syms, the quicksand scene and the sympathetic portrayal of the Germans. It consists of film stills and footage plus comments by a wide range of people including John Mills, Sylvia Syms, J. Lee Thompson, various film directors and producers and a woman who served as a nurse in the desert during the war.
NOTE: To view non-R4 releases, your equipment needs to be multi-zone compatible and usually also NTSC compatible.
This Australian Blu-ray 60th Anniversary Edition of Ice Cold in Alex is the same as the Region B UK release. There does not appear to be a US release at present.
It is great to see classic 1950s black and white British war films being remastered and getting a release on Blu-ray with decent extras. Ice Cold in Alex is not a typical British war film, but it is a typical understated British film without false heroics. The film may be a bit long and the pacing sedate by modern standards but a good cast, the location photography in Libya, the characters, good direction by J. Lee Thompson and an intelligent script results in a film that, 60 years after its release, remains very watchable.
The video is very good, the original mono audio. Some decent extras round out a good Blu-ray package. Just the thing for fans of classic British war films or the cast.
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| Review Equipment | |
| DVD | Sony BDP-S580, using HDMI output |
| Display | LG 55inch HD LCD. This display device has not been calibrated. This display device is 16x9 capable. This display device has a maximum native resolution of 1080p. |
| Audio Decoder | NAD T737. This audio decoder/receiver has not been calibrated. |
| Amplification | NAD T737 |
| Speakers | Studio Acoustics 5.1 |