A strange thing happened to Ice Cold in Alex on its passage across the Atlantic for cinema screenings in America.
It lost its original title and was renamed Desert Attack, a prosaic title which could have been attached to a thousand films, with none of the meaning of the original.
The original title was pretty good, really. This is the account of an English ambulance officer who, during the Second World War, has to drive two English nurses across the Libyan desert, ahead of the invading German force.
There is a complication - a German spy has come along for the ride. And the ambulance driver, played by John "Is this a war movie? Can I have a role?" Mills, has an enemy of his own - his alcoholism. Tormented by his thirst, he dreams of just one thing - the end of his mission, when he can finally sink an ice-cold beer in Alexandria - his "ice-cold in Alex". So much better than Desert Attack!
Of all the movies in the box set The British War Collection, this is the most conventional, with its carefully plotted story and nurses along for the ride. For this reason, it is the least satisfying of the quartet. It strikes a too-obvious note of fiction in what seems the absolute reality of the other movies.
For all that, though, it is pretty enjoyable; by no means a dud. It doesn't explode the way the other movies do, especially The Dambusters, but it still gives a reasonable bang for your buck.
This 1960 black-and-white movie was filmed in widescreen, and the anamorphic transfer is very fine. It is presented in the best condition of all the movies in The British War Collection set, although all of the transfers are good enough for the purpose. The contrast and tonal values in particular are excellent.
The mono soundtrack is very clean and undistorted. Although an action movie, most of the emphasis is on dialogue, which is presented with great clarity.
A theatrical trailer of reasonable condition is the only extra provided.
This is, I think, the least important of the generally excellent films presented in The British War Collection. On its own it might be deemed a worthwhile release, but it does suffer by being presented in such company.