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The Desert Rats (film)
''The Desert Rats'' is a 1953 American black-and-white war film from 20th Century Fox, produced by Robert L. Jacks, directed by Robert Wise, that stars Richard Burton, James Mason, and Robert Newton. The film's storyline concerns the Siege of Tobruk in North Africa during World War II. Plot During mid-April 1941 in North Africa, German field marshal Erwin Rommel ( James Mason) and his Afrika Korps have driven the British Army back toward Egypt and the vital Suez Canal. Standing in Rommel's way is Tobruk, a constant threat to his supply lines. The 9th Australian Division are charged with holding the port for two months, at which time they are to be relieved. The defending Allied general ( Robert Douglas) chooses British Captain "Tammy" MacRoberts (Richard Burton), an experienced field officer, to take command of newly arrived, untried Australian troops. The no-nonsense MacRoberts, disliked by the undisciplined Australians, is surprised to see in their ranks his former schoolma ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Film Poster
A film poster is a poster used to promote and advertise a film primarily to persuade paying customers into a theater to see it. Studios often print several posters that vary in size and content for various domestic and international markets. They normally contain an image with text. Today's posters often feature printed likenesses of the main actors. Prior to the 1980s, illustrations instead of photos were far more common. The text on film posters usually contains the film title in large lettering and often the names of the main actors. It may also include a tagline, the name of the director, names of characters, the release date, and other pertinent details to inform prospective viewers about the film. Film posters are often displayed inside and on the outside of movie theaters, and elsewhere on the street or in shops. The same images appear in the film exhibitor's pressbook and may also be used on websites, DVD (and historically VHS) packaging, flyers, advertisements in newspap ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
British Army
The British Army is the principal land warfare force of the United Kingdom, a part of the British Armed Forces along with the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force. , the British Army comprises 79,380 regular full-time personnel, 4,090 Gurkhas, and 28,330 volunteer reserve personnel. The modern British Army traces back to 1707, with antecedents in the English Army and Scots Army that were created during the Restoration in 1660. The term ''British Army'' was adopted in 1707 after the Acts of Union between England and Scotland. Members of the British Army swear allegiance to the monarch as their commander-in-chief, but the Bill of Rights of 1689 and Claim of Right Act 1689 require parliamentary consent for the Crown to maintain a peacetime standing army. Therefore, Parliament approves the army by passing an Armed Forces Act at least once every five years. The army is administered by the Ministry of Defence and commanded by the Chief of the General Staff. The Brit ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Charles Davis (actor)
Charles Davis (31 August 1925 – 12 December 2009) was an Irish character actor, writer and director. He was born in Dublin, Ireland. Career Davis started his acting career at the Abbey Theatre in Dublin and had over 1,000 performances on Broadway. Davis appeared in over 20 movies and over 100 TV shows. Among his movies were ''The Desert Rats'', ''The King's Thief'', ''The Young Stranger'' and ''The Wreck of the Mary Deare''. The TV shows he appeared in included ''Dynasty'', '' Lock-Up'', ''Alfred Hitchcock Presents'', ''The Cara Williams Show'', ''Night Gallery'' and ''The Wild Wild West''. Davis was also a writer, director and film producer. He wrote, directed and produced feature films including ''Kennedy’s Ireland'', ''Thunder Run'', ''Happy as the Grass Was Green'' (also released under the title ''Hazel’s People'') and ''The Violent Ones''. [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bud Tingwell
Charles William Tingwell AM (3 January 1923 – 15 May 2009), known professionally as Bud Tingwell or Charles 'Bud' Tingwell, was an Australian film, television, theatre and radio actor. One of the veterans of Australian film, he acted in his first motion picture in 1946 and went on to appear in more than 100 films and numerous TV programs in both the United Kingdom and Australia. Early life and military service Tingwell was born in the Sydney suburb of Coogee, the son of William Harvey Tingwell and Enid (née Green). William volunteered as a surf lifesaver at Coogee Surf Life Saving Club where, in 1922, a colleague noticed Enid's pregnancy and asked, 'What's budding there?', and 'Bud' became the nickname for their infant son. As an adolescent, Bud was encouraged by his father to train as an accountant, but Tingwell failed the entrance exam. While still at school, he became a cadet at Sydney radio station 2CH, soon becoming the youngest radio announcer in Australia. World W ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Chips Rafferty
John William Pilbean Goffage MBE (26 March 190927 May 1971), known professionally as Chips Rafferty, was an Australian actor. Called "the living symbol of the typical Australian", Rafferty's career stretched from the late 1930s until his death in 1971, and during this time he performed regularly in major Australian feature films as well as appearing in British and American productions, including '' The Overlanders'' and '' The Sundowners''. He appeared in commercials in Britain during the late 1950s, encouraging British emigration to Australia. Early days He was born John William Pilbean Goffage in Broken Hill, New South Wales to John Goffage, an English-born stock agent, and Australian-born Violet Maude Joyce.Pike, A. (1996) "Goffage, John William Pilbean hips Rafferty(1909–1971)", ''Australian Dictionary of Biography'', Volume 14, Melbourne University Press. Gaining the nickname "Chips" as a school boy, Rafferty studied at Parramatta Commercial School before working in a va ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Torin Thatcher
Torin Herbert Erskine Thatcher (15 January 1905 – 4 March 1981) was a British actor who was noted for his flashy portrayals of screen villains. Personal life Thatcher was born in Bombay, British India, to British parents, Torin James Blair Thatcher, a police officer, and his wife Edith Rachel, a voice and piano teacher, younger daughter of the Hon. Justice Sir Herbert Batty, a puisne judge of the High Court of Bombay.Debrett's Peerage, Baronetage, Knightage, and Companionage, 1931, pg 908 He was educated in England at Bedford School and at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art. He worked as a schoolmaster before first appearing on the London stage in 1927 and then entering British films in 1934. Career In 1935 he appeared in the historical play '' Mary Tudor''. He appeared in the 1937 Old Vic production of ''Hamlet'', in which Laurence Olivier made his first appearance in the title role, opposite Vivien Leigh as Ophelia. During the Second World War, he served with the Royal Ar ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bagpipes
Bagpipes are a woodwind instrument using enclosed reeds fed from a constant reservoir of air in the form of a bag. The Great Highland bagpipes are well known, but people have played bagpipes for centuries throughout large parts of Europe, Northern Africa, Western Asia, around the Persian Gulf and northern parts of South Asia. The term ''bagpipe'' is equally correct in the singular or the plural, though pipers usually refer to the bagpipes as "the pipes", "a set of pipes" or "a stand of pipes". Construction A set of bagpipes minimally consists of an air supply, a bag, a chanter, and usually at least one drone. Many bagpipes have more than one drone (and, sometimes, more than one chanter) in various combinations, held in place in stocks—sockets that fasten the various pipes to the bag. Air supply The most common method of supplying air to the bag is through blowing into a blowpipe or blowstick. In some pipes the player must cover the tip of the blowpipe with their t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Supermarine Spitfire
The Supermarine Spitfire is a British single-seat fighter aircraft used by the Royal Air Force and other Allied countries before, during, and after World War II. Many variants of the Spitfire were built, from the Mk 1 to the Rolls-Royce Griffon engined Mk 24 using several wing configurations and guns. It was the only British fighter produced continuously throughout the war. The Spitfire remains popular among enthusiasts; around 70 remain airworthy, and many more are static exhibits in aviation museums throughout the world. The Spitfire was designed as a short-range, high-performance interceptor aircraft by R. J. Mitchell, chief designer at Supermarine Aviation Works, which operated as a subsidiary of Vickers-Armstrong from 1928. Mitchell developed the Spitfire's distinctive elliptical wing with innovative sunken rivets (designed by Beverley Shenstone) to have the thinnest possible cross-section, achieving a potential top speed greater than that of several contemporary figh ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Commando
Royal Marines from 40 Commando on patrol in the Sangin">40_Commando.html" ;"title="Royal Marines from 40 Commando">Royal Marines from 40 Commando on patrol in the Sangin area of Afghanistan are pictured A commando is a combatant, or operative of an elite light infantry or special operations force, specially trained for carrying out raids and operating in small teams behind enemy lines. Originally "a commando" was a type of combat unit, as opposed to an individual in that unit. In other languages, ''commando'' and ''kommando'' denote a "command", including the sense of a military or an elite special operations unit. In the militaries and governments of most countries, commandos are distinctive in that they specialize in unconventional assault on high-value targets. In English, to distinguish between an individual commando and a commando unit, the unit is occasionally capitalized. Etymology From an ancient lingual perspective the term commando derives from Latin ''commen ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Dust Storm
A dust storm, also called a sandstorm, is a meteorological phenomenon common in arid and semi-arid regions. Dust storms arise when a gust front or other strong wind blows loose sand and dirt from a dry surface. Fine particles are transported by saltation and suspension, a process that moves soil from one place and deposits it in another. The arid regions of North Africa, the Arabian peninsula, Central Asia and China are the main terrestrial sources of airborne dust. It has been argued that poor management of Earth's drylands, such as neglecting the fallow system, are increasing the size and frequency of dust storms from desert margins and changing both the local and global climate, as well as impacting local economies. The term ''sandstorm'' is used most often in the context of desert dust storms, especially in the Sahara Desert, or places where sand is a more prevalent soil type than dirt or rock, when, in addition to fine particles obscuring visibility, a considerabl ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Robert Douglas (actor)
Robert Douglas Finlayson (9 November 1909 – 11 January 1999), known professionally as Robert Douglas, was an English stage and film actor, a television director and producer. Early career and personal life Douglas was born in Fenny Stratford, Buckinghamshire. He studied at RADA and made his stage debut at the Theatre Royal, Bournemouth in 1927. A year later he made his first London appearance in ''Many Waters'' at the Ambassadors Theatre and went into films the following year. Personal life and death He was married twice, to actresses Dorothy Hyson (1914–1996) and Suzanne Weldon (1921–1995), fathering two children, Lucinda and Robert (Giles). He died from natural causes in Encinitas, California, aged 89. Career As an actor Theatre *1927: ''The Best People'' (Theatre Royal Bournemouth + tour) *1928: ''Crime'' (Grand Theatre Croydon + tour) *1928: ''Many Waters'' (Ambassadors Theatre London) *1928: ''Mrs.Moonlight'' (Kingsway Theatre London) *1929: ''Black St. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
9th Australian Division
The 9th Division was a division of the Australian Army that served during World War II. It was the fourth division raised for the Second Australian Imperial Force (2nd AIF). The distinctions of the division include it being: * in front line combat longer, cumulatively, than any other Australian division;Johnston (2002), p. ix. * one of the Australian military's most decorated formations; * the only 2nd AIF division formed in the United Kingdom, from infantry brigades and support units formed in Australia; * praised by both Allied and Axis generals, including Bernard Montgomery and Erwin Rommel, as well as non-Australian military historians, and; * like the 6th and 7th Divisions, being one of only a few Allied army units to serve in both the Mediterranean and Pacific theatres. During 1940, the component units of the 9th Division were sent to the UK to defend it against a possible German invasion. After serving during 1941–1942 in the North African campaign, at the Siege of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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