''Immortal Sergeant'' is a 1942

war novel A war novel or military fiction is a novel about war. It is a novel in which the primary action takes place on a battlefield, or in a civilian setting (or home front), where the characters are preoccupied with the preparations for, suffering the ...

by the British writer John Brophy. The novel is set during the North African campaign of the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposi ...

and seen through the eyes of a British

corporal Corporal is a military rank in use in some form by many militaries and by some police forces or other uniformed organizations. The word is derived from the medieval Italian phrase ("head of a body"). The rank is usually the lowest ranking non- ...

fighting across the

Libyan desert The Libyan Desert (not to be confused with the Libyan Sahara) is a geographical region filling the north-eastern Sahara Desert, from eastern Libya to the Western Desert of Egypt and far northwestern Sudan. On medieval maps, its use predates t ...

whose comrade, a sergeant, is killed.

Film adaptation

In 1943 it was adapted into a Hollywood film ''

Immortal Sergeant ''Immortal Sergeant'' is a 1943 American war film directed by John M. Stahl for 20th Century Fox. Set in the North African desert during World War II, it stars Henry Fonda as a corporal lacking in confidence in both love and war, Maureen O'Hara ...

'' directed by

John M. Stahl John Malcolm Stahl (January 21, 1886 – January 12, 1950) was an American film director and producer. Life and work He was born Jacob Morris Strelitsky in Baku (Azerbaijan) to a Russian Jewish family. When he was a child, his family le ...

and starring

Henry Fonda Henry Jaynes Fonda (May 16, 1905 – August 12, 1982) was an American actor. He had a career that spanned five decades on Broadway and in Hollywood. He cultivated an everyman screen image in several films considered to be classics. Born and ra ...

, Maureen O'Hara and Thomas Mitchell.Goble p.57 The plot was then recycled for a 1951 film ''

Fixed Bayonets! ''Fixed Bayonets!'' is a 1951 American war film written and directed by Samuel Fuller and produced by Twentieth Century-Fox during the Korean War. It is Fuller's second film about the Korean War. In his motion-picture debut, James Dean appears ...

'' about American troops set during the

Korean War , date = {{Ubl, 25 June 1950 – 27 July 1953 (''de facto'')({{Age in years, months, weeks and days, month1=6, day1=25, year1=1950, month2=7, day2=27, year2=1953), 25 June 1950 – present (''de jure'')({{Age in years, months, weeks a ...

References

Bibliography

* Goble, Alan. ''The Complete Index to Literary Sources in Film''. Walter de Gruyter, 1999. * Watson, George & Willison, Ian R. ''The New Cambridge Bibliography of English Literature, Volume 4''. CUP, 1972. 1942 British novels British war novels British novels adapted into films William Collins, Sons books Novels by John Brophy Novels set in Libya Novels set during World War II {{1940s-WWII-novel-stub