The Desert Rats
“They crawled their way across the blazing sands of Africa... to turn disaster into victory!”
Synopsis
In North Africa, German Field Marshal Rommel and his troops have successfully fended off British forces and now intend to capture Tobruk, an important port city. A disorganized group of Australian reinforcements sent to counter the Germans is placed under the command of British Captain MacRoberts. The difficult-to-control Australians immediately clash with MacRoberts, a gruff and strict disciplinarian. However, this unconventional team must unite to defend Tobruk from the German forces.
Credits
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How many hands made this film
The scale of the collaboration
Principal cast & crew: 17
These are the principals we have on file — the full crew ran to the hundreds. Every film this size was made by far more hands than any credits list ever names.
Why a floor?
This is a minimum, not a total. We only count the credits we’ve captured so far, and coverage is uneven — a blockbuster might show a few hundred names while another of the same size shows a couple dozen. The real crews all ran into the thousands. The number here only grows as full credits are enriched — so we frame it as a floor, never a headcount.
Craft leads on file
Edited by Barbara McleanShot by Lucien BallardScored by Leigh Harline
Also known as
- Die Wüstenrattende
- Las ratas del desiertoes
- Les Rats du désertfr
- I topi del desertoit
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Cast & Crew
17 unique people credited
Top billed cast
Richard Burton
as Capt. 'Tammy' MacRoberts
James Mason
as Field Marshal Erwin Rommel
Robert Newton
as Tom Bartlett
James Mason Nm0000051
as Field Marshal Erwin Rommel
Robert Douglas
as General
Torin Thatcher
as Col. Barney White
Chips Rafferty
as Sgt. 'Blue' Smith
Charles Bud Tingwell
as Lt. Harry Carstairs
Charles Davis
as Pete
Ben Wright
as Mick
Patrick Aherne
as English Officer
Directors
1Writers
1Producers
1Other crew
3Parents Guide
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