{"id":9855,"date":"2009-10-05T11:01:26","date_gmt":"2009-10-05T18:01:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=9855"},"modified":"2021-09-21T23:11:36","modified_gmt":"2021-09-22T06:11:36","slug":"sands-of-the-kalahari-1965","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=9855","title":{"rendered":"Sands of the Kalahari (1965)"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>&#8220;There are five people back there on a black mountain in a pure sand desert. They&#8217;re starving to death!&#8221;<\/strong><\/p>\n<table>\n<tr>\n<td>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/10\/Sands-Kalahari-Poster.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/10\/Sands-Kalahari-Poster-201x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"201\" height=\"300\" class=\"alignleft size-medium wp-image-64584\" srcset=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/10\/Sands-Kalahari-Poster-201x300.jpg 201w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/10\/Sands-Kalahari-Poster-86x128.jpg 86w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/10\/Sands-Kalahari-Poster-181x270.jpg 181w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/10\/Sands-Kalahari-Poster.jpg 580w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 201px) 100vw, 201px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong>Synopsis:<\/strong><br \/>\nA diverse group of individuals &#8212; including a womanizing pilot (Nigel Davenport), a domineering hunter (Stuart Whitman), a failed mining engineer (Stanley Baker), a beautiful divorcee (Susannah York), a soft-spoken doctor (Theodore Bikel), and a former Nazi officer (Harry Andrews) &#8212; struggle to survive in the Kalahari desert after their passenger plane crashes.\n<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>\n<p>\n<strong>Genres, Themes, Actors, and Directors:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Africa<\/li>\n<li>Deserts<\/li>\n<li>Ensemble Cast<\/li>\n<li>Harry Andrews Films<\/li>\n<li>Survival<\/li>\n<li>Susannah York Films<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Review: <\/strong><br \/>\nReleased the same year as Robert Aldrich&#8217;s <em>Flight of the Phoenix<\/em>, writer-director Cy Endfield&#8217;s survival tale &#8212; based on a novel by William Mulvihill &#8212; starts with the same premise of a plane crashing in the Kalahari desert, but moves in an entirely different direction. While the survivors of the Phoenix focus on rebuilding a plane that will lift them out of the area, the motley passengers in Endfield&#8217;s film become involved in an existential fight for dominance. Indeed, it&#8217;s soon made clear that Endfield is primarily concerned with highlighting the passengers&#8217; devolution into primitive beings (much like the tribes of fang-baring baboons occupying the area), as sexual passions flare &#8212; York, conveniently gorgeous, is the only female passenger &#8212; and Whitman&#8217;s increasingly obvious desire for mastery at any cost (he&#8217;s the only one in the group with a gun and ammunition) takes hold. While the plot and dialogue occasionally strain credulity, we&#8217;re nonetheless intrigued by the &#8220;Lord of the Flies&#8221; mentality which emerges, pitting passengers against each other. Fine on-location shooting and an unusual script makes this a worthy adventure flick for those who enjoy tales of survival under extreme circumstances.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Redeeming Qualities and Moments: <\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Fine location shooting<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/10\/sands-kalahari-location.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/10\/sands-kalahari-location.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"357\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-9858\" \/><\/a><\/li>\n<li>An often tense and gripping script<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/10\/sands-kalahari-script.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/10\/sands-kalahari-script.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"357\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-9859\" \/><\/a><\/li>\n<li>The unexpected ending\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Must See? <\/strong><br \/>\nNo, but it&#8217;s recommended. Listed as a Sleeper and a Personal Recommendation in the back of Peary&#8217;s book. <\/p>\n<p><strong>Links: <\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.imdb.com\/title\/tt0059675\/\">IMDb entry<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/allmovie.com\/work\/sands-of-the-kalahari-108823\">All Movie Guide Review (spoiler alerts)<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/1965\/11\/25\/archives\/sands-of-the-kalahari-in-neighborhoods.html\">NY Times Original Review<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&#8220;There are five people back there on a black mountain in a pure sand desert. They&#8217;re starving to death!&#8221; Synopsis: A diverse group of individuals &#8212; including a womanizing pilot (Nigel Davenport), a domineering hunter (Stuart Whitman), a failed mining engineer (Stanley Baker), a beautiful divorcee (Susannah York), a soft-spoken doctor (Theodore Bikel), and a former Nazi officer (Harry Andrews) &#8212; struggle to survive in the Kalahari desert after their passenger plane crashes. Genres, Themes, Actors, and Directors: Africa Deserts&#8230;<\/p>\n<p class=\"read-more\"><a class=\"btn btn-default\" href=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=9855\"> Read More<span class=\"screen-reader-text\">  Read More<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9855","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-reviews"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9855","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=9855"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9855\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":76361,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9855\/revisions\/76361"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=9855"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=9855"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=9855"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}