Nine Men (film)
| Nine Men | |
|---|---|
 Nine Men UK release poster | |
| Directed by | Harry Watt |
| Written by | Harry Watt (from short story by Gerald Kersh) |
| Produced by | Michael Balcon |
| Starring | Jack Lambert Gordon Jackson |
| Cinematography | Roy Kellino |
| Edited by | Charles Crichton |
| Music by | John Greenwood |
| Distributed by | Ealing Studios |
Release date | 22 February 1943 |
Running time | 68 min. |
| Country |  United Kingdom |
| Language | English |
Nine Men is a 1943 British patriotic war film. The film is an Ealing Studios production, which marked the first fiction film assignment for celebrated documentary film director Harry Watt.
Plot
Sergeant Jack Watson and the eight men under his command are travelling through the Libyan desert in an Allied convoy when their truck is destroyed by Italian forces and they find themselves stranded as the convoy moves on without them. They take refuge in a semi-derelict desert fort, where they must hold out while being besieged by the Italians, with only a limited supply of ammunition and their own wits to help them survive.
Lacking a budget for large-scale battle scenes, Nine Men focuses tightly on psychological tension and the personal interactions between its nine protagonists.
Cast
- Jack Lambert as Sgt. Jack Watson
- Gordon Jackson as Young'un
- Frederick Piper as 'Badger' Hill
- Grant Sutherland as Jock Scott
- Bill Blewett as Bill Parker
- Eric Micklewood as 'Bookie' Lee
- John Varley as 'Dusty' Johnstone
- Jack Horsman as Joe Harvey
- Richard Wilkinson as Lt. Crawford
Location filming
The film's exterior desert sequences were shot on location at Margam Sands, Glamorgan.