Bitter Victory (1957, b/w)

FILM4, 11.00AM ★★★★

 Richard Burton impresses in Nicholas Ray’s bleakly superb war thriller, based on René Hardy’s novel of the same name. He stars as Captain Leith, a nihilistic soldier (clearly inspired by TE Lawrence “of Arabia”), who is joined on a desert raid against Rommel in North Africa by the insecure Major David Brand (Curd Jürgens). But their spying mission is jeopardised by jealousy. Christopher Lee co-stars as a cockney sergeant.