Alicia I love this movie so much

Kailansorac Clever, believable, and super fun to watch. It totally has replay value.

Curapedi I cannot think of one single thing that I would change about this film. The acting is incomparable, the directing deft, and the writing poignantly brilliant.

Doomtomylo a film so unique, intoxicating and bizarre that it not only demands another viewing, but is also forgivable as a satirical comedy where the jokes eventually take the back seat.

drjgardner This is the first American film about the North Africa campaign and the last film Henry Fonda made before reporting for the war. In fact he had tried to report earlier but studio head Zanuck had him deferred until this film was made."The Immortal Sergeant" tells the oft-told tale of a group of soldiers at risk trying to survive. The first version I can recall was "the Lost Patrol" a 1929 British silent film remade in 1934 by John Ford. Those films were based on the 1927 novel "Patrol" and the basic theme has been repeated since (e.g., 'The Thirteen", "Sahara", "Last of the Comanches", "Kokoda").This 1943 film is an American propaganda film using the British fighting in Africa for the setting. Though this is obviously a studio film, the camera work is pretty good and some of the action sequences look good.The cast is rich with 40s stars like Henry Fonda, Thomas Mitchell, Maureen O'Hara, and Reginald Gardiner. But they are merely going through the motions and there is nothing here you haven't seen before.My favorite WW 2 fighting films made between 1942 and 1944 include "Wake Island" (1942), "Bataan" (1943) which also had Mitchell, "The Fighting Sullivans" (1944), "Flying Tigers" (1942), "Guadalcanal Diary" (1943), "The North Star" (1943), "The Rats of Tobruk" (1944), and "Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo" (1944).There are a plethora of non-fighting WW 2 films that are worthy of mention – "Casablanca" (1942), "Lifeboat" (1944), "Hangmen Also Die" (1943), and "Five Graves to Cairo" (1943).

MartinHafer "Immortal Sergeant" was apparently not one of Henry Fonda's favorite film roles. I am not sure why "The Big Street" wasn't his least favorite (it was god-awful, believe me) but he disliked it. And, I might add, my wife wasn't super-fond a this film as we watched it. However, I really thought it was pretty good...though I do wonder if the main character played by Fonda might have been schizophrenic--that's because throughout the film he keeps hearing the voice of his sergeant--even though the guy is dead!The film is a WWII propaganda film. Because of this, it's main thrust is NOT realism but to bolster folks' support of the war effort. I cut the film a bit of slack, as it was 1943 and keeping up morale was a major concern. What I didn't like was the casting of Fonda, as he was supposed to be a Brit--and seemed about as British as John Wayne or Hattie McDaniel! In this sense, I could see why he didn't like playing this role--but the plot is pretty good and more than makes up for this.The sergeant in the title is played by Thomas Mitchell--and he's very good in this role. This guy is a career soldier and seems indestructible to his men--and he is adored by them. However, although he seems to have all the answers, his corporal (Fonda) seems quite different--unsure of himself and not at all the soldier Mitchell is. But, when the sergeant is killed and Fonda is left in charge of a small group of men in the North African desert, he's given a chance to show his mettle.In many ways, this film is a lot like the film "Sahara"--though "Sahara" is a much more enjoyable (and less realistic) film. Both are set in the same locale and are about a small group of soldiers overcoming greater numbers of enemy soldiers. But the casting and script just weren't quite as good here--though the film STILL is enjoyable and did what the studio wanted it to do. I also appreciate how the men in this film were NOT indestructible--many died even though you KNEW how it all had to end. Not brilliant but quite entertaining.

edwagreen Henry Fonda looks just like he appeared in 1940's "The Grapes of Wrath."This is quite a good film detailing several soldiers caught in Africa during World War 11 and how they eventually overcome their perils.Thomas Mitchell, as the old-time sergeant is a standout here. There is able support by Allyn Joslyn, Reginald Gardiner and others.Maureen O'Hara is used mainly in flashbacks here as Fonda thinks back of his past while trying to lead his men to freedom.The ending seems rushed up as Fonda wakes up in the hospital and is told how they got out of their predicament.

Robert J. Maxwell This is one of those movies about a handful of soldiers lost in the desert who must find and fight their way home. But, if the plot is familiar, this is a pretty well executed example.Combat aside, it's the story of the maturation of Henry Fonda, the bashful, receding, passive, loner of a corporal who suddenly finds himself in charge when his sergeant is killed. Fonda's character has what psychologists call a primary trait. That is, he is excessively something or other. It's the part of him that everyone notices. Whenever we do a statistical analysis of personality characteristics, one of the first to show up is likely to be introversion/extraversion, and Fonda is high on introversion. This is one of the "Big Five" personality traits, if anyone wants to bother looking it up. There are numerous flashback too, involving Fonda's self-effacing quality interfering with his relationship with Maureen O'Hara. He can't bring himself to declare his love for her, and meanwhile the gregarious Reginald Gardner (just the opposite, high on extraversion) is taking his place. These kinds of back stories are usually annoying but in this case I can bring myself to forgive them because Maureen O'Hara at twenty-two is sublime. Not "pretty" in any ordinary way. If you asked an artist to sit down and draw a picture of a beautiful woman it wouldn't come out looking like O'Hara. Her nose is more like an eagle's than like a ski slope. And her chin is a little larger than would be required to accommodate her lips. And she's not even a phenomenally talented actress. Really, a performance by an actor is made up half of demands imposed by the script and half by the organismic variables the actor brings to the role. And O'Hara's gestures at enacting the role of the girl friend back home are so perfunctory that we readily sense the real person beneath -- and she's radiant. So, anyway, okay. She can stay in the film.I first saw this years ago on KVZK and remembered it only for O'Hara's presence and for a scene in which a disabled Italian aircraft crashes into a truck full of British soldiers. I just saw it again and those two are still its most outstanding features.The combat scenes are well done for the time too. It's exciting as well as thoughtful. I wouldn't blame anyone for disliking it because it's just another phony war movie with romantic flashbacks, but in my opinion, although it is that, it's something more as well. It might have been called, "How To Conquer Your Introversion" and been written by a media-savvy politician.