User Reviews

As almost a followup to his 40,000 Horsemen, Australian producer/director Charles Clauvell paid a wartime tribute to the Aussie diggers who held out at Tobruk until relieved by British troops from April until October of 1941. The men of the 9th Australian Division are unique among the soldiers from the land down under since they fought at different times both the Germans and the Japanese.

The Rats of Tobruk were so named by Lord Haw Haw and we hear the broadcast in which the 9th Australian division men were so dubbed. Our American soldiers were popularly named GIs in World War II, but the troops from Australia and New Zealand retained their name of 'Digger.' It seemed singularly appropriate that the Aussies be called that because dig they did at Tobruk, in First World War like trenches, stopping Rommel's infantry advance.

Clauvel's stars from 40,000 Horseman Grant Taylor and Chips Rafferty are in this one and they are joined by a very young Peter Finch in one of his earliest movie roles. They play three mates from western Australia, a stockman, a miner, and a writer. Like in 40,000 Horseman they join up at the first call and the siege at Tobruk is seen through their eyes.

For the sake of wartime unity a lot could not be said, but the Aussies were relieved so they could go back to Australia and prepare for war against the Japanese. It was quite a diplomatic tussle between Winston Churchill and Australian Prime Minister John Curtin, both arguably the greatest men to occupy their respective offices. Some of the 9th Australian went to Greece as the film points out and more than likely were killed or captured there. James Coburn's Aussie soldier in The Great Escape may have been captured in that theater.

The final shots of the film are of the Diggers returning home to a ticker tape parade down whatever equivalent street in Sydney they have for Broadway. A lot of those men, the best and brightest of their generation of Aussies met death at the hands of the Japanese, a lot of those you see in that newsreel footage were already dead when The Rats Of Tobruk made it to the theaters.

Richard Burton did a fine Hollywood based film, Desert Rats, about the same siege at Tobruk and Chips Rafferty had a featured role in that. Of course the production values were much superior, still The Rats Of Tobruk shows a lot of care about the Australian fighting man and his contribution in World War II from the folks they were defending.

THE RATS OF TOBRUK is a dated but watchable Aussie WW2 movie, of which there aren't too many in existence. The story follows a trio of characters as they head off to fight Rommel on North Africa. Grant Taylor is the square-jawed lead, Chips Rafferty adds character, and Peter Finch is the upper-crust Englishman. The film is a little slow to start with a lot of ponderous conversations and tacked-on romance, but once the action shifts to Africa it incorporates plenty of documentary-style realism in the depiction of intense battles. What's impressive is that this was made while the war was still in full swing, with a number of the cast on leave from their roles in the forces.

A young Peter Finch is an English reporter studying the customs and language of the Australian outback. He becomes pals with two drovers, Grant Taylor and Chips Rafferty. About half an hour is spent on Taylor's on-and-off romance with Pauline Garrick as Kate Carmody. It's rather interesting. Taylor is reluctant to be involved with Garrick because she's "old school", meaning she represents the old colonial English. Moreover, he's given to moving around and painting the town red, while she wants to build a home. Some of these social fractures were to show up in Cleary's novel, "The Sundowners," roving drover vs. wife who wants to settle down, irresponsible males, resentment of the English. Even some of the names reappear: Bluey and Carmody.

In any case, they find themselves shipped off to war and wind up at Tobruk, which is under siege by the Nazis. They manage to hold on, though they're exhausted and lose some of their mates. (None of this is sentamentalized in the least.) Scenes of battle are few but reasonably convincing. A comic barber, George Wallace, has a prominent part but isn't very funny. Example: An Arab says something to Wallace and adds a term of respectful address, "Effendi." "No, no, you don't offend me!" I like it better when William Bendix did it in "Guadalcanal Diary." Three Japanese captives kneel on the ground before the Marines, chanting "Aragato" ("thank you"). Comments Bendix: "We ain't got no avocados." The acting is adequate. Chips Rafferty went on to become Hollywood's Australian, and of course Peter Finch won an Oscar for his role in "Network." Withall, it's not really a gripping movie. It's not "Gallipoli" or "Anzacs," but it gets the job done. It's a flag-waver about some heroic men who held on under the most adverse circumstances. The Germans finally took Tobruk but the Allies got it back.