sudlowblake

I saw this film only once when I was small about 1976, the film looked circa 1950's but I could be wrong. It is set in the desert just after world war 2 a group of archaeologists are looking in the sand when the leader, a blond guy unearths an antenna they dig futher to find an entire german tank complete with dead german crew! anyway my memory is hazy about the main plot but the story seems to go that they use the tank to escape from some arabs who remembered the tank from the war, I think they break down or run out of fuel and have to abandon the tank leaving one guy alone inside who is wounded. The final scene see's the arabs attacking the tank trying to get inside.

Over the years I have met only one other person who has seen this film, or who even remembers it! and niether myself or this chap can remember the name of the film.

I would be so impressed If anyone of you out there can help name the film and who was in it, and whether it can be bought at all, I would be most gratefull.

dremble wedge

Sounds like The Steel Lady

Nick Dando

How about The Steel Lady from 1955?

The Steel Lady (1953) - Plot summary

Surviving a plane crash in the Sahara, four oilmen find and manage to repair a German Afrika Corps tank which had been buried in the sand since WWII. Heading toward a French Foreign Legion outpost, they encounter a nomadic Arab tribe who believe the oilmen have found the treasure of Calipha, a rival Arab leader. If trying to acquire the jewels by guile doesn't work, the Arabs are prepared to kill the oilmen to get the stolen treasure. Written by Doug Sederberg {vornoff@sonic.net}

A pot-boiling B-film with the first-reel plot premise akin to the later (and good) "Flight of the Phoenix", but the crashed-cast of this one didn't have a German-genius, model-plane designer on board. This one has four men scouting for oil lands, in the desert, in a plane which is forced down during a sandstorm. The plane is damaged beyond repair---end of the "Phoenix" similarity---but, lo and behold, the storm has uncovered a German tank which has lay buried since WWII. The men--- Mike Monohan (Rod Cameron) the pilot; mechanic Jim Evans (Richard Erdman), from Brooklyn, of course, and capable of mechanical miracles with hair-pins and tweezers; radioman Billy Larsen (Tab Hunter), only along because the producers were under the mistaken impression he was a box-office draw; and Syd Barlow (John Dehner), along because the producers needed at least one good actor among the leads---repair the tank and head off over yonder toward a French Army post many sandy miles away. Barlow, whiskey-swiggin' semi-villain of the group, discovers a cache of jewels hidden in the tank and plans on keeping them for himself. The tank runs low on water, which the crew didn't think about when they filled up with gas at the unseen Exxon station, but an Arab encampment at an oasis is just over the lo-and-behold again horizon. But the Arabs recognize the German tank as the one that hauled off some local treasure many sandstorms ago, and the pot begins to boil even hotter for the crew of the "Phoenix"...uh, the "Steel Lady." Written by Les Adams

I can remember seeing a film along these lines. In it the hero tries to escape from the tribesmen by using his alarm watch as a distraction.

Nick

batman

Daddy .... the frisbee has gone in the water .... what a finger puppet drama queen I am!

sudlowblake

:Wow! and I thought I knew about films, thanks I can now go to my grave with a GLEEFULL GRIN.

HIPPIEDAVE

Wow I remember the bit about the tank now you mention it

HIPPIEDAVE

I remember a similar one about a German Submarine that is raised many years after the war and used by crooks, this would be in the 70s when I saw it.

churnytorch

I remember seeing this film in 1955 as the support film to "Cockleshell Heroes". It was then billed as "The Treasure of the Calipha", and was the first time I saw that excellent actor, John Dehner on screen.
I was beginning to think it was a figment of my imagination till I saw this thread!

Purukivel

Man...I've had my Tivo programmed for going on a year now to record this one if it should float across the basic cable channels. Apparently it's kinda rare.

rustywhite

That sounds like Assault on a Queen with Frank Sinatra and Verna Lisi.