''No Time to Die'' (U.S. title: ''Tank Force!''; also known as ''Tankforce'') is a 1958 British

war film War film is a film genre concerned with warfare, typically about navy, naval, air force, air, or army, land battles, with combat scenes central to the drama. It has been strongly associated with the 20th century. The fateful nature of battle s ...

directed by Terrence Young and starring

Victor Mature Victor John Mature (January 29, 1913 – August 4, 1999) was an American stage, film, and television actor who was a leading man in Hollywood during the 1940s and 1950s. His best known film roles include '' One Million B.C.'' (1940), '' My Darli ...

Leo Genn Leopold John Genn ( ; 9 August 1905 – 26 January 1978) was an English actor and barrister. Distinguished by his relaxed charm and smooth, "black velvet" voice, he had a lengthy career in theatre, film, television and radio, often playing a ...

Anthony Newley Anthony Newley (24 September 1931 – 14 April 1999) was an English actor, director, comedian, singer, and composer. A "latter-day British Al Jolson", he achieved widespread success in song, and on stage and screen. "One of Broadway's greatest ...

and

Bonar Colleano Bonar Colleano (born Bonar Sullivan; 14 March 1924 – 17 August 1958) was an American-British stage and film actor based in the United Kingdom. Biography Early life Colleano was born Bonar Sullivan in New York City. He had childhood experiences ...

. It is about an American sergeant in the British Army during the Second World War.

Plot

Italian Libya Libya (; ) was a colony of Fascist Italy (1922–1943), Italy located in North Africa, in what is now modern Libya, between 1934 and 1943. It was formed from the unification of the colonies of Italian Cyrenaica, Cyrenaica and Italian Tripolitan ...

during the

North African campaign The North African campaign of World War II took place in North Africa from 10 June 1940 to 13 May 1943, fought between the Allies and the Axis Powers. It included campaigns in the Libyan and Egyptian deserts (Western Desert campaign, Desert Wa ...

of the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, a

Royal Armoured Corps The Royal Armoured Corps is the armoured arm of the British Army, that together with the Household Cavalry provides its armour capability, with vehicles such as the Challenger 2 and the Warrior tracked armoured vehicle. It includes most of the Ar ...

squadron of British tanks is destroyed in battle by German

Afrika Korps The German Africa Corps (, ; DAK), commonly known as Afrika Korps, was the German expeditionary force in Africa during the North African campaign of World War II. First sent as a holding force to shore up the Italian defense of its Africa ...

panzer {{CatAutoTOC, numerals=no Words and phrases Germanic words and phrases Words and phrases by language la:Categoria:Verba Theodisca ...

s. A tank commanded by American Sgt. David Thatcher is hit and he and driver Trooper "Tiger" Noakes bail out. The squadron's attached

reconnaissance vehicle A reconnaissance vehicle, also known as a scout vehicle, is a military vehicle used for forward reconnaissance. Both tracked and wheeled reconnaissance vehicles are in service. In some nations, light tanks such as the M551 Sheridan and AMX-13 h ...

, commanded by Sgt. Kendall, becomes stuck in the sand and the crew bail out too. The three survivors are quickly captured and transported to an

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, a Romance ethnic group related to or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance languag ...

POW camp A prisoner-of-war camp (often abbreviated as POW camp) is a site for the containment of enemy fighters captured as prisoners of war by a belligerent power in time of war. There are significant differences among POW camps, internment camps, an ...

run by

German Army The German Army (, 'army') is the land component of the armed forces of Federal Republic of Germany, Germany. The present-day German Army was founded in 1955 as part of the newly formed West German together with the German Navy, ''Marine'' (G ...

Captain Ritter. Unbeknownst to the Axis prison guards, Thatcher had previously tried to assassinate

Joseph Goebbels Paul Joseph Goebbels (; 29 October 1897 – 1 May 1945) was a German Nazism, Nazi politician and philologist who was the ''Gauleiter'' (district leader) of Berlin, chief Propaganda in Nazi Germany, propagandist for the Nazi Party, and ...

in revenge for the killing of his Jewish wife and tries to escape at every turn before the Nazis discover his secret. The British NCO in charge, Sgt. Kendall, arranges an escape of Thatcher, Noakes, Bartlett, and a Polish prisoner in an ambulance before the ''

Schutzstaffel The ''Schutzstaffel'' (; ; SS; also stylised with SS runes as ''ᛋᛋ'') was a major paramilitary organisation under Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party in Nazi Germany, and later throughout German-occupied Europe during World War II. It beg ...

'' can detain Thatcher, and the Pole kills the German mole Johnson. They escape through the

Libyan Desert The Libyan Desert (not to be confused with the Libyan Sahara) is a geographical region filling the northeastern Sahara Desert, from eastern Libya to the Western Desert (Egypt), Western Desert of Egypt and far northwestern Sudan. On medieval m ...

sandstorms A dust storm, also called a sandstorm, is a meteorological phenomenon common in arid and semi-arid regions. Dust storms arise when a gust front or other strong wind blows loose sand and dirt from a dry surface. Fine particles are transport ...

, briefly taking shelter at the nightclub of Thatcher's friend Carola in Italian

Benghazi Benghazi () () is the List of cities in Libya, second-most-populous city in Libya as well as the largest city in Cyrenaica, with an estimated population of 859,000 in 2023. Located on the Gulf of Sidra in the Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean, Ben ...

before she is accidentally shot by the Italian officer Alberto. Over the course of the trip the Pole grows increasingly homicidal, indiscriminately killing two German officers the group captures. After Kendall vows to court-martial the Pole when they return home, he allows a

Bedouin The Bedouin, Beduin, or Bedu ( ; , singular ) are pastorally nomadic Arab tribes who have historically inhabited the desert regions in the Arabian Peninsula, North Africa, the Levant, and Mesopotamia (Iraq). The Bedouin originated in the Sy ...

tribe led by a sheikh loyal to the SS to kill Bartlett and capture the surviving men. When the SS tries to torture Thatcher into confessing, Captain Ritter becomes so disgusted that he helps the men escape and then commits suicide. Kendall takes the sheikh and the SS colonel hostage, but the Pole initiates a shootout that leaves him wounded and the sheikh and the colonel dead. They steal a truck, which is met by a rival group of Bedouins which warn them of a nearby German panzer division. They capture a tank, but Kendall and the Pole are killed while their tank is disabled. However, a British tank battalion arrives to save them. The German panzers are defeated, and Thatcher and Noakes bury Kendall.

Cast

as Sgt. David Thatcher *

as Sgt. Kendall *

as Noakes *

as the Pole *

Luciana Paluzzi Luciana Paluzzi (born 10 June 1937) is an Italian actress. She is perhaps best known for playing SPECTRE assassin Fiona Volpe in the fourth James Bond film, '' Thunderball'', but she had important roles in notable films of the 1960s and 1970s ...

as Carola * Sean Kelly as Bartlett * Kenneth Fortescue as Johnson *

Anne Aubrey Anne Aubrey (born 1 January 1937) is a retired English film actress. Aubrey was mainly active in Warwick Films in the 1950s and 1960s. She worked with Anthony Newley in such films as '' Idol on Parade'', '' Killers of Kilimanjaro'', '' The Ba ...

as Italian girl *

George Coulouris George Alexander Coulouris (1 October 1903 – 25 April 1989) was an English film and stage actor. He was perhaps best known for his collaborations with Orson Welles, most notably ''Citizen Kane''. Early life Of Anglo-Greek origin, Coulouris ...

as Camp commandant *

Alfred Burke Alfred Burke (28 February 1918 – 16 February 2011) was an English actor who played Frank Marker in the drama series '' Public Eye'', which ran on television for ten years. Early life Born in London's southeast district of Peckham, the son of ...

as Captain Ritter * David Lodge as Maj. Fred Patterson *

Maxwell Shaw Maxwell Shaw (21 February 1929 – 21 August 1985 in London, England) was an actor, known for ''The Barber of Stamford Hill'' (1962), ''Once More, with Feeling!'' (1960) and ''BBC Sunday-Night Theatre'' (1950). He is best remembered for his televi ...

as the Sheikh *

Alan Tilvern Alan Tilvern (5 November 1918 – 17 December 2003) was an English actor. He was known for usually playing "tough-guy" roles. Life Tilvern was born 5 November 1918 in Whitechapel, in the East End of London, to Lithuanian-Jewish parents, who ...

as Silverio *

George Pravda George Pravda (born Jiří Pravda; 19 June 1916 – 1 May 1985) was a Czechoslovakia, Czechoslovak theatre, film and television actor. Early life He began his career in Czechoslovakia, where he was credited as Jiří Pravda, and then emigrated ...

as German Sgt. * Percy Herbert as 1st British soldier *

Kenneth Cope Kenneth Charles Cope (14 April 1931 – 11 September 2024) was an English actor and scriptwriter. He was best known for his roles as Marty Hopkirk in '' Randall and Hopkirk (Deceased)'', Jed Stone in ''Coronation Street,'' Ray Hilton in '' ...

as 2nd British soldier *

Robert Rietti Robert Rietti, (born Lucio Herbert Rietti; sometimes Rietty, 8 February 1923 – 3 April 2015) was an English actor, translator, playwright, and Dubbing, dubbing director. With over 200 credits to his name, he had a highly prolific career in t ...

as Alberto *

Martin Boddey Albert Martin Boddey (16 April 1907 – 24 October 1975) was a British film and television actor. Boddey started acting when he was nearly 40, often portraying irritable authority figures such as police officers or magistrates. He was a fo ...

as Gestapo Colonel *

Richard Marner Richard Marner (born Alexander Pavlovich Molchanoff; ; 27 March 192118 March 2004) was a British actor. He was best known for his role as Colonel Erik von Strohm in the British sitcom Allo 'Allo!''. Early life Born in Petrograd (now St Peter ...

as German colonel * Peter Elliott as Italian officer * Julian Sherrier as 2nd Italian officer * Robert Bruce as Italian driver * Bob Simmons as Mustapha *

Andreas Malandrinos Andreas Malandrinos (; 14 November 1888, in Greece – 11 July 1970, in Surrey) was a Greek-born actor who started appearing in British films from 1909, until his death 61 years later in Surrey, England. He was fluent in six languages and used ...

as Italian cook *

Ernst Walder Ernst Tahedl (17 November 1926 – 6 September 2021), professionally known as Ernst Walder, was an Austrian actor, best known for his role as Ivan Cheveski, one of the original characters in the long-running British television soap opera ' ...

as German Corporal

Production

Development

The film was initially based on a 1954 novel of the same name by Ronald Kemp, but later received a different script unrelated to the novel with the exception of the title and the setting. Warwick Productions bought the film rights in 1955 and tried to get

Montgomery Clift Edward Montgomery Clift (October 17, 1920 – July 23, 1966) was an American actor. A four-time Academy Award nominee, he was known for his portrayal of "moody, sensitive young men", according to ''The New York Times''. He is best remembered f ...

to star.

Sy Bartlett Sidney Bartlett (July 10, 1900 – May 29, 1978, born Sacha Baraniev) was a Ukrainian-American author and screenwriter and producer of Hollywood films. Early life Sy Bartlett was born Sacha Baraniev on July 10, 1900, in the Black Sea seaport o ...

was assigned to write the script. In March 1957 Merle Miller was hired to rewrite the script. Then

Richard Maibaum Richard Maibaum (May 26, 1909 – January 4, 1991) was an American screenwriter, film producer, and playwright, best known for his work on the James Bond films. He wrote 13 of the 16 Eon Productions Bond films produced between 1962 and 1989, be ...

did a draft. The script eventually became about five Allied soldiers, two Englishmen, a Pole, an American and an Australian, who escape an Italian POW camp in the Second World War.

Alan Ladd Alan Walbridge Ladd (September 3, 1913 – January 29, 1964) was an American actor and film producer. Ladd found success in film in the 1940s and early 1950s, particularly in films noir and Westerns. He was often paired with Veronica Lake in ...

, who had made several pictures for Warwick, was mentioned as a possibility as star. In April 1957 Terence Young arrived in Hollywood to find two American leading men for the film.

Van Johnson Charles Van Dell Johnson (August 25, 1916 – December 12, 2008) was an American actor and dancer. He had a prolific career in film, television, theatre and radio, which spanned over 50 years, from 1940 to 1992. He was a major star at Metr ...

, who had just made a film with Young, was a leading contender.

Jeff Chandler Jeff Chandler (born Ira Grossel; December 15, 1918 – June 17, 1961) was an American actor. He was best known for his portrayal of Cochise in '' Broken Arrow'' (1950), for which he was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting ...

turned down the role (and fee of $200,000). In August 1957 Victor Mature signed a two-picture contract with Warwick, ''No Time to Die'' and ''The Man Inside''.

Filming

The film was the first made by Warwick Films after it greatly cut back on its expenses. It was shot over eleven weeks starting 15 August. There were six weeks of location filming in the

, near

Tripoli Tripoli or Tripolis (from , meaning "three cities") may refer to: Places Greece *Tripolis (region of Arcadia), a district in ancient Arcadia, Greece * Tripolis (Larisaia), an ancient Greek city in the Pelasgiotis district, Thessaly, near Larissa ...

. The Queens Bays Tank Regiment assisted in production of the film. ''No Time to Die'' featured authentic war time

Cromwell tank The Cromwell tank, officially Tank, Cruiser, Mk VIII, Cromwell (A27M), was one of the series of cruiser tanks fielded by Britain in the Second World War. Named after the English Civil War–era military leader Oliver Cromwell, the Cromwell was ...

s as well as post-war Centurions and Charioteers as both British and German tanks. In the opening battle Leo Genn commands an

AEC armoured car AEC armoured cars are a series of British heavy armoured cars built by the Associated Equipment Company (AEC) during the Second World War. The AEC armoured car came about following British experience in the Western Desert against Italian armo ...

and wears the beret of the Cherry Pickers. Sean Kelly was a South African actor who had been signed by Warwick to a seven-year contract. It was the last in a seven-picture commitment between Warwick and Columbia. When the film was initially released in the United States, it was 20 minutes shorter than the version released in the United Kingdom.

Reception

Box office

''Kinematograph Weekly'' listed it as being "in the money" at the British box office in 1958.

Critical

''Variety'' wrote "as a routine adventure yarn, it will probably get by with undiscriminatirig audiences. But the dialog; situations, artwork and acting are all unremittingly artificial, with even the presence of Victor Mature as star having little to make this piece acceptable to American audiences." ''

The Monthly Film Bulletin The ''Monthly Film Bulletin'' was a periodical of the British Film Institute published monthly from February 1934 until April 1991, when it merged with '' Sight & Sound''. It reviewed all films on release in the United Kingdom, including those wi ...

'' wrote: "''No Time to Die'' is a briskly efficient escape drama pitched on the breathless level of a ''

Boy's Own Paper ''The Boy's Own Paper'' was a British story paper aimed at young and teenage boys, published from 1879 to 1967. Publishing history The idea for the publication was first raised in 1878 by the Religious Tract Society, as a means to encourage you ...

'' adventure. The action is swift, lively and implausible. The reasons given for Thatcher's enlistment in the British Army are imaginative – "I threw a bomb at Goebbels " – and, under the circumstances, Victor Mature acquits himself well, adding a novel touch to Army dialogue with such orders as "C'mon, let's hit the road", and "Nice goin', cousin". The desert photography is extremely impressive." ''The

Radio Times ''Radio Times'' is a British weekly listings magazine devoted to television and radio programme schedules, with other features such as interviews, film reviews and lifestyle items. Founded in September 1923 by John Reith, then general manage ...

Guide to Films'' gave the film 2/5 stars, writing: "Set during the campaign in the Libyan desert, American hunk Victor Mature plays an American who serves as a sergeant in the British army. He organises an escape from an Italian PoW camp and is then captured and tortured by a shifty sheikh in league with the Nazis. Every racial stereotype in the book stands to attention as Mature lurches from one heroic deed to the next, culminating in a joust with a Panzer tank." In ''British Sound Films: The Studio Years 1928–1959'' David Quinlan rated the film as "mediocre", writing: "Laughable war film; script is dreaful."

Legacy

The 25th

James Bond The ''James Bond'' franchise focuses on James Bond (literary character), the titular character, a fictional Secret Intelligence Service, British Secret Service agent created in 1953 by writer Ian Fleming, who featured him in twelve novels ...

film, 2021's ''

No Time to Die ''No Time to Die'' is a 2021 spy thriller film and the twenty-fifth in the List of James Bond films, ''James Bond'' series, and the fifth and final to star Daniel Craig as fictional British MI6 agent Portrayal of James Bond in film, James Bon ...

'', shares a title with this film, which was directed by Terence Young, produced by Albert R. "Cubby" Broccoli, and written by

,Schallert, Edwin. "'No Time to Die' Bids for Americans; Cooper Classic Soon to Start," ''Los Angeles Times'' (1923–Current File) 18 Apr 1957: C13. the original director, producer and writer of the ''James Bond'' films.

References

External links

''No Time to Die''
at the British Film Institute * * * {{Authority control 1958 films North African campaign films British war films Columbia Pictures films CinemaScope films Films with screenplays by Richard Maibaum Films shot in Libya Films about the British Army 1950s English-language films 1950s British films Films scored by Kenneth V. Jones