set to cover an area of hard-packed soil. Ripples and swirls in the sand were enhanced by painting the sand and then blowing it with a wind machine. Similarly, shadows were spray-painted on the hills to make them stand out. Makeup artist Henry Pringle devised a technique to imitate facial perspiration by coating the actors' faces with vaseline and then spraying them with water. Bogart's third wife, Mayo Methot, the only woman on location, reportedly brought him lunch every day from Brawley. Some of the cast went to nearby Mexicali for dinners. No women appear in the film. Historical background Bogart's character makes reference to events that occurred in May–June 1942. The British had received many American M3 tanks (the tank seen in the film), and a small group of American advisors and crews trained them in the use of the equipment. The British were routed at the Battle of Gazala, an important battle of the Western Desert Campaign, fought around the port of Tobruk. As shown in Sahara, many of their tanks were damaged and had to be abandoned due to the 8th Army's retreat. General Rommel pursued them into Egypt. The British were finally able to check Rommel's advance at the First Battle of El Alamein. The two Allied survivors learn of this victory at the end of the film. Reception Reviews of Sahara generally were positive, with Variety noting, "Script [adapted by James O'Hanlon from a story by Philip MacDonald] is packed with pithy dialog, lusty action and suspense, and logically and well-devised situations avoiding ultra-theatrics throughout. It's an all-male cast, but absence of romance is not missed in the rapid-fire unfolding of vivid melodrama." Critic Nelson B. Bell, in The Washington Post, called it "one of the best-balanced of the starker war pictures ... that by turns is tortured, compassionate, thrilling and always of engrossing interest." The Boston Globe called the film "brilliantly acted ... 'Sahara' doesn't spare the punches–they hit you in the face emotionally and it is literally impossible to sit unmoved through this vivid story. There isn't a smidgen of love interest in the picture and not a woman in the cast. This is war. There are deaths and tragedies—but there's a final ironic triumph, too. Sergt. Gunn holds the power of life or death over an Italian prisoner, and when J. Carroll Naish pleads for his life, the scene is one of