Jeanskynebu the audience applauded

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.

Kaydan Christian A terrific literary drama and character piece that shows how the process of creating art can be seen differently by those doing it and those looking at it from the outside.

Sarita Rafferty There are moments that feel comical, some horrific, and some downright inspiring but the tonal shifts hardly matter as the end results come to a film that's perfect for this time.

Leofwine_draca DESTINATION GOBI is another desert-based WW2 movie, directed by Robert Wise - no stranger to the genre having made THE DESERT RATS - and featuring the ubiquitous Richard Widmark heading an otherwise undistinguished cast. This one's a little different, telling the true story of navy men running a weather research station in Mongolia, who find themselves under attack by the Japanese and who team up with Mongol forces to fight them.I enjoy war films like this which are a little different from the norm, exploring theatres of war usually avoided in the popular books and films on the subject. DESTINATION GOBI isn't a great movie but it does keep you watching just to find out what happens. Widmark is a reliable lynch pin on which to hang the movie although the supporting cast disappoint, particularly the US actors pretending to be Mongolian which never works. There isn't a wealth of action here, but that which does occur is authentic (the plane attack is very well portrayed) and the suspense keeps you going until the end.

gordonl56 DESTINATION GOBI – 1953 Richard Widmark scored in a whole series of excellent film noir and westerns during the first 15 or so years of his career. His war films though are a mixed bag with most being average at best. (1950's Halls of Montezuma being the best of the bunch) It is late 1944 and the war in the Pacific is drawing nearer to Japan. The US Navy sets up several weather stations in the Gobi Desert. These are to supply weather information so the Navy can plan their attacks etc.A small group of ratings with one officer, Russell Collins, and a Chief Petty Officer, Widmark, set up one of these stations. Months go by and the men send in daily radio reports and wait for the weekly supply air-drop. The place is blazing hot by day and freezing cold by night. The men are bored silly.A group of Mongol nomads arrive and set up camp. The nomads are led by Murvyn Vye. Relations between the Navy men and the Mongols are good for the most part. The Navy decides to form the Mongol horsemen into a protection detail. They fly in 60 old US Cavalry saddles for the Mongols.Everyone seems happy with the deal till several Japanese aircraft pay a less than friendly visit. Several Mongols are killed along with the Navy officer, Collins. The station radio gear is shot to pieces and the Navy men are left alone when the Mongols all bug out.Now in charge, Widmark decides to lead the men to the sea 800 miles away. The rest of the film follows their run-ins with various Mongol groups including Vye's bunch again. They end up at the coast and are gobbled up by the local Japanese garrison. Vye and his Mongols come to the rescue and break the Navy men out.The whole group, Navy and Mongols alike, swipe a Chinese junk and set sail for Okinawa. There are a couple more close calls with death as they overcome a Japanese patrol craft and are nearly sunk by U.S. Navy aircraft.The rest of the cast includes, Earl Holliman, Martin Milner, Darryl Hickman, Max Showalter and Don Taylor. Richard Loo also puts in one of his patented bits as a Japanese officer.The story is apparently based on a real event. How much of the film story is real, or not, I'm not sure. Instead of playing the story straight, they keep throwing in comic bits which really do not work. Having said that, five time Oscar nominated, and four time winner, director Robert Wise, does a nice job moving the film along. Four time Oscar nominated, two time winner, cinematographer, Charles G Clarke supplies some nice camera-work.At 90 minutes it moves along fast enough to be entertaining.

MartinHafer The plot of this movie seemed to make little sense, so I did a bit of research on the web and it appears to actually be based on real events from WWII--some of the strangest events you could imagine. Richard Widmark stars as a leader of a group of US Navy personnel stationed in Mongolia--YES, Mongolia! It seems they are a very isolated weather station but why the Navy was sent there is beyond me! In case they are attacked by the Japanese, they enlist the help of local herdsmen by providing them with nice new saddles--YES, saddles. As I said, it's all very hard to imagine but based on real events.Unfortunately for our small but intrepid group, their base IS attacked by the Japanese Air Force and their equipment ruined. As they are in the middle of no where and the American commanders must assume they are dead, they seem to have no choice to to make their way east--though the coast is over 800 miles from their base.While this is certainly not a great film, it's a great one for someone who loves WWII history--as it certainly doesn't get any more unusual than this. Plus, the film is enjoyable, well-acted and likable. Truly an odd movie but reasonably well made with its mostly American-Indian supporting cast.

Steffi_P There were a lot of WW2 pictures made in the late 40s and early 50s, made as uncomplicated gung-ho nostalgia, doubling as propaganda for the ongoing war in Korea. By and large they were cheap and cheerful affairs; poorly scripted and poorly acted. Destination Gobi is just such a picture, its main exception being that it is somewhat spruced up by the direction of the great Robert Wise.Being relatively low-budget Destination Gobi is rather short on action, instead relying upon suspense sequences and musings on military life for its entertainment value. Sadly the screenplay isn't quite up to the task. There is a sprinkling of quasi-philosophical dialogue, most of which is feeble and unconvincing (the only line I liked was the one about Inner Mongolia being "hotter, dryer and inner"). The characters are the usual B-movie one-dimensionals, and many scenes are so lacking in credibility the tension can't work because there is no real sense of danger.This is where Robert Wise comes in. It's often interesting, albeit dissatisfying, to see a really top-notch director slumming it in a B-unit – to see what they can make out of the weakest of elements. This is especially true of Wise, who had no ego and always aimed to make the best out of whatever the studios threw at him. This is his first colour picture and, as far as I know his earliest to really make use of wide-open spaces. Most of Wise's pictures up until now had been gritty thrillers, and even his 1948 horse opera Blood on the Moon is – literally – a dark Western. It's been remarked by others that the landscape in Destination Gobi is filmed to show off its beauty, but also watch Wise's timing. It would be normal convention to cut to a landscape shot after the opening scene at SACO HQ, but in fact Wise takes care not to properly show us the desert and emphasises the smallness and darkness of the tent. Only after the Mongols have been introduced do we get these breathtaking outdoor shots. The contrast is striking and it makes us associate the Mongols with the beauty of the location, even if only subconsciously.I am sure Wise knew he had been given a bum script, and he takes advantage of the quiet moments. Wise's direction was generally at its best when there was no dialogue anyway (check out Lawrence Tierney in Born to Kill) and he particularly seemed to like drawing out these moments and giving the actors space to emote. Consequently there is tenderness uncharacteristic of such a picture when the soldiers mourn a fallen comrade, opening the scene with a respectful long shot of the gravesite. Again the natural beauty of the landscape is used, this time as a bittersweet counterpoint.The cast is headed by Richard Widmark, who like Wise was good at what he did yet spent much of his career in B-flicks. And, as with Wise, we can look at this positively and say that he at least leant some quality to pictures that have very little else going for them. He can't quite make the appalling dialogue sound plausible, but at least he emotes well and has strong presence. The Mongol characters may not be granted any dignity by the screenplay, but at least the reliable Murvyn Vye turns in a dignified performance as Chief Kengtu, adding a layer of personality to the character that is not there in the script.These little oases of quality do not prevent Destination Gobi from mostly being a desert of mediocrity. Studying Robert Wise's work, this is like a little exercise in thoughtful direction, but nothing more because there isn't enough depth to the story or characters to make it pay off. And who would expect more from a ninety-minute no-brainer? However, at least the efforts of Wise (as well as renowned art directors Lyle Wheeler and Lewis Creber, and cinematographer Charles Clarke – well-deserved honourable mentions) have made it nice to look at. It's occasionally even entertaining as well.