Humphrey Bogart’s “Sahara”
by Mike Smolek
This diorama was inspired by the Columbia Pictures drama ‘Sahara’ starring Humphrey Bogart, which depicts a fictional account of an American tank crew embedded within the British 8th Army in Libya in 1941. The movie begins during the fall of Tobruk when the tank becomes separated from their company during a confusing retreat from advancing German and Italian armies. Master Sgt Joe Gunn (Bogart) and his tank crew, Doyle and Waco, soon come upon a rag-tag group of Commonwealth and Free French troops at a bombed out field hospital who need help.
Their survival now depends on Lulubelle, an American M3 Lee medium tank, and the critical need to find water. A Sudanese Sgt Major who joins the group knows of a well at the site of a former Roman garrison in the desert. In the diorama, I created a scene from the story where a German Luftwaffe pilot who earlier strafed the tank, has been shot down and captured.
The Axis pilot lies in the sand at the feet of Joe and the Allies, while Waco and Doyle watch an advancing German battalion of over 500 troops in the distance. The movie is known for many highly symbolic scenes intended to inspire an American audience when it premiered in late 1943.
The Lee tank model started as a Takom M3 that I converted to an M3A3 by scratch building storage units at the back of the tank. Def.Model decals (DD 35105) were used to closely represent Lulubelle markings as seen in the movie. A Master Box (3594) set of allied forces figures was combined with other US tanker personnel figures I had on hand. The figure of the surrendering German pilot came from a Master Box figure set (3590).
The MB 3594 figures actually depict the 1995 made for television remake of Sahara, so you may notice that Joe Gunn resembles the actor Jim Belushi. These figures are a very good mix of assorted British Commonwealth and Free French soldiers. The diorama uses carved foam bricks on a plaster and foam base coated with Woodland Scenics fine ballast. Photos were taken in a studio setup using a Nikon D7100 camera with a Nikkor 18-140 mm lens and an SB910 Speedlight.
