Ice Cold in Alex

This is the film in which John Mills swigs the most famous glass of beer in movie history. And how well he's earned it, having steered clear of the bottle, Axis troops and a minefield to bring an ambulance to safety after the fall of Tobruk in 1942. On board are second-in-command Harry Andrews, nurses Sylvia Syms and Diane Clare and Anthony Quayle's suspicious-acting South African, who bribes his way onto the ambulance with gin, threatening Mills's temper and temperance. Based on Christopher Landon's novel, itself inspired by the author's real-life wartime experiences, this is a straightforward but never simplistic tale of battling the odds. Director J Lee Thompson keeps the action tense enough to truly grip and every jolt felt in the vehicle's cabin will throw you to the edge of your armchair.