# Please help ID this movie. Lili Marlene related. WWII, North Africa **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** movies\ **Created:** [December 30, 2023, 5:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-help-id-this-movie-lili-marlene-related-wwii-north-africa/995346 "2023-12-30T17:11:43Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba9def/32.png) [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2023, 5:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-help-id-this-movie-lili-marlene-related-wwii-north-africa/995346/1 "2023-12-30T17:11:43Z")
I don’t have a lot to go on. Plus, my memory could be faulty, or conflating two movies. So I’ll describe it like I remember it, without any modern interpretation. I saw it in probably in the 70s, on Saturday afternoon movies time. So nothing newer than 1980, probably not newer than 1970. And it was probably already an old movie. A WWII movie, set in the North Africa campaign. Opening scene. Some lone guy is driving a jeep through the desert as the credits roll. He is listening to Lili Marlene in English on the radio as he drives. Then as the credits end, he arrives, and the rest of the movie begins. I have no memory of anything else. But one of the things I DO remember, is that the film would cut to the Germans, who were ALSO listening to Lili Marlene on the radio, but this time in German. I remember being impressed how the song united both sides. But, are these two scenes even in the same movie? I looked up the Lili Marlene wiki page, and the scene is truthful. Both sides loved the song, Marlene Dietrich used it as Allied propaganda. But, while the article list uses of the song in film, I don’t think it is complete. At any rate, this film wasn’t mentioned. Any ideas? ---
**Author:** ![Slithy\_Tove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slithy_tove/32/18248_2.png) [@Slithy\_Tove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slithy_Tove)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2023, 5:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-help-id-this-movie-lili-marlene-related-wwii-north-africa/995346/2 "2023-12-30T17:20:30Z")
[Play Dirty](https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=5YlgAiahmko&pp=ygUUcGxheSBkaXJ0eSB3YXIgbW92aWU%3D)? ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba9def/32.png) [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2023, 5:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-help-id-this-movie-lili-marlene-related-wwii-north-africa/995346/3 "2023-12-30T17:31:35Z")
Thank you! That’s exactly how I remembered it. I’d forgotten the dead guy, but once I saw it, yup Well, the SD comes through again, That didn’t even take long. It’s only been bugging me for oh 40 years… Either I’m remembering my dad telling me about the song, during the credits, or the scene intercutting both sides listening was from a different movie, or later in this one. I’ll watch for this one, maybe TCM has it. Thanks! ---
**Author:** ![PatrickLondon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/patricklondon/32/4422_2.png) [@PatrickLondon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PatrickLondon)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2023, 6:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-help-id-this-movie-lili-marlene-related-wwii-north-africa/995346/4 "2023-12-31T18:55:27Z")
There’s a [British comedy movie from the 50](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Desert_Mice)s, about a dreadful concert party sent out to entertain the troops in N Africa during WW2, with a subplot in which, having got lost, they pick up a stray German prisoner who persuades them he wrote Lilli Marleen, and sells the rights to the group chancer (who only discovers the truth when it’s too late). There are other films set in N Africa, but I’ve no idea if they fit: _[Ice Cold in Alex](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ice_Cold_in_Alex)_ _[Sea of Sand](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sea_of_Sand)_ _[Desert Rats](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Desert_Rats_(film))_ And there was a TV series _[The Rat Patrol](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Rat_Patrol)_ ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2023, 9:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-help-id-this-movie-lili-marlene-related-wwii-north-africa/995346/5 "2023-12-31T21:14:06Z")
I remember _ **Play** _ _ **Dirty** _. It’s wonderfully violent! 👍