Ice-Cold in Alex

Ice Cold in Alex
British film poster
Directed by	J. Lee Thompson
Produced by	W. A. Whittaker
Written by	Christopher Landon (novel & screenplay) T. J. Morrison
Starring	John Mills Sylvia Syms Anthony Quayle Harry Andrews
Music by	Leighton Lucas
Cinematography	Gilbert Taylor
Edited by	Richard Best
Production company	Associated British Pictures
Distributed by	Associated British-Pathé (United Kingdom) 20th Century Fox (United States)
Release date	June 24, 1958 (UK) March 22, 1961 (US)
Running time	130 minutes (uncut), 76 minutes (US 1961 Theatrical Version)
Country	United Kingdom
Language	English

Ice Cold in Alex (1958) is a British film described as a true story in the film's opening credits, based on the novel of the same name by British author Christopher Landon. Directed by J. Lee Thompson and starring John Mills, the film was a prizewinner at the 8th Berlin International Film Festival. The film was not released in the United States by 20th Century Fox until 1961, in an edited version that was 54 minutes shorter than the original – under the title Desert Attack.

A British unit at Tobruk is attacked by the German Afrika Korps, in the Western Desert Campaign of the Second World War. During the resulting evacuation, Captain Anson (John Mills), a transport pool officer suffering from battle fatigue and alcoholism, MSM Tom Pugh (Harry Andrews), and two nurses, Diana Murdoch (Sylvia Syms) and Denise Norton (Diane Clare), crew an Austin K2/Y ambulance, nicknamed 'Katy', and decide to drive across the desert back to British lines.

As they depart they come across an Afrikaner South African officer, Captain van der Poel (Anthony Quayle), who carries a large pack, to which he seems very attached. After the South African shows Anson two bottles of gin in his backpack, van der Poel persuades Anson to let him join them in their drive to the safety of the British lines in Alexandria, Egypt.