In 1942, two British officers in the Libyan desert lead a commando raid to steal secret papers from Rommel's headquarters, all the while locked in bitter personal conflict. Richard Burton is compelling as Captain Leith, a seeming idealist. In the other corner is Curd Jürgens's Major Brand, whose acts of cowardice reflect both a disquieting personality trait and a calculated revenge born of jealousy. Ray constructed a war drama of bitter paradoxes—the raid succeeds but fails, and the coward is branded a hero—one that was also a breakthrough in the realist aesthetic.