Edna Mae Harris association with veteran performers. Harris was also an excellent swimmer in high school, and in 1928 she entered the New York Daily News' Swimming Meet and won a championship. Harris first real Hollywood break came when she landed a part in "The Green Pastures" (1936), portraying Zeba, starring with Eddie 'Rochester' Anderson. Harris was a leading lady in "Spirit of Youth" (1938), the story of the rise of boxer Joe Thomas, which paralleled the life of Joe Louis. Harris also had leading roles in Oscar Micheaux films, "Lying Lips" (1939), and "The Notorious Elinor Lee" (1940). Her film credits also
The Rats of Tobruk (film) and dugouts were reconstructed in the studio of Commonwealth Film Laboratories. The Cronulla sandhills stood in for the African desert, and battle scenes were shot there at nighttime. Watson's Bay was used to shoot scenes of Australian soldiers embarking by boat. The New Guinea sequences were shot at Lamington Plateau, near the crash site of the 1937 Stinson plane. (That wreck had been discovered by Bernard O'Reilly who inspired Chauvel's later film, "Sons of Matthew".) Army photographers also shot real-life footage in Papua for use in the movie. Filipino boxer Tony Villa plays the Japanese soldier who fights Grant Taylor