Runtime: 72 minuts
Directed by: John Ford
Starring: Victor McLaglen,
Boris Karloff, Wallace Ford, Reginald Denny, J.M. Kerrigan
From: RKO
Last night seemed like a good time to see an old John Ford movie, and
due to the plot piquing my interest, this (which inspired Sahara and I
am sure other motion pictures) was the one I chose. It was the 73 minute
version and not the apparently shorter cut that TCM shows.
The plot is straightforward: a small regiment is marching in “Mesopotamia” in World War I. That encompassed several countries in the Middle East but I'll just presume it was somewhere in modern Iraq. Arab snipers are after them so they have to hole up in an oasis that includes a small building. The crew has a variety of people, from real cads to a deeply religious Boris Karloff, who probably looked at his most Jeremy Irons here. Naturally there is tension among the crew but Sergeant Victor McLaglen has to be a tough yet fair leader in this situation.
There is always tension in the film-after all, the opening scene is someone on a horse being sniped and killed. From that point the main characters are as clueless as the audience when the next attack from the unseen enemy will occur. The characters are all interesting, even if it's just them having a foreign accent. Naturally, the most memorable of the crew was Karloff as he was different from the rest and McLaglen as the leader, who has to act stern under dire circumstances and it does take a toll on him.
This does fall into cliché and if you pay rapt attention, the next person to be a goner will not come as a stunning moment; even then, this has some stellar sequences-including the finale-and the last shot is pretty haunting. The movie being nicely shot and Max Steiner providing a cool score also helps. All this allows me to downplay there being a scene of prejudice and ugly stereotypes... not against Arabs, but rather against the people that live in Southeast Asia; one of the characters is a braggart who loves bragging about his worldwide adventures and he has opinions of that region which I won't repeat here.
The plot is straightforward: a small regiment is marching in “Mesopotamia” in World War I. That encompassed several countries in the Middle East but I'll just presume it was somewhere in modern Iraq. Arab snipers are after them so they have to hole up in an oasis that includes a small building. The crew has a variety of people, from real cads to a deeply religious Boris Karloff, who probably looked at his most Jeremy Irons here. Naturally there is tension among the crew but Sergeant Victor McLaglen has to be a tough yet fair leader in this situation.
There is always tension in the film-after all, the opening scene is someone on a horse being sniped and killed. From that point the main characters are as clueless as the audience when the next attack from the unseen enemy will occur. The characters are all interesting, even if it's just them having a foreign accent. Naturally, the most memorable of the crew was Karloff as he was different from the rest and McLaglen as the leader, who has to act stern under dire circumstances and it does take a toll on him.
This does fall into cliché and if you pay rapt attention, the next person to be a goner will not come as a stunning moment; even then, this has some stellar sequences-including the finale-and the last shot is pretty haunting. The movie being nicely shot and Max Steiner providing a cool score also helps. All this allows me to downplay there being a scene of prejudice and ugly stereotypes... not against Arabs, but rather against the people that live in Southeast Asia; one of the characters is a braggart who loves bragging about his worldwide adventures and he has opinions of that region which I won't repeat here.
No comments:
Post a Comment