Desert Legion ** (1953, Alan Ladd, Richard Conte, Arlene Dahl) – Classic Movie Review 10,636

‘A RECKLESS LEGEND OF THE FOREIGN LEGION!’

Director Joseph Pevney’s 1953 Universal International Pictures French Foreign Legion Technicolor adventure Desert Legion stars Alan Ladd, Richard Conte, Arlene Dahl and Akim Tamiroff, and is entertaining, easy-going, simple-minded escapist entertainment.

French Foreign Legionnaires Paul Lartal (Ladd) and Private Plevko (Tamiroff) save princess Morjana (Dahl)’s Mid-East lost city from villainous Crito Damou / Omar Ben Khalif (Conte).

Plenty of plot, a short running time and a decent production are pluses in this daft but enjoyable and just about endearing colourful hokum. Tamiroff and Dahl are fun, and Ladd is stalwart, though Conte is cruelly miscast.

Irving Wallace and Lewis Meltzer’s screenplay is based on the 1927 novel by Georges Arthur Surdez titled The Demon Caravan. It uses its main characters and general plot outline but some of the movie’s more memorable incidents are invented by the screenwriters.

Cinematographer John F Seitz and production designers Robert Clatworthy and Alexander Golitzen make it look good in Technicolor.

Also in the cast are Leon Askin, Oscar Beregi Jr, Anthony Caruso, George J Lewis, Ivan Triesault, Peter Coe, Don Blackman, Terry Frost, Ted Hechtm Pat Lane and Henri Letondal.

The scene of the acrobats entertaining at the planned marriage of Dahl to Conte is footage from Universal’s 1942 movie Arabian Nights.

Surdez (1900-49), noted for his French Foreign Legion tales, wrote many adventure stories for Collier’s, The Saturday Evening Post and Argosy.

© Derek Winnert 2020 Classic Movie Review 10,636

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