Outpost in Morocco (1949)

George Raft is a French Legionnaire who leads a convoy to bring the Emir's daughter Marie Windsor safely home. He learns that her father is buying guns and planning to rise up against the French, so he has to oppose him even though he's fallen in love with her daughter. As is often the case, Raft is a dud in this one, and the silly, strictly by the numbers plot is barely saved by the presence of Windsor (not exactly convincing as an Arab) and Akim Tamiroff as Raft's second in command.

This adventures and lackluster desert opus deals about Paul Gerard(George Raft) a French legionnaire officer. The philander legionnaire is sent a dangerous assignment, escort an Emir of Bel-Rashad's daughter(Marie Windsor) and investigate the Emir's(Edward Franz) activities. Then Paul discovers a Mouser rifles for a possible rebellion. Meanwhile he falls in love with Cara and befriends a sympathetic lieutenant(Akim Tamiroff).Acceptable action/adventures movie blending drama of self-sacrifice, love story and spectacular outdoors. The film concerns about the French Legion, an instrument of conquest of the North of Africa and Indochina. This regiment was employed for bloody fights and futile wars in a vain attempt to retain territories . Some moment is rather dull but in the second half is a bit more exciting with forced march and taking place in an isolate fort as well as Arab attacks. Atmosphere is appropriately depressing and and gritty, especially during the blockade when the regiment bears starvation and with no water. Evovative and adequate musical score by Michel Michelet.The picture was shot in Imperial County, California and Morocco, at the beginning the producers thanksgiving the French army for its collaboration. The story belongs a genre which has given classics, such as ¨Beau Geste(Gary Cooper)¨ and ¨Under two flags(Ronald Colman)¨ and full of humor as ¨Beau Hunks¨with Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy. The motion picture is professionally directed by Robert Florey, a nice craftsman. He's expert on adventures genre: ¨Tarzan and the mermaids¨, ¨Rogues' regiment¨ also with the Foreign Legion and Terror genre : 'Beast with five fingers'and 'Murders in the Rue Morgue'. Rating : Acceptable adventures movie is passable at its kind , providing some of entertainment and fun.

George Raft, either as a gangster or a truck driver or a French Foreign Legion officer, was a poor actor. I'm sure there have been doctoral dissertations by enthusiastic students of American contemporary culture on how Raft managed to carve a star career in Hollywood. Yeah, there are all those criminal connection rumors but so far they've just been that, rumors. We know he was a good dancer, but as an actor he was without animation. Often he just looked plain worried. He was wooden and unresponsive. Any actor might have turned down the chance to play the lead in The Maltese Falcon, High Sierra or Casablanca...but Raft turned down all three opportunities. Was he insecure, just realistic about his talent, or basically without a clue? Who knows? What we do know is that after a few big pictures in the late Thirties, he began a long, not-so-slow decline into some pretty awful stuff for the rest of his life. His coin-flipping tough guy persona, however, stayed with him and made him at least marginally bankable. I like him in a few of his movies, mainly Nocturne and Mr Ace from 1946 and, even though it's a tear-jerker, Christmas Eve from 1947. Outpost in Morocco is a disposable adventure movie, complete with the French Foreign Legion, desert outposts, restless tribes and a desert princess with a figure usually seen only in a teen-ager's dreams. Still, as a basic Hollywood product it delivers the goods. Robert Florey, the director, keeps the action and the story moving along. Marie Windsor as Cara, the daughter of the Emir of Bel-Rashad, is zaftig. Akim Tamiroff as Lieutenant Glysko provides humor as well as bravery and energy. Eduard Franz as the Emir is suitably anti-French and, surprisingly, not simply a caricature of an untrustworthy native leader. And there's George Raft as Captain Paul Gerard, assigned to deliver Cara to her father in a journey across the sands, who then finds himself caught between love and a perilous rebellion, complete with a remote desert outpost on his hands to defend. Raft at 54 shows his age. His director makes him do the coin flipping thing a couple of times. Even when he's sneaking into the Emir's compound to find out what's going on, then escapes by leaping off parapets, racing across the sands and mounting briskly his horse, he shows as much emotion as when he's smooching Cara...not much. Once when asked about his acting Raft is supposed to have said, "I'm afraid to look, because I'm probably awful." It doesn't help Raft that he must wear a Legionnaire's uniform much of the time, complete with kepi and shoulder cape. When he's not in uniform he's in disguise, wearing a turban and what appears to be pantaloons. Raft, to his credit, does the job and doesn't seem embarrassed. One of the pleasures of the movie is seeing Marie Windsor, the quintessential noir bad girl, playing Cara. Windsor gives us an emir's daughter who can be arrogant, sweet, loving and brave. She manages to avoid looking ridiculous even while photographed on what is supposed to be a horse galloping in front of a rear screen projection to stop her father. She's eye-catching at the start of the movie when we watch her and Raft dance a tango in a nightclub. For that matter, Raft looks great dancing the tango, too. To see Windsor at her best, which is to say her worst, just watch her deal with poor Elisha Cook, Jr., in The Killing.

This does have a couple of good action sequences, but overall it is too predictable to be anything more than average, at best, for its genre. The Foreign Legion setting is fairly interesting, at least as a reflection of its time, and it provides for a couple of relatively interesting possibilities.George Raft stars as a Legionnaire who combines a hazardous mission with a romantic involvement with an Emir's daughter. Once things get started, Raft is good enough in the role, but the first several minutes of the movie are wasted trying to portray his character as an incurable skirt-chaser, which doesn't really work. Marie Windsor plays the Emir's daughter, and while there's nothing wrong with her performance, she doesn't really fit the part, and she and Raft never quite seem to click together. The script is straightforward enough, but it could have used some sharper dialogue to pick up these scenes in particular.Once Raft's character gets his assignment and meets the daughter, the story follows a pretty standard formula. The action sequences are the highlights, which include a good chase scene with Raft trying to elude a palace full of pursuers. Otherwise, there are only occasional moments of good drama to hold your attention.