Desert Sands (1955)

While this 1955 Foreign Legion movie from United Artists may not be in the category of "Beau Geste" (which starred Gary Cooper) it is nonetheless drawing. Personally, I felt the cast was well-chosen. Ralph Meeker, noted for playing Mike Hammer in "Kiss Me Deadly", here played David Malekom, a sometimes cold yet always a no-nonsense officer who was definitely strict toward the men under him. The very pretty Marla English was an unusually pretty lady who was in love with Malekom. John Carradine was perfect for the role of Jala the wine merchant who was a very ruthless man; he in the movie was the uncle of Princess Zara. Keith Larsen, who played the brother of Princess Zara, El Zanel, was mean-spirited and ruthless, a man who was so anxious for power that he wanted to possess the Sahara Desert. John Smith, who would later be known for "Laramie" fame was his same cowboy self from Texas; he played Pvt. Rex Tyle, a pugnacious and brave soldier. The drama starts off with Jala having some of his own men, who were disguised as Legionnaires, kill his own brother who was the father of Zara and El Zanel, and the killing caused Zara and El Zanel to hate the Foreign Legion with a passion; they were very young when the killing took place. Thus there were several attacks on the outpost in North Africa. Yet the strange thing was that when Jala confessed that he had killed El Zanel's father, he said that men of power must do such things sometimes; no, El Zanel did not care about human lives. What will happen now to Malekom, El Zanel, Jala, and Zara? There are points where there is romance between Zara and Malekom, but will this have a great effect on how Malekom will be toward Zara after a very climatic battle? The movie was a "Sahara western" replete with handguns and machine guns. Yes, it was a very exciting movie of any kind.

Reviewers panning the whiteness of the Arabs, the diction of the Arab revolutionist? It's a drama, made in the USA as entertainment, not a documentary. The Arab princess, Marla English,had me excited in the 1950s and I loved how her servant assisted her escape from close confinement. Of course it's all implausible, but I don't watch movies for plausibility. Of course the officers of the Legion are supposed to be French and the enlisted fighters all foreigners. Again, I have to complaint that might demonstrate my 'intelligence' as a critic. The plot is a pan Islamic uprising against the French annexation of North Africa as colonial affront to the locals. The 'bad guy' is a fanatic with murderous ambition to rule as Mohammad had ruled, with an iron fist and discipline. I still prefer Ten Tall Men and Jody Lawrence in that, but this film was delightful in unexpected timeliness, after the Arab Spring. Now I'll go look up Marla English and find out what happened to her.

This military adventure/romance contains some mildly interesting action footage of battle scenes, but on the whole, is so poorly cast with Arabs who resemble California beach boys and the biggest array of phony accents you can ever imagine anyone assembling. There is really only one character who is remotely plausible as a Frenchman and very few who are plausible as Arabs. The absurdity of the film is further compounded by stilted, cliché-ridden dialogue and a romantic interest by the Arab heroine that strains credulity, to say the least. All of this results in an unintentionally laughable and ludicrous film which irreparably spoils any chance of the viewer being swept away by its pathetic pretense at being an adventure epic and grand romance. A Lawrence of Arabia or Beau Geste it is not! Positive reviewers are obviously delusionally waxing nostalgic from their memories as 8 year old viewers.

I am amazed as I watch this film, as it sure doesn't seem anything like the other reviews have described. They are all quite glowing in the film's praise--saying it's the best of the Foreign Legion films and filled with excitement. Were we watching the same film?! "Desert Sands" is a terrible film--not at all convincing and, in some ways, rather silly. My biggest complaints are the casting and the the writing. Among the cast, there is no one who seems the least bit French but even more importantly, there's no one who seems remotely North African! Now perhaps you could explain the troops not being French because it's the FOREIGN Legion...but the North Africans are all very white and some (particularly the leader) sound as if they were educated at prep school! It's utterly ridiculous and sloppy...very, very sloppy. As for the writing, it's bad--particularly when it comes to dialog. None of it sounds the least bit realistic and is filled with clichés. This is a bad movie! The bottom line is that there are LOTS of better desert films--such as "Beau Gest", "The Lost Patrol"....even "Abbott and Costello in the Foreign Legion"!! I just think this is a terrible film--one that inexplicably is adored by some others.