Frauenraub in Marokko

Typical Oriental adventure movie set during the Riff War in Morocco , the French Foreign Legion governs an outpost in the middle of desert. The threatened outpost is usually attacked by the Muslim natives . Then the valiant sergeant Kincaid : Burt Lancaster schemes a plan to to vanquish the Muslims by kidnapping a bride : Jody Lawrence about to marry an Arab chief . As the Sergeant along with his underlings : George Tobias, Nick Dennis , Mike Mazurki , John Dehner , Kieron Moore , Michael Pate , among others carry out a dangerous mission.

Thrilling movie following the mould of the Oriental Adventures in Universal Pictures style . Being produced by the tandem Harold Hetch- James Hill-Burt Lancaster from Norma Production that financed a lot of nice films , most of them starred by Burt Lancaster . This Ten Tell Men 1951 contains noisy action , frisky adventure , enjoyable humor , impressive feats , thrills , go riding , sandstorm sequences and breathtaking chases . Howevever , this fun and amusing flick can't really disguise the fact that it is the ordinary Oriental Adventure Here Burt Lancaster was still in his all-action period when he turned out this moving and enjoyable Foreign Legion tale , such as "The Flame and the Arrow", "The Crimson Pirate" , "His Majesty O'Keefe" , "The Kentuckian" , though he formerly performed Noir Films such as: "Criss Cross" , "Sorry Wrong Number" and "The Killers" .

Here stands out a great and large support cast , as you can spot several secondaries with formidable characters as Gerard Mohr , John Dehner, Nick Dennis , Mike Mazurski, Michael Pate, Ian McDonald , Kieron Moore , George Tobias. And other up-and-coming stars as Ricardo Montalban and the extremely charming Mari Blanchard in a small character . The motion picture was competently directed by Willis Goldbeck . Rating : 6.5/10. Better than average adventure movie . Well worth seeing . The movie will appeal to Burt Lancaster fans .

More known for writing credits that include the likes of The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance and Sergeant Rutledge, Willis Goldbeck here instead jumps into the directors chair for this fun Burt Lancaster led desert adventure piece. Also starring Jody Lawrance, Gerald Mohr and John Dehner, the film finds a cast rightly not taking things too seriously. The plot sees Sergeant Mike Kincaid (Lancaster all teeth and pectorals) lead nine Legionnaires on a deadly mission to delay a Riff attack on a desert fort. Whilst on the trek Kincaid learns that the Riff leader Khalid Hussein (Mohr) is planning to marry Mahla (Lawrance) so as to unite two once opposing tribes. So, to prevent the marriage, Kincaid kidnaps Mahla and the troubles for the Legionnaires are about to get much much worse.

It's easy to dismiss the all round acting as being rather poor, but with the material and the obvious tone the makers were going for, it all sits rather well. None more so than with the square jawed Lancaster, an Oscar winning actor whose comic timing wasn't always put to the best use. Here, however, it is. For sure much of the film is iffy technically, but in glorious Technicolor and with smiles and moustaches aplenty, the film winds up being the undemanding light entertainment piece it set out to be. Think Carry On Follow That Camel meets The Crimson Pirate and we are about there I think. 5.5/10

In those last years before the French finally cleared out of North Africa, Foreign Legion films seem to have been popular with the movie going public. Ten Tall Men is a typical example of such a film. Even though ultimately and soon the French would be driven out of the area the Foreign Legion patrolled before the decade ended.

Burt Lancaster is a sergeant of American background in the Foreign Legion and typically we don't know what drove him to join. His two corporals are Gilbert Roland and Kieron Moore and a bit of lese majeste involving Mari Blanchard got these guys some stockade time. Still they and others break out and hear of both an impending attack by the Riffs while the regiment is away on their post. It will be at the conclusion of a marriage between Jody Laurence the daughter of one sheik and Gerald Mohr another sheik. Once these tribes are united nothing stands in their way.

What to do but kidnap the daughter and hold her until the regiment returns. That proves easier said than done and once done a lot harder to tame this desert wildcat. But Burt with that smile and those pecs is the guy for the job.

None of the players in Ten Tall Men took this one real seriously and neither should we. Ten Tall Men is like a combination of The Desert Song and The Road To Morocco without songs.

Don't believe me, well check out the end and you can't tell me The Road To Morocco didn't inspire that.

An impressive 38 year old Burt Lancaster appears in this mediocre film. He was a perfectionist when it came to working with ambitious amateurs who had more aspiration than talent. Although there is no one film that I like about Lancaster, he was impressive at 38.

The phrase "they don't make them like this anymore" is often used in this CGI-infested age to describe extra-laden and 'authentic' Hollywood spectaculars of yesteryear but, frankly, watching this more modest, tongue-in-cheek Foreign Legion adventure, I was equally struck by just how old-fashioned (and refreshingly so) it all was – not that the sand storm sequence included here would pass muster with today's audiences! Anyhow, from the very start of the film, we have Burt Lancaster, Gilbert Roland and Kieron Moore disguised as, respectively, an Arab merchant and his two daughters!; legionnaires who are punished for daring to look twice at their Lieutenant's fiancée; an Arab chieftain who marries off his daughter to a rival Sheik to bring peace between their warring tribes and in a bid to rid their country of the 'French' infidels; the kidnapping of that same feisty daughter who, not only turns the heads of all her ten titular captors but, after several escape attempts, eventually steals the heart of tough guy Lancaster; etc. However, shot in lovely Technicolor and moving at a rapid pace, the film is an enjoyable ride through familiar territory; what was somewhat surprising, plot-wise, is that while much was made initially of the unloved Lieutenant (Stephen Bekassy) and his blonde girlfriend (Mari Blanchard), their characters virtually disappear once Lancaster's jailbird unit sets out on its mission! Despite its baffling ultra-rarity, the film is peopled by an interesting pool of talent both in front and behind the camera: Lancaster is in his third adventure flick; Gilbert Roland is his usual laid-back, womanizing Latino self; John Dehner the proverbial rotten apple in the group; George Tobias (perhaps thankfully) sacrifices himself early on; Nick Dennis and Mike Mazurki are among the rowdiest of the 'Ten'; Gerald Mohr adequately provides the required villainy; this was the second product from Norma Productions (which first partnered Lancaster with producer Harold Hecht); writer Roland Kibbee would much later go on to share directorial credit with Lancaster on THE MIDNIGHT MAN (1974; which I will be revisiting presently); associate producer Robert Aldrich would later direct Lancaster in four movies – including TWILIGHT'S LAST GLEAMING (1977; which I'll be viewing for the first time during this ongoing Burt Lancaster tribute); and, most interestingly perhaps, this was multi-talented Willis Goldbeck's most notable directorial effort but, at least two of his screen writing credits are highly impressive indeed: Tod Browning's FREAKS (1932) and John Ford's THE MAN WHO SHOT LIBERTY VALANCE (1962; Goldbeck's last film work)! One final note: after searching high and low for this film on account of a friend of mine who is a big Burt Lancaster fan (and recalls the star's brief sojourn in Malta in the 1970s), ironically, it was he who eventually provided me with a means to catch up with it via a surprisingly well-preserved VHS-sourced copy he acquired!