Hombres sin patria

"Rogues' Regiment" is very unusual film - more ways than one. Billed an action, adventure and mystery, this is a preview look at Vietnam and the Vietnamese War. It takes place during the French Indo-China colonial period which lasted until 1954. The French pulled out of the country on May 7, 1954, after a four-month siege by communist-led rebels of the French garrison at Dien Bien Phu.

So, there's more than a little history surrounding this film. It portrays the French Foreign Legion in the Vietnam of the late 1940s. And, it shows some ambushes of French units. I know of only one other film that has scenes about the French Army and defeats in Vietnam. That is the 2002 film that starred Mel Gibson, "We Were Soldiers Once... and Young." So, considering that this movie came out in 1948, the film is somewhat prescient of the failure and withdrawal of the French in 1954, and then of the Vietnam War and American involvement a decade after that.

But for its prophetic historical notes, the plot of this film is about an American undercover sergeant joining the French forces in Indo-China in the hopes of discovering the last notorious Nazi official from World War II, to bring him to justice. In this film, the character is Martin Brunner who is disguised as another legionnaire, Carl Reicher. Dick Powell plays the American, Whit Corbett.

Another historical aside is that from well before WW II Germans had been joining the French Foreign Legion, and many of the NCOs at the time of the war were German. The Nazis had tried to infiltrate the legion with recruits, and the French discovered the plot. Even after France's defeat, the Legion operated as the Free French and worked to purge itself of any Nazis. So, now, in the post-war period, former German soldiers who weren't Nazis were joining the French legion in Indo-China. But that made it a logical place for Nazis as well who fled Germany to hide out for several years.

Another element of this film is that an arms smuggling operation existed that supplied the Vietnamese with weapons of war. The bad guy playing the part of Mark Van Ratten here is Vincent Price. Märta Torén plays Lili Maubert, who is an undercover contact for Corbett But she's also an acquaintance of Van Ratten. This film has some interesting twists. Considering that it was all shot in California and on Universal studio lots, the film does well in looking like Vietnam.

The cast all give good performances. Torén was a Swedish actress who was being billed as the next Ingrid Berman. She is 21 at the time of this movie and she would make some good films. But just nine years later she would die of a brain hemorrhage in her native Stockholm, Sweden. Here are some favorite lines form this film.

Lily Maubert, "What does Col. Mauclaire think?" Whit Corbett, "Same as you do - that I'm fishing for whales with a bat pin. But he'll help with the bait."

Lily Maubert, "I wish I could help you too." Whit Corbett, "You're doing that, just letting me look at you."

Whit Corbett, "You know, this is my last job for the Army. In another three months, my time will be up and I'll be going home - to a place called Nebraska. I've got a farm there - a hay farm. It's very quiet and might even be a little dull, after what we've been doing. But it's also a wonderful life in another way. And, for excitement, we can always drive the jeep up to Omaha.

Lily Maubert, "Are you making love to me?" Whit Corbett, "I'm trying to. Why, does it amuse you?" Lily, "No, no, it doesn't. I think I like it very much - if you mean it."

Lily Maubert, "What is hay?" Whit Corbett, "Hay? That's the stuff you make when the sun shines."

The film follows undercover agent Dick Powell (Whit) as he tracks down fictitious Nazi Martin Brunner as portrayed by Stephen McNally (Reicher) in the French Foreign Legion in Indo-China. I assume that McNally's character is based on real life high ranking Nazi Alois Brunner and the story is a fictionalized interpretation of where real life Brunner may have gone. Incidentally, the real Brunner never got caught. Can Dick Powell track down and capture McNally, or does this story foretell the actual truth of how Brunner may have evaded his searchers?

The film begins in a documentary style with clips from the Nazi war trials before it turns its attention to the plight of one particular high-ranking Nazi who has evaded capture. We follow the leads that place him in Indo-China, and that's where we meet our cast, all of whom give good performances. My favourites are McNally and Carol Thurston, who plays devious Vincent Price's (Van Ratten) servant girl, Li-Ho-Kay. Oh yeah, she's handy with a knife.

The film seems to tie itself up rather too neatly but it is an interesting journey - there is suitable tension throughout the film as well as intrigue as to what will happen. We are taken into the world of the Vietnamese freedom fighters, who, as a separate issue, win a victory in the end, a few years later.

The Nuremburg trials are nearing their end, with some Nazis being hanged and others sentenced to life imprisonment, but one criinal remains untouched. No one knows what he looks like. So they send Dick Powell after him. Since this evil man has joined the French Foreign Legion, Powell does likewise, and is sent to French Indo-China to catch what turns out to be Stephen McNally and make love to Märta Torén.

It's a capable programmer. There are battle scenes. There's Vincent Price in villain mode, expediting McNally, and the shadows grow darker and longer gradually, under the camera of the under-rated Maury Gertsman. Director Robert Florey fills the time ably; although the movie times in at 85 minutes, it never grows dull.

To be fair to this, it does inject a little twist into the usual French Foreign Legion story. This time the Americans implant an agent "Corbett" (Dick Powell) into the platoon in the hope that he can track down a senior Nazi who is trying to get himself (and some loot) to safety after WWII. It's set in French Indo-China rather than North Africa, so there is some scope for a bit of jungle antics as the two men play a bit of cat and mouse. The mystery is helped along by Vincent Price and his dodgy accent as "Van Patten", a travelling art dealer and by the glorified pub singer Lili" (Märta Torén) whom, to be fair, can actually hold a note for her two numbers. It doesn't take us long to work out who is who but the method of smuggling the spoils is quite innovative and though the production is pretty run of the mill, the decent pace keeps it quite entertaining for ninety minutes.

The French are having a hard time with the Viet Minh guerrillas of Ho Chi Minh operating in the jungles in Indochina and striking whenever they can while staying hidden out of reach, creating a constant terror for the Europeans, but this film is not much about that. To combat these insidious freedom fighters France is applying the Foreign Legion, and after the war many ex-Nazis join this 'Rogues Regiment' where they can go on living in anonymity, even if they are chased all over the world. Dick Powell is assigned the mission to find a certain Nazi fugitive hiding in this army, so he joins the legion himself and finds it swarming with Nazis among the other usual delinquents. Vincent Price provides the guerrillas with weapons and ammunition and knows the wanted fugitive, having helped him to secretly join the legion, and there is an attractive night club singer Märta Torén who knows them all, whom Dick Powell falls in love with like everyone else. It's a tricky story amidst some difficult jungle fights, but finally Dick Powell gets his man, while in reality he actually got away - a certain Alois Brunner, who is here called Martin Brunner with some traits of Martin Bormann, another mystery Nazi who some believe got away. It is not a bad film, but it is not altogether outstanding either, but it is interesting for its anticipation of the Vietnam war which would go on for almost 30 years, the French giving up and leaving it to the Americans to keep up the hopeless case. Stephen McNally as Brunner is actually the most interesting character, while Dick Powell is just an ordinary tough guy and Vincent Price that ordinary crook he generally makes, while Marta Toren offers some refreshment. It is exotic and intriguing but hardly first class.