Fort Alger

I watched this courtesy of the Movies4Men channel, which offers a very wide range of quality. This was middling. Set in the early 1950s, it seemed to have an early-20th-century atmosphere to it, with massed Arab attacks on Legionnaire forts and columns of soldiers marching to the rescue with no motorised or air support. There were a few mid-century cars in the stock footage of Paris and an Arab town, and Yvette does use an eavesdropping device, but that's all.

The actors do well enough, though I didn't recognise Leif Ericson as the crop-haired sergeant - he certainly chewed the scenery. And it's always good to see the dependable John Dehner (and Yvonne de Carlo).

I was a bit puzzled by the Amir calling on his troops not to mention, on pain of death, the massacre at the beginning of the film, as it would have soon become common knowledge.

The mid-film relaying of the message did go on a bit and, as has been mentioned, there was something wrong with the distance and time when the Arabs arrived at the oil well.

All in all, pleasant, predictable viewing.

This adventure movie proves that Lesley Selander was not only a western film maker. Ok, this movie is told, written and acted as a western; just replace Arabs by Indians and Foreign Legion by the US Cavalry. Remember Selander's DESERT SANDS, another French Foreign Legion film. The exotic part is present, despite a black and white photography, such a shame, especially with a superb Yvonne De Carlo in a Mata Hari like character. Raymond Burr is outstanding as the evil guy; how could it be else? This movie belongs to the French Foreign legion ones and that makes me think one more time of my grief concerning DESERT HELL, from director Charles Marquis Warren. A so rare film that no one seems to have ever seen it. The review on Imdb looks very like the copycat of a dictionnary comment.

Hang on to your turban and ride your magic carpet to North Africa in search of camels, cabaret and oil. Set in 1953, the English and French already have their spigots in the "open" position. Sultry Yvonne Decarlo has been recruited to spy on an Arab rebel leader who has slaughtered hundreds of French Foreign Legionnairs at a place called Fort Algiers. The shot of numerous soldiers lying motionless on the grounds is shocking. The production values are so good, I thought they might have been lifted from another film. Oddly, the set dresser leaves the walls of the cabaret and palace bare--no art or detail. Ms. Decarlo has a role that is ahead of its time. She knows how to read and send codes, ride horses, fire weapons, and detonate explosives. She can also sing and speak Arabic. She is in high demand. The writers give her a neat spy kit to employ against the mean "Amir" and his palace guards. Carlos Thompson plays the love interest of Miss Decarlo. He looks and sounds a little bit like Danny Kaye--with an accent. They make a good team. One strange angle: there appears to be very little discipline in the outfit. The men talk back to their superiors, drink and play cards much too often, and are lacking in spit and polish. On the other hand, Miss Decarlo's shirts are always crisp and clean. She should lead the charge.

Imagine the tired excitement of those fleapit cinemas in back streets all over the UK watching this dross and having to have paid money for the experience. Did it ever open in cinemas in the centre of cities ? I wonder. Films like this were churned out, with bad acting, bad cinematography with appalling regularity and this one epitomises all of them. Yvonne de Carlo was never that good; here she is appalling and opposite her is Carlos Thompson, a handsome actor who had nothing to offer on screen except his looks. I am perhaps one of the few who saw him in the now lost ' The Flame and the Flesh ' with Lana Turner and there by the sheer force of gravity of Turner's performance he adequately responded. Here Yvonne de Carlo does not give him the same rope of rescue, and he flounders in limp gestures and clichés. Thanks to the ' Talking Pictures ' channel we the public are often allowed to return to these fleapit films and I guess for some there is a sentimental value in watching these primitive films. One star for their strange fascination. The depressed, the lonely and the young lovers would go to see them and tawdry films like these would replace their different realities with double bills of cynically made inadequacy.

The usual desert hokum, with a noisy woodwind score by Michel Michelet (that bursts into piano at the end) but a budget that didn't run to colour; but fortunately embellished by elegantly stylised sets (probably left over from previous productions) lit to heighten their impact by master cameraman John Seitz (plus cool second unit work).

Top-billed Yvonne de Carlo as a glamorous spy photographs well in black & white (as 'The Munsters' later demonstrated), has a fabulous wardrobe and can ride a horse, while a good supporting cast - including Raymond Burr as a villainous Emir - keep straight faces.