O Forte da Coragem

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.

It's been well over a year since I had mentioned I'd be renting this one on DVD, after being impressed with Lesley Selander's neglected low-budget horror effort THE VAMPIRE'S GHOST (1945). At the time, I had even joked about the fact that the director's filmography included six(!) pictures with the word "fort" in their title – this, of course, being one of them.

Despite the lowly rating, I enjoyed the film for what it was – a thoroughly unassuming romantic adventure. Its B-movie roots are evident in the ample stock footage (particularly during the final desert charge on an oil well – which also presents an incongruity in wardrobe, with heroes and villains dressed in outfits from different time periods!) but also the choice of leading man, Carlos Thompson: the Argentinian actor made only a handful of English-language films (none very notable, though his last film was the delightful French WWII comedy LA VIE DE Château [1966] with Catherine Deneuve) and committed suicide back home in 1990.

Anyway, FORT ALGIERS was really a vehicle for Yvonne De Carlo, who specialized in such forgettable exotic fare around this time; here, she's a French agent who had forsaken lover Thompson for 'the cause' – but meets up with him again when she's sent to spy on evil Arab potentate Raymond Burr (highly amusing in a turban). Leif Erickson delivers an unbelievably hammy performance as Thompson's arrogant sergeant – though his character is eventually softened when selected for the hero's buddy in a mission (in which Thompson has to rescue De Carlo from Burr when the girl's cover is blown); the rest of the cast includes such familiar faces as John Dehner, Anthony Caruso and Robert Warwick.

Low grade, low budget junk on the same level as 1955's Escape to Burma, although that film was actually better. There's hardly a believable moment in the whole script, the best parts the African desert, the actual tribesman extras, and Raymond Burr and Yvonne DeCarlo. Potential viewers other than RB and YD completists can skip it.

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.

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.