Drums of the Desert (1940)

I like the storyline of this show,it attract me so much

Instead, you get a movie that's enjoyable enough, but leaves you feeling like it could have been much, much more.

It's a mild crowd pleaser for people who are exhausted by blockbusters.

It really made me laugh, but for some moments I was tearing up because I could relate so much.

Director: GEORGE WAGGNER. Screenplay: Dorothy Reid and Joseph West. Based on a story by John T. Neville. Photography: Fred Jackman Jr. Film editor: Jack Ogilvie. Art director: Charles Clague. Set decorator: Dave Milton. Music director: Edward J. Kay. Assistant director: Charles Townsend. Sound recording: William Fox. Producer: Paul Malvern. Copyright 7 October 1940 by Monogram Pictures Corporation. No New York opening. US. release: 7 October 1940. Australian release through Associated-British Empire Films: 2 January 1941. 7 reels. 5,948 feet. 66 minutes. (Available on an Alpha DVD).COMMENT: Not a western but a Foreign Legion outing. Waggner's direction with its extended takes and elaborate tracking shots delivers a considerable clout above the average Monogram effort. And he's also commendably lessened the corniness inherent in the screenplay by having his players rattle off their lines twice as fast as normal. It's also a pleasant surprise by Hollywood standards to find a real Frenchman playing the Foreign Legion commandant. And it's doubly enjoyable to find such a heartening performance as that put across by Albert Morin as a villainous sand diviner. "Technical director" Charles Clague has turned in a very competent job in making over existing sets, whilst Fred Jackman's photography also rates as more than passably pleasing.

****SPOILERS**** Love story that takes place in the North African desert involving French legionaries Paul Dumont and his lifelong friend Captain Jean "Birdbrain" -in that he's too slow to figure things out-Birdaux over pretty Helene Laroche played by actress Lorna Gray, who passed away this April 30 2017 just three months shy of her 100th birthday, who's in fact engaged to marry Jean without his friend Paul's knowledge. Paul who' s training g a group of Senegalese paratroopers who all seem to come from Harlem New York to fight the local rampaging Arabs Bedouins who end up capturing Ben Ali the kid brother of Arab guerrillas leader Hassan. It's Hassan whom despite in him pleading to spare his brother's life Jean ends up executing him via a military fire squad.This has Hassen take revenge by having his men kidnap Paul & Helene and threaten to have them shot before sunrise even before they have a chance to eat their last breakfast. It's Captain Birdaux together with the Senegalese paratroopers lead by Sgt. Blue Williams and his second & third in command BoBo and Meathball who storm Hassen's camp and after a wild fire fight rescue the two lovers with Capt. Birdaux ending up seriously wounded. As he's about to go under the Captain gives both Paul and his former fiancée Helena his blessings knowing, in him dying, that he's in no condition to marry her.The movie has Mantan Moreland as tough as nails Senegalese paratrooper commander, straight from East 125th street and 7th Ave in Manhattan, Sgt. Blue Williams in a very rare dramatic and serious role- yet he's still able to get a few laughs in between the shooting- playing it. As for the paratroopers that Sgt. Blue's in charge of this was the first time that they ever took a jump in training as well as combat in their entire lives. Yet they did it as successful and professionally as any hardened member of of the tough US military's 101th airborne division or 82th airborne brigade.

"Drums of the Desert" is an incredibly outdated and bad movie from Monogram Pictures--an ultra-low budget film studio that prided itself in cranking out cheap B-movies very quickly. In the case of this film, however, it's much poorer than average for the tiny studio. How poor? Well, the film is supposed to be about the French Legion in North Africa--yet not a single one of the French people in the film speak with ANY accent other than a 100% American one. No, this isn't because they're supposed to be foreign legionnaires--the film clearly says that many of them are French. But they look and sound about as French as Hattie McDaniel or Keye Luke!! Heck, even Dick Van Dyke's notoriously awful accent in "Mary Poppins" has him TRYING to sound English! Here, Ralph Byrd and the rest don't even bother.The film begins with a French(?) officer (Byrd) meeting a young lady on the ship to North Africa. They soon fall in love. However, when the ship arrives at port, he discovers that she is the fiancé of his best friend--a fellow legion officer!!! Talk about a clichéd situation!! And, you know since this is a crappy film, by the end the fiancé will be worm food and the pair will be able to marry!! All that was left was to figure out what would be in the middle. It wasn't all terrible--but it also is 100% predictable...and a bit racist in how they handle all the Black soldiers from Harlem (or is it Senegal?!). All I know is that on top of being very outdated in how it handled race issues, I also wonder why so many Hollywood films seemed to STRONGLY promote British and French imperialism. It seems that American films should have supported freedom and self-determination...or would that only be for folks that look and sound like us? Unfortunately, at the time this was the case.So is there anything to like about the movie? Not much. While a bit racist in showing them as all very ignorant, the Black soldiers were competent and honorable fighting men. And, some of their dialog was funny. Otherwise, no...there really isn't anything to like about this poorly written and equally poorly acted film.

I'm going to make a stab at simply explaining the story of this film. Because there are a good many characters and a great many plot threads its going to sound much blander than it is since I'm compressing so much into so few lines (trust me its much better than this): Ralph Byrd plays a member of the French army stationed in Morocco. Taking a ship from France to Africa he meets and woos a young lady who suddenly disappears when the ship docks. Picking a contingent of Senegalese troops he heads off to his fort where he's to teach them to be paratroopers. Upon arriving at the fort he again meets the woman who has stolen his heart and who is the fiancé of one of the officers stationed there. While out on training maneuvers Byrd and his men are attacked by Arabs who want them out of the country. They manage to capture one of the attackers who is the brother of a sheik that Byrd had met on the ship from France. The brother denies his involvement to the sheik, who then plots revenge when the brother is executed.This is a very breezy very complicated little movie moves like the wind. Byrd and the rest of the cast are excellent in this tale of conflicting loyalties, romance and action. I must single out Mantan Moreland as the New York native now in charge of the paratroopers. Moreland, best known as Charlie Chan's butler Birmingham Brown gets to be an action star showing little of his trademark fear and anxiety as he charges in with his men on more than one occasion (his method of getting information will be positively frightening to Chan fans). Moreland also is allowed to be more than just comic relief in a role that is more than just jokes and reaction (The scene where he asks Byrd if they can bury one of his men with a parachute is especially touching). This film is more proof that Moreland was an under used actor.I really liked this movie a great deal. Clearly a low budget programmer, this film somehow rises above its humble origins to become an excellent little adventure film. Regrettably its not better known. This is one to keep an eye out for.