Tue 10 Jan 2017
A Movie Review by Jonathan Lewis: ADVENTURE IN SAHARA (1938).
Posted by Steve under Action Adventure movies , Reviews[6] Comments
ADVENTURE IN SAHARA. Columbia Pictures, 1938. Paul Kelly, C. Henry Gordon, Lorna Gray, Robert Fiske, Marc Lawrence, Dwight Frye. Screenplay by Maxwell Shane; story: Samuel Fuller. Director: D. Ross Lederman.
With a story written by Samuel Fuller, who went on to far bigger and better things, Adventure in Sahara is more of an historical curiosity than anything else. A surprisingly gritty programmer, the film features Paul Kelly as an American who joins the French Foreign Legion to avenge his brother’s death at the hands of the sadistic Captain Savatt (C. Henry Gordon).
Kelly isn’t exactly Gary Cooper, but he gets the job done. Gordon’s character, Savatt, borders on the cartoonish. I imagine he’s sort of what American filmgoers might have expected a cruel French officer to act like; nothing more, nothing less.
When the desert sun sets, however, Adventure in Sahara remains remarkably forgettable. There’s no particularly captivating dialogue and the characters are never fully fleshed out. But that’s not to say that it’s not watchable, if mindless escapism.
Personally, I’ve always enjoyed films involving France’s role in the world, particularly in North Africa and the Middle East. Granted, I’m part of a niche audience that could probably have meetings in a phone booth (not that they really exist anymore), but films like these serve more as time capsules than anything else. After all, how many people would choose to make — let alone rush to see — a movie about the French Foreign Legion today?
January 10th, 2017 at 4:02 pm
I’ve always been fascinated by Foreign Legion stories and movies. Imagine signing up for 5 years at pennies a day. Dangerous work and hard labor with strict discipline. During the 1930’s and 1940’s the major general fiction pulps were full of these stories: ADVENTURE, SHORT STORIES, ARGOSY, BLUE BOOK.
January 10th, 2017 at 4:46 pm
I’ve almost skipped the Foreign Legion stories when I’ve come across them in Argosy and Blue Book, for example. My thought has always been that all the stories are the same. I know it’s not true, so that’s not much of an argument, is it?
January 10th, 2017 at 4:08 pm
Dwight Frye is at his cringing best here as Gordon’s toady, but his part doesn’t give him much to do. A pity.
January 10th, 2017 at 4:43 pm
I’ve not seen the movie myself, and when I haven’t, I don’t always know who to include in the credits and who can be safely left out. On the basis of your comment, Dan, I’ve just added Dwight Frye.
January 10th, 2017 at 5:26 pm
The French still manage an occasional Legion film, usually set either during the Algerian revolt or tied to Vietnam. Jean Claude Van Damme made at least one Legion film, and as a genre it encompasses the likes of Ronald Colman, Gary Cooper, John Wayne, Laurel and Hardy, George Raft, Gene Hackman, Alan Ladd, Burt Lancaster, Anthony Quinn, Alain Delon, Jean Paul Belmondo, Charles Bronson, and numerous lesser stars.
January 11th, 2017 at 4:06 pm
The Foreign Legion novel also lasted later than most would think. There were several written in the late sixties and seventies,, and one still shows up once in a while though no where near as prolific as the pulp era and writers like George Surdez and Theodore Roscoe.