The Lost Patrol (1934)

Director:

John Ford

Writers:

Dudley Nichols (screenplay)
Garrett Fort (adaptation)

Release Date:

16 February 1934 (USA)

Genre:

Adventure | War

Tagline:

BLISTERING SUN...BLAZING BULLETS! (original print ad - all caps)

Plot:

A dozen British soldiers, lost in a Mesopotamian desert during world war I, are menaced by unseen Arab enemies.

Plot Keywords:

Desert | Sergeant | Sniper | Arab | Cavalry

Awards:

Nominated for Oscar.

Cast

Victor McLaglen	...	The Sergeant
Boris Karloff	...	Sanders
Wallace Ford	...	Morelli
Reginald Denny	...	Brown
J.M. Kerrigan	...	Quincannon
Billy Bevan	...	Hale
Alan Hale	...	Cook
Brandon Hurst	...	Bell
Douglas Walton	...	Pearson
Sammy Stein	...	Abelson
Howard Wilson	...	Aviator
Paul Hanson	...	MacKay

Runtime:

USA:73 min (original release) | USA:66 min (1954 reissue length)

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Colour:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (RCA Victor System)

Certification:

UK:A (original rating) | Canada:PG (Ontario) | USA:Passed (National Board of Review) | USA:TV-PG (TV rating) | West Germany:16 (nf) | USA:Approved (PCA #1345-R, re-release)

Filming Locations:

Buttercup Dunes, Imperial County, California, USA

Company:

RKO Radio Pictures

Trivia:

Composer Max Steiner re-used the main title music he wrote for this film for the main title music for Casablanca (1942), albeit with a slightly different tempo and instrumentation.

Goofs:

Revealing mistakes: As the plane is circling the encampment, you can see tire marks in the sand.

Quotes:

Brown: I can't say much for the women though, but, oh, the girls! All Malayan females should be poisoned at 21. Before that, they're... Mmmmmm!
Jock MacKay: But a bit on the dark side, hunh, Brown?
Brown: Oh, yes, they're dark, but the longer you're there, the whiter they get, or that's the way it seems. That didn't bother me, Jock. I'll never forget the first time I saw... We sailed into a little harbor about sundown. The girls all came swimming out...
[...]

Movie Connections:

Referenced in The Searchers (1956)

Soundtrack:

God Save the King!

KARLOFF IS A BIBLE FANATIC!

Learned that this film was shot entirely on location near Yuma, Arizona with temperatures over 110 degrees. The music was created by Max Steiner and was nominated for an Oscar. This picture was also a remake of an earlier English film in 1929 of the novel. I also noticed there was not a woman in the cast, and no wonder, with all that heat during takes! During the First WW1, a patrol of British cavalrymen find themselves stranded in the Mesopotamian Desert. A veteran sergeant (Victor McLaglen) is in command. They camp at an oasis, and Arabs kill a sentry and steal their horses. It seems they are surrounded by unseen enemies and are killed one by one. The three remaining soldiers are: Morelli (Wallace Ford), the sergeant(McLaglen) and Sanders(Boris Karloff), a religious nut! Karloff goes insane, and creates a makeshift cross and starts across the desert. Karloff as usual has bulging eyes and tormented facial expressions. Boris made this film another great classic. It is a worthwhile enjoyable film to view.