Drums of the Desert (1940)

Truly Dreadful Film

Great Film overall

Boring

Worth seeing just to witness how winsome it is.

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.

There's little to be said in favor of this Z-Grade Boots & Bullets flick that depends on degrading stereotypes for its buffoonish black characters and heroic results for its romantic white characters. If this film is an example of how far movies have come in presenting non-whites, then it is of historical value. Mantan Moreland, one of the top black character actors of the 30's and 40's, is presented in a demeaning light while "Dick Tracy's" Ralph Byrd gets to be the superman who saves the day. Monogram films aren't always this bad; In fact, some of them are now classics. The romantic triangle between Byrd, George Lynn and Lorna Gray is never really developed, and the conflict they face in the desert seems forced. The dialog is mainly filler to help reach the movie's 60 minute running time.