Desert Sands

I saw this film only once in 1957 at a local cinema when I was nine years old. The plot outline is a little dim after the passage of time but I recall that the story centred upon a misunderstanding that took place between the son and daughter of an Arab chieftain and the local garrison of the French Foreign Legion. War ensues and Ralph Meeker as the commander of the garrison, fights heroically against the Arabs.

I recall that the colour was very good and the actors portraying the legionaires seemed quite authentic. The actor portraying the French sergeant was very affecting. Marla English as the Arab princess was beautiful and sensual.

I would enjoy seeing this film again and it is a pity that the copyright holders have not released it as a video or a DVD. I hope that it may be offered to television networks to take up and show in future.

Extremely silly plot that makes zero sense. The most un-Arab looking Arabs ever seen in any film ever. All of the French and all of the Arabs speak perfect English with no accents whatsoever. It was impossible to work out which time period this was set in. The large Arab tent would have needed thousands of horses or camels to transport it as in was also extravagently furnished. The Arab females were white with very non-Arab hair and makeup.

All of these flaws may not have mattered to audiences in the mid 1950s so if they can be ignored now it is an entertaining, and very silly, film. A must watch for those who love bad films.

Saw 'Desert Sands' due to primarily finding the subject matter fascinating, the foreign legion is always interesting to portray on film and there are films that have done so very well. It also had the always reliable Ralph Meeker and John Carradine in the cast, with Carradine especially having the sort of role that was well suited to him. It also appeared in my more like this section after seeing other Meeker and Carradine films some time back.

'Desert Sands' was an example of a film that had such a promising story on paper. It is sadly also an example of a film that has very uneven execution. A big part of me wanted to be on the same wavelength of those reviewing 'Desert Sands' positively, but to me there were too many things that worked against it. It is though not near as bad as those that commented unfavourably have said and does have some major strengths that raise it to average level.

It is a good-looking film. The photography is particularly beautifully crafted in the action and is quite vibrant. The scenery is quite attractive and the way the camera is used shooting it prevents it from being static. The music fits quite well and sweeps effectively, with stirring use of "Le Boudin" and a suitably nostalgic theme song.

The action and battle choreography is exciting and has tension, things not present in much of the rest of the story. A few of the performances are good. Meeker is suitably brooding and Marla English is alluring, but menacingly ruthless Carradine gets the acting honours.

However, the story outside of the action just didn't grab me and felt on the thin side. The film takes forever to get started and the first portions are pretty dull. The romance is not very interesting at all and is not particularly believable. Other than Meeker, English and Carradine the acting is nothing really to write home about in roles that come over as sketchy stereotypes rather than real people and portraying the legionnaires as complacent is not going to go down well with some. And no it is not the lack of authenticity or the accents that bother me.

Being somebody that wanted to not take things too seriously or nit-pick. It does have to be said that it is distracting that there doesn't really seem to be a discernible sense of time and place. With things present that don't belong in the period. Worst of all is the dialogue, which is more often than not cringe-worthingly awful, far too much cheese, unintentional humour and with not a shred of originality.

Summarising, not terrible but to me regrettably it was not particularly good either. 5/10

While this 1955 Foreign Legion movie from United Artists may not be in the category of "Beau Geste" (which starred Gary Cooper) it is nonetheless drawing. Personally, I felt the cast was well-chosen. Ralph Meeker, noted for playing Mike Hammer in "Kiss Me Deadly", here played David Malekom, a sometimes cold yet always a no-nonsense officer who was definitely strict toward the men under him. The very pretty Marla English was an unusually pretty lady who was in love with Malekom. John Carradine was perfect for the role of Jala the wine merchant who was a very ruthless man; he in the movie was the uncle of Princess Zara. Keith Larsen, who played the brother of Princess Zara, El Zanel, was mean-spirited and ruthless, a man who was so anxious for power that he wanted to possess the Sahara Desert. John Smith, who would later be known for "Laramie" fame was his same cowboy self from Texas; he played Pvt. Rex Tyle, a pugnacious and brave soldier. The drama starts off with Jala having some of his own men, who were disguised as Legionnaires, kill his own brother who was the father of Zara and El Zanel, and the killing caused Zara and El Zanel to hate the Foreign Legion with a passion; they were very young when the killing took place. Thus there were several attacks on the outpost in North Africa. Yet the strange thing was that when Jala confessed that he had killed El Zanel's father, he said that men of power must do such things sometimes; no, El Zanel did not care about human lives. What will happen now to Malekom, El Zanel, Jala, and Zara? There are points where there is romance between Zara and Malekom, but will this have a great effect on how Malekom will be toward Zara after a very climatic battle? The movie was a "Sahara western" replete with handguns and machine guns. Yes, it was a very exciting movie of any kind.

1955's "Desert Sands" is a long forgotten United Artists programmer benefiting from its colorful action sequences. The legendary John Carradine stands out in a decent cast, as Arab wine merchant Jala, who ruthlessly targets his own brother for murder, done by marauders disguised as French Legionnaires. His niece (Marla English) and nephew (Keith Larsen) grow up just as he wanted, hating the French and constantly in attack mode. Keith Larsen's career virtually tanked by the next decade, such titles as "Women of the Prehistoric Planet" and "The Omegans" giving way to self-directed items like "Mission Batangas," "The Trap on Cougar Mountain," "Run to the High Country," "Young and Free," "Whitewater Sam," and his cult classic "Night of the Witches." In between hard bitten turns in "Big House, U. S. A." and the iconic "Kiss Me Deadly" (as Mike Hammer), Ralph Meeker actually gets to play a more likable hero. In just her second starring role, the gorgeous Marla English disappeared from the screen as quickly as she lit the fire, in a pair of low budget AIP horrors, "The She-Creature" and "Voodoo Woman." Philip Tonge would reunite with Carradine in his last film, 1959's "Invisible Invaders," but this was John's final appearance opposite J. Carrol Naish, from "Ramona," "Blood and Sand," "Waterfront," and "House of Frankenstein."