The Last Outpost

Paramount studios was a specialist for such adventure movies, and this from even the twenties. This one is a good example, though not on the same level as THE LIVES OF A BENGAL LANCER or BEAU GESTE. And it is not that well known, despite Cary Grant and Claude Rains presence. I guess one othe earliest films to denounce Armenian people living conditions under the Turkish despotic rule. Maybe the only American film to evoke this too, and I repeat, so early. I am not sure there were so many later. I don't know actually. I don't mind the footage reels, unlike some audiences. If you dig enough to find this gem, I advise you to watch it.

War movies were not really the long suit of Cary Grant. He was much more comfortable in lighter roles which displayed his formidable wit and humor. He is featured in this rather common triangle formula with Claude Rains, who occasionally goes over the top, ala Vincent Price and others, but still gives a believable performance. I know if I were a woman, Rains would not have a chance against Grant in a triangle. For soap lovers only.

This is a pretty bog-standard tale, and you've almost certainly seen it done before. Two men who fall in love with the same woman during wartime. Claude Rains plays the stodgy but noble-minded husband while Cary Grant is the suave outsider. Yadda, yadda, yadda.

What is absolutely WONDERFUL about this movie is that the studio tried to save money by recycling scenes from an earlier, silent version of the same (?) film. On paper it made a sort of sense, the earlier film had enjoyed a bigger budget with lots of extras and so on. Unfortunately no-one took into account the film stock and frames per second differences between the two films.

So there you are, watching what seems like a low-budget pot boiler. Suddenly you're thrust into a blurry, gritty shot of hundreds of natives moving VERY quickly and jerkily for a couple of seconds. And then we're back to normal tempos and film stock.

OK, it's not much to write home about but it's quite a fun effect.

The best parts of the film are actually footage from the great Merriam Cooper's documentaries, Mideast and east and north African tribal peoples on the move and in wartime. These are before his part making King Kong.

The film was written around that footage, with Cooper and Rains as soldiers. But the film also included, for obvious box office reasons and to draw in a romance audience that was largely female, a predictable love triangle. This is dull, dull, dull. The female lead is not what many would call attractive, very awkward looking, though tastes certainly change.

Fast forward past the dull romance in the hospital..

An underrated little film about the efforts of the British Army to protect the British Empire in Kurdistan, THE LAST OUTPOST depicts the friendship that is formed between two soldiers (Cary Grant and Claude Rains) as they help native refugees to safety. Their bond soon comes under the ultimate test as they vie for the love of the same woman (Gertrude Michael). This film is extremely predictable, but Grant and Rains develop a unique and genuine on-screen chemistry that infuses much of the picture with a invaluable sense urgency and interest. The film is marred somewhat by the sloppy incorporation of woefully inconsistent stock footage (which looks to be of a completely different stock and shot at a different speed) into various moments, which is often distracting, but fortunately does not undermine the picture as a whole.