Under Two Flags

You would have expected a better movie reading down the cast members. It took effort to make the first half boring--as if it didn't know what it wanted to be as a movie--a romance or a light action film. The second half was a bit better, but not enough to make up for the first half. My rating is more in recognition of the cast than the quality of the movie.

"Under Two Flags" is a film about the French Foreign Legion, Arab tribes and local populations in 19th century colonial Algeria, and romance. This is a story of adventure, escape from society by some who join the legion, tribal and colonial warfare, and romance and redemption. The film is based on a very popular 1867 novel of the same title. It was by English author Maria Louise Ramé, who wrote under the pen name, Ouida. I have not read the novel, but from comments I've read by those who did, the book is much more engrossing and captivating, where the film downplays the personal stories in favor of some light-hearted comedy in places. Usually, the Hollywood moguls know what will be most appealing to audiences. Still, it would be interesting to see a more serious effort on film that follows the book. "Beau Geste" of 1939 comes to mind.

Five versions of the story were filmed before this - all silent films. Three of which were shorts (under 45 minutes in length). This is the premier rendition of the story on film. It was made at a time when films of adventure in foreign lands found high interest among the public. There are probably several reasons, in combination, for why Hollywood and foreign film sources have not made another movie based on this story since 1936.

For one thing, many things came together starting with the right time, public interest and intrigue, the perfect cast, and the settings. 20th Century Productions did a marvelous job filming scenes that looked like the Sahara Desert. This was all done in California and Arizona. And the fort sets among sand dunes are quite impressive and realistic. One thing that would be hard to repeat in modern times would be the early scene of a camel train. It winds over huge sand dunes and appears to stretch for a mile. I counted 50 visible camels as the line weaved across the screen with more coming into view as others faded. That would likely be done today with a few camels, shot two or three times and then multiplied and superimposed on a sand-dune screen using CGI.

History today seems to be of much less interest than it was in early to mid-20th century. Literary conversions to film now are mostly modern crime and mystery, comic book fantasy and fast action, or romance novels. Most of the great adventures of discovery on planet earth had been done by the late 20th century. And, space travel, sci-fi and other genres seem of more interest to modern audiences than historical stories.

But, this film will endure for movie fans of the future who do enjoy history, adventure, and novels put on film. And, for the fans of the superb cast in this film. Ronald Colman was 45 when he played Sgt. Victor here. He and Victor McLaglen were the "old-timers" of the leads. McLaglen was 50 and had made more than 70 films, beginning with silent films in 1920. He was fresh off of winning the best actor Oscar for his 1935 role as Gypo Nolan in "The Informer." Colman had been nominated for an Oscar in 1930, and would win his best actor award in "A Double Life" of 1947.

Claudette Colbert was 33 and had just come off winning her 1935 best actress Oscar for "It Happened One Night." Her star who would continue in the spotlight for two more decades. Rosalind Russell was 29 years old, and a new leading lady after just two years in films. Her star would continue to rise over two more decades, and although she never won an Oscar out of four nominations, she won five best actress Golden Globes.

Movie aficionados will recognize some of the supporting cast in this film that appeared in many films. Nigel Bruce, John Carradine, Onslow Stevens and others give good performances.

The one performance that stands out in this film is that of Colbert as Cigarette. Her accent seems genuine from these ears that but studied a little French in school and vacationed three times in France. And her spunkiness and youthful vigor and fire as a young hostess for thirsty and hungry soldiers in her desert inn lit up each scene in which she appeared. Besides the conflict with some war scenes that have to be expected in any movies about the French Foreign Legion, this story has a neat twist for an ending.

Here's my favorite exchange of lines in this film. McLaglen's Doyle has been after Colbert's Cigarette to marry him, and she has been putting it off for quite some time. Cigarette, "But you will soon be a colonel." Maj. Doyle, "You said major when I was a captain." Cigarette, "Did I? Oh, ho, ho, ho." Doyle, "Oh, you little devil."

Unfortunately, Ouida's great classical novel of dishonor, exile, love, war and sacrifice in Algeria with the French foreign legion has not been awarded with that great film script it deserves. A deep tragedy of human greatness has been transformed into a rather superficial Hollywood romance entertainment, where even Ronald Colman makes a rather poor figure, far from the sadly noble hero of the original. Nevertheless, it's a Frank Lloyd film, who also made "Cavalcade" and "Mutiny on the Bounty", and there are great moments, especially of the desert scenery. Claudette Colbert as Cigarette is the real star of the film, though, but then she is also the most memorable character in the novel. Rosalind Russell is good enough and adds some heart-warming romance, while the worst failure of the film is the alteration of the grim reality of the French foreign legion with a sinister discipline worse than that of the 'Bounty' into some loose barrack ballads with plenty of brandy. The grim nature of the colonel in the novel is deleted, and Victor McLaglen is only Victor McLaglen, whom you can't take seriously. It's a good enough entertainment but not more than that, while the novel is so much more.

Ronald Colman stars as Sgt. Victor, a member of the French Foreign Legion. He's assigned to a new post in southern Algeria under the command of Major Doyle (Victor McLaglen). Victor soon catches the eye of local saloon girl "Cigarette" (Claudette Colbert), who is in turn the object of Doyle's affection. As for Victor, he's found romance with visiting English society woman Lady Venetia (Rosalind Russell). Doyle keeps attempting to get Victor out of the way by issuing him dangerous assignments, but Victor keeps surviving them. That could change with an uprising that may spell the end for them all. Also featuring Tor Johnson.

This was a major production, with large sets and plenty of extras. The battle scenes near the end of the film are very impressive in scope and execution, and there are several nice shots of caravans moving across the high desert sands. Unfortunately the romance part of the story is bland and predictable. Colman, McLaglen, and Russell all bring their usual personas to the story, but Colbert seems out of place as a lowly singing girl. Simone Simon was originally cast in the part, and even filmed the entire movie, but producer Darryl Zanuck didn't like the end result so he hired Colbert and reshot her entire part! Maybe she was awful, but I would think Simon would have been much better suited to the role.

During the 1930s and 40s, there were a bunch of movies that glorified the French Foreign Legion and featured them as the good guys. Considering the films were made here in the States, it does seem odd that these colonials were talked about at all as well as glorified...but there was apparently some sort of romantic notion of bravery and chivalry associated with this army. Films such as "Beau Hunks", "Beau Geste", "Under Two Flags" and "Abbott & Costello in the Foreign Legion" are just a few of the many such films of the era about this outfit.

This film is set in North Africa and you must ignore that the natives are sometimes referred to as Arabs...they are most likely Libyans, Algerians, Tunesians or, perhaps, Moroccans--all North African countries occupied by the French at that time. The commanding officer, the Major (Victor McLaglen), has a bit of an infatuation with a girl oddly named 'Cigarette' (Claudette Colbert) and after a while, so does Sergeant Victor (Ronald Colman). But when a British lady (Rosalind Russell) shows up in the middle of this desert town, Victor is smitten and now has TWO ladies who think he's their boyfriend. Amidst these smoldering passions is an uprising (what else?!) among the natives and it's up to the Legion to kick butt and restore the peace.

While the cast is quite nice in this one, the film itself is only ordinary. I think much of the problem is that "Beau Geste" came out about the same time and was simply a much more exciting and interesting movie. It's watchable and mildly interesting but not much more.

FYI--It is interesting to see Claudette Colbert playing a French lady and using a French accent, as she was born and lived in France until she was a young girl. I assume her family must have spoken French at home and approximating the French accent must have been pretty natural for her.