We're in the Legion Now

Here is a very obscure Grand National Picture filmed in an early 2-color process. 20 years ago, I had the good fortune of owning a 35mm nitrate color print of this film under its original title: "We're in the Legion Now"

Reginald Denny had a long career in silent pictures, talkies and tv. Always the inimitable English gentleman, he plays off the illiterate and bumbling Vince Barnett very well, as a couple of American gangsters on the run wind up in Morocco in the French Foreign Legion. They're in the stockade more than they are out during the story as it unfolds. Barnett appeared in countless films as comic relief in westerns, gangster pictures and comedies.

Since most of the Grand National library dispersed to the four winds in the 1940s, it is unclear if this picture survives in its original color version. Hirlicolor was a play on words using the name of George Hirlman, an executive and producer at the studio. The actual color process is Magnacolor aka Cinecolor, which utilized 2 basic colors to combine to make the picture, unlike Technicolor's later 3-color process. The result is a pleasant warm color tone you would associate with the sun on the desert. Late 1940s 16mm television prints were printed in black & white.

In Paris on a bender, debonair Reginald Denny (as Dan Linton) wakes up next to bald-headed Vince Barnett (as Spike Conover). Mr. Denny notes that Mr. Barnett has taken the bride's side of the bed. The heterosexual pals are American gangsters on the run, and join the "French Foreign Legion" to hide out from a mob boss. They needle each other, and admire the same beautiful women. First up are blonde sisters Esther Ralston (as Louise) and Claudia Dell (as Yvonne).

After being stationed in Morocco for some time, Denny and Barnett begin to date entertainer Eleanor Hunt (as Honey Evans), who has those eye-catching seams running up the back of her thighs. Possibly noticing the movie wasn't working as a comedy, it becomes a serious drama when Denny and Barnett are sentenced to labor camp. Then, they find themselves playing dramatic war heroes. It's directed by silent screen star Crane Wilbur, in long gone "Magnacolor".

*** We're in the Legion Now (12/13/36) Crane Wilbur ~ Reginald Denny, Vince Barnett, Esther Ralston, Claudia Dell

Reginald Denny was a dandy British actor...and the epitome of sophistication in films. Vince Barnett was an American supporting actor....and the epitome of a boob or jerk. In style, they were about as different as different can be. So why did the producers of "We're In the Legion Now" put these two guys in a film and make them buddies? It's certainly strange...and reason enough to give the film a view.

In this comedy, the pair are both crooks--rich ex-bootleggers living it up in Europe. Dan (Denny) and Spike (Barnett) play exactly the sort of characters you'd expect...sophisticated and dopey, uncouth comic relief, though Dan is supposed to be an American! Things are getting rather hot for the duo and so to hide out they come up with an insane idea...to hide in the Foreign Legion! So, for the next five years, they'll be completely incognito in North Africa! In many ways, the film actually plays a bit like an Abbott & Costello or a Laurel & Hardy movie (both did Foreign Legion pics). In other words, they're insubordinate idiots who are constantly in trouble with their commanding officers. And, being crooks, they also aren't above offering bribes or shooting their way out of tricky situations. Eventually, all this catches up to them and they are sentenced to prison. Can they STILL manage to somehow make good?

While I wouldn't consider this a great or especially memorable film, it also was never intended as anything much more than a cheap B-movie--running only 56 minutes. Oddly, however, the picture was originally in color--something you'd never expect for a B. The version I watched on YouTube, however, was in black & white....and not an especially great print as well. As far as the plot goes, it's not especially memorable (though it has its moments) nor offensive and the biggest strength of the film is its strangeness. In other words, you might just want to see it because the two leads are so incredibly mismatched.