Women of All Nations

In the 1920s and into the 30s, Fox made a string of movies starring Sergeant Quirt (Edmund Lowe) and Sergeant Flagg (Victor McLaglen). Despite what IMDB's trivia says, "Women of All Nations" isn't the first film in the series* but the fourth.

I must say up front that I've seen a few Quirt & Flagg films (including the 1950s remake of "What Price Glory?") and haven't been very impressed by the films. Part of it might be because although the pair are Marines, they never seem to be in war and the film makes it seem like being a Marine is nothing but laughs and chasing women. Is this one any different? Well, not especially. It plays much like a Popeye cartoon minus Olive Oyl...as Quirt and Flagg are almost at odds with each other or fighting over some woman.

The pace of this one is tiring. The duo keep fighting and arguing and acting like thick-headed fools throughout the movie. It's not terrible...but a bit tiresome after a while. Worth seeing only as a time-passer and not much more.

*IMDB says that "This the first of five films made during the pre-code period with the duo, Edmund Lowe and Victor McLaglen". It's the fourth but perhaps they are implying that the Pre-Code era began around 1930...but this still wouldn't make this the first. I'm really not sure how they came up with this number.

The film depicts the picaresque adventures of career Marines Sgts. Quirt and Flagg, played by Victor McLaglen and Edmund Lowe and directed by renowned helmsman Raoul Walsh. Because it is so episodic, it does tend to drag somewhat and, yes, Bogart's scenes were left on the cutting room floor. But, it offers Bela Lugosi an excellent supporting role as Prince Hassan in the last segment of the film, who catches Quirt and Flagg (as well as comedian El Brendel) invading Bela's harem to assignate with his #1 sweetie, played by the lovely Norwegian blonde actress Greta Nissen. Lugosi gets to ham it up in a comic vein, speaks some Hungarian and meows like a cat to try to catch the three rapscallions and in general livens up the proceedings. Not to mention that for those of us who are his devotees, he looks rather luscious in his Middle Eastern duds.

...that's the third in a series from Fox and director Raoul Walsh.

Edmund Lowe and Victor McLaglen return as Sgt. Quirt and Capt. Flagg, respectively, two US Marine brothers-in-arms who are rivals in everything else. The episodic plot sees them shipped around the world, from a stateside furlough to a stint in Sweden where they battle over local girl Elsa (Greta Nissen), to disaster aid in Nicaragua, and finally to Egypt, where they find Elsa in the harem of local Prince Hassan (Bela Lugosi).

This series started with the silent What Price Glory in 1926, followed by The Cock-Eyed World (1929). There would be one more entry after this one, 1933's Hot Pepper. Director Walsh himself called this a "turkey", and that's a fitting description. The script is threadbare, the situations unfunny and uninspired. What entertainment exists is due to the performers, who generally try their best, although Brendel's shtick gets old quick. I watched this for Lugosi; he doesn't appear until the final 20 minutes. One noteworthy aspect of this film was that there was another co-star, Humphrey Bogart, but his entire role was left on the cutting room floor. Lucky him.

Edmund Lowe and Victor McLaglen are back again as Quirt and Flagg in this second sequel to WHAT PRICE GLORY? In sequences that alternate battlefields with wrangling over women, Lowe find themselves ordered to filibusters and diplomatic missions, to Nicaragua and Sweden - where they meet Princess Greta Nissan, and finally to an unnamed Mediterranean port, where they again meet the Swedish lovely.... and Bela Lugosi.

We're all used to Lugosi in his Dracula mode and after, playing variations on the Count, but here we meet him as an Oriental Potentate. Here's a chance to see him as an actor, offering an outrageous and funny performance.

Women Of All Nations is still another watered down version of the characters of Captain Flagg and Sergeant Quirt made popular in the Maxwell Anderson play What Price Glory. Victor McLaglen and Edmund Lowe after creating the original parts on film in What Price Glory went on to play these parts in a series of movies. The films concentrated on the rollicking hijinks of these two Marine lifers without the serious drama portion of What Price Glory.

This episodic film is watered down pretty good. McLaglen and Lowe spend the film chasing after Greta Nissen a Swedish floozie who's playing up to both of them. Young private El Brendel who came to the Marines by way of Sweden joins McLaglen and Lowe in their adventures both romantic and dangerous.

Humphrey Bogart is supposed to be in this film as one of the Marines under McLaglen and Lowe. The Citadel Film Series book on The Films Of Humphrey Bogart lists this replete with still of Bogey in dress blues with the stars. He might be in this print in passing, I missed him and supposedly in longer versions he's there.

One person also down the credits is Bela Lugosi as an Arab sheik who adds Niesen to his harem. All three McLaglen, Lowe and El Brendel try to cut in on Bela. Of course in the end duty calls and the Marines go another place where Uncle Sam has need of them.

Women Of All Nations is choppy and episodic and asks to much of its stars to carry it.