ReaderKenka Let's be realistic.

Jenna Walter The film may be flawed, but its message is not.

Arianna Moses Let me be very fair here, this is not the best movie in my opinion. But, this movie is fun, it has purpose and is very enjoyable to watch.

Ariella Broughton It is neither dumb nor smart enough to be fun, and spends way too much time with its boring human characters.

JohnHowardReid Director: GEORGE WAGGNER. Screenplay: Dorothy Reid and Joseph West. Based on a story by John T. Neville. Photography: Fred Jackman Jr. Film editor: Jack Ogilvie. Art director: Charles Clague. Set decorator: Dave Milton. Music director: Edward J. Kay. Assistant director: Charles Townsend. Sound recording: William Fox. Producer: Paul Malvern. Copyright 7 October 1940 by Monogram Pictures Corporation. No New York opening. US. release: 7 October 1940. Australian release through Associated-British Empire Films: 2 January 1941. 7 reels. 5,948 feet. 66 minutes. (Available on an Alpha DVD).COMMENT: Not a western but a Foreign Legion outing. Waggner's direction with its extended takes and elaborate tracking shots delivers a considerable clout above the average Monogram effort. And he's also commendably lessened the corniness inherent in the screenplay by having his players rattle off their lines twice as fast as normal. It's also a pleasant surprise by Hollywood standards to find a real Frenchman playing the Foreign Legion commandant. And it's doubly enjoyable to find such a heartening performance as that put across by Albert Morin as a villainous sand diviner. "Technical director" Charles Clague has turned in a very competent job in making over existing sets, whilst Fred Jackman's photography also rates as more than passably pleasing.

kapelusznik18 ****SPOILERS**** Love story that takes place in the North African desert involving French legionaries Paul Dumont and his lifelong friend Captain Jean "Birdbrain" -in that he's too slow to figure things out-Birdaux over pretty Helene Laroche played by actress Lorna Gray, who passed away this April 30 2017 just three months shy of her 100th birthday, who's in fact engaged to marry Jean without his friend Paul's knowledge. Paul who' s training g a group of Senegalese paratroopers who all seem to come from Harlem New York to fight the local rampaging Arabs Bedouins who end up capturing Ben Ali the kid brother of Arab guerrillas leader Hassan. It's Hassan whom despite in him pleading to spare his brother's life Jean ends up executing him via a military fire squad.This has Hassen take revenge by having his men kidnap Paul & Helene and threaten to have them shot before sunrise even before they have a chance to eat their last breakfast. It's Captain Birdaux together with the Senegalese paratroopers lead by Sgt. Blue Williams and his second & third in command BoBo and Meathball who storm Hassen's camp and after a wild fire fight rescue the two lovers with Capt. Birdaux ending up seriously wounded. As he's about to go under the Captain gives both Paul and his former fiancée Helena his blessings knowing, in him dying, that he's in no condition to marry her.The movie has Mantan Moreland as tough as nails Senegalese paratrooper commander, straight from East 125th street and 7th Ave in Manhattan, Sgt. Blue Williams in a very rare dramatic and serious role- yet he's still able to get a few laughs in between the shooting- playing it. As for the paratroopers that Sgt. Blue's in charge of this was the first time that they ever took a jump in training as well as combat in their entire lives. Yet they did it as successful and professionally as any hardened member of of the tough US military's 101th airborne division or 82th airborne brigade.

hwg1957-102-265704 Ralph Byrd (the best Dick Tracy) puts on a mustache and plays a French legionnaire who is training a group of Senegalese soldiers how to parachute so that they become a mobile strike force. He also falls in love with his best friend's fiancée accidentally and there is an Arab uprising in the offing too. So a busy film that moves effortlessly along to the final skirmish. It was what Monogram Pictures did, low budget maybe, but entertaining and unpretentious whether it was crime or adventure or drama. The acting from the cast is adequate and happily Mantan Moreland has a bit more chance to act rather than mug, being comic but also serious and sensitive. He does the action more than Ralph Byrd too and even gets to shoot down the main villain. Too often in his film career he played demeaning roles which was shameful as he could act really well when given the chance. Which was not that much.A good programmer then that doesn't outstay its welcome.

mark.waltz There's little to be said in favor of this Z-Grade Boots & Bullets flick that depends on degrading stereotypes for its buffoonish black characters and heroic results for its romantic white characters. If this film is an example of how far movies have come in presenting non-whites, then it is of historical value. Mantan Moreland, one of the top black character actors of the 30's and 40's, is presented in a demeaning light while "Dick Tracy's" Ralph Byrd gets to be the superman who saves the day. Monogram films aren't always this bad; In fact, some of them are now classics. The romantic triangle between Byrd, George Lynn and Lorna Gray is never really developed, and the conflict they face in the desert seems forced. The dialog is mainly filler to help reach the movie's 60 minute running time.