THE LOST PATROL Movie Review
1934 John Ford
John Ford's World War I adventure isn't much different from his westerns. In fact, the Arizona desert stands in for Mesopotamia, and these British mounted soldiers wear pith helmets and khaki instead of cavalry blue. Beyond that, the largely invisible Arabs are essentially Sioux in long robes. What is unusual for Ford, though, is the rigorously stripped-down quality of the story. Barely more than an hour long, the film contains no wasted gestures, words, or moments. All of the conflicts have been reduced to their essential elements. Questions about politics and the morality of the Great War are not even asked. If the script were produced today, doubtless, the Kafkaesque elements would be heightened and the film would be labeled “postmodern” for its detachment, but Ford is not trying to be ironic. He is trying to tell a story simply.
The setting is a sea of rolling white sand dunes that stretches to the horizon in all directions. In the opening seconds, the officer in charge of a small patrol is shot and killed, leaving the Sergeant (Victor McLaglen) in charge. But the Lieutenant did not tell the Sergeant what their objective was. He doesn't know where they are or where they're going—only that the Brigade is somewhere out “there.” When the group finds a small oasis, the Sergeant doesn't know whether they should make it their camp or move on.
In films like this, audiences expect the unit to be made up of unusual, colorful characters and these fit that job description, though they don't exactly fit the formula. The most visible of the group is Sanders (Boris Karloff), a Bible-toting religious lunatic whose madness is bizarrely manifested at the end. Pearson (Douglas Walton) is a raw recruit who still loves Kipling and expects his army service to be a grand adventure. Brown (Reginald Denny) is the older veteran who regales the rest with stories of the golden girls in his past.
As we get to know them, the Arabs hidden in the dunes wait for the right moment to pick them off one by one, horse by horse. Ostensibly, Germans are the enemy, but they never come into play. Why are the Arabs attacking them? Does it matter why?
Ford directs with his trademarked lack of affectation. To oversimplify, he puts his camera down and lets the actors and the action handle the rest. He keeps the sentimental aspects of the characters tightly under control—though he does give Karloff a bit too much room to roam—and never lets the pace slacken.
In the end, the film has little to do with the realities of World War I. It has everything to do with the stresses that men must deal with when they're against an invisible enemy and have no place to retreat. How do they react when they can't fight and can't run?
Many other films have dealt with variations on those questions, but they've seldom been framed with such stark simplicity.
Cast: Victor McLaglen (The Sergeant), Boris Karloff (Sanders), Reginald Denny (George Brown), Wallace Ford (Morelli), Alan Hale (Cook), J.M. Kerrigan (Quincannon), Billy Bevan (Herbert Hale), Brandon Hurst (Cpl. Bell), Douglas Walton (Pearson); Written by: Dudley Nichols, Garrett Fort; Cinematography by: Harold Wenstrom; Music by: Max Steiner. Producer: RKO, Cliff Reid. Awards: Nominations: Academy Awards ‘34: Best Score. Running Time: 66 minutes. Format: VHS, Beta, LV.