The Last Outpost (1935)

In World War I, British-officer Michael Andrews is captured by a band of Kurdish raiders on the Eastern Front, and is rescued by a man calling himself John Stevenson, although he refuses to... See full summary »

Directors:

Charles Barton, Louis J. Gasnier

Writers:

F. Britten Austin (novel), Charles Brackett (adaptation),

Stars:

Cary Grant, Claude Rains, Gertrude Michael

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Cary Grant	...	Michael Andrews
Claude Rains	...	John Stevenson
Gertrude Michael	...	Rosemary Haydon
Kathleen Burke	...	Ilya
Colin Tapley	...	Lt. Prescott
Margaret Swope	...	Nurse Rowland
Billy Bevan	...	Cpl. Foster
Georges Renavent	...	Turkish major
Jameson Thomas	...	Cullen
Nick Shaid	...	Haidor
Meyer Ouhayou	...	Armenian patriarch
Frazer Acosta	...	Armenian officer
Malay Clu	...	Armenian guard
Robert Adair	...	Sergeant in general's office
William Brown	...	Sgt. Bates

Storyline

In World War I, British-officer Michael Andrews is captured by a band of Kurdish raiders on the Eastern Front, and is rescued by a man calling himself John Stevenson, although he refuses to tell his name to Andrews. The two men form a strange friendship, and help save an entire Kurdish village from a massacre and also avert a surprise attack on the British army-unit stationed there. Andrews suffers a wounded leg and is sent to the British military-hospital in Cairo. He falls in love with a nurse, Rosemary Haydon, and she with him, but she is married although she has not seen nor heard from her husband in over three years. It is at this point that the man who saved Andrews' life turns up to claim his wife, who is Rosemary. The latter bids adieu to Andrews who does not know that the man he considers his best friend is also the husband of the woman he loves. But, by pure coincidence and chance, both Andrews and Rosemary's husband come face-to-face again in a remote garrison that is under...

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Plot Keywords:

garrison | friendship | nurse | village | fort | 

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Taglines:

Men of steel in an empire of fire! (original poster)

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Genres:

Action | Adventure | Romance | War

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Certificate:

Approved

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

11 October 1935 (USA)

Also Known As:

Das letzte Fort

Filming Locations:

Iverson Ranch - 1 Iverson Lane, Chatsworth, Los Angeles, California, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

Paramount Pictures

Technical Specs

Runtime:

72 min

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Noiseless Recording)

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

One of over 700 Paramount Productions, filmed between 1929 and 1949, which were sold to MCA/Universal in 1958 for television distribution, and have been owned and controlled by Universal ever since.

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Connections

Features The Lives of a Bengal Lancer (1935)

User Reviews

Another Iraq War

The Last Outpost finds Cary Grant and Claude Rains as British Army officers in that backwater theater of World War I, Mesopotamia. Today we know it as Iraq.

It's fascinating how things change, in this film it's the Kurds who are the nasty villains, working on behalf of the Ottoman Empire and facing the British here. When we meet Cary Grant as the film opens, he's being dragged into camp as a prisoner.

But the guy who dragged him in is Claude Rains in a Turkish army uniform. But wait, it turns out he's a spy working for British Intelligence and he frees Grant and also saves an Armenian tribe from being massacred.

While convalescing in hospital Grant falls for his beautiful nurse Gertrude Michael. She kind of likes him, but she's slightly married though it was a quickie romance that didn't really take. Guess who she's married to?

A lot of nice action here makes up for just another wartime triangle. But Claude Rains is such a superb actor, that man could make any kind of drivel look good.