THE LOST PATROL is set in Mesopotamia, or what would be what we call modern Iraq, in the year 1917. Britain, along with several other world powers, is making its move to carve up the pieces of the broken Ottoman Empire. The lost patrol in this story is a group of British enlisted men, who've gotten separated from the main body of their regiment, and are in complete disarray due to the death from sniper fire of their patrol leader, which we see at the start of the film. The patrol has found some small sanctuary in the discovery of a small oasis, which contains an abandoned mosque. In attempting to hold ground, they are routinely eliminated by the Arab population of the region through the action of snipers, leaving only their Sergeant (McLaglen) to be rescued when the rest of the column finds the patrol location at the close of the film.
The plot of the film is built around the trauma of battle fatigue, and the exhaustion of men sent to fight a war in a culture that is not their own. I was pleasantly surprised to find in viewing this film that John Ford strove to keep the portrayal of the racist current and cultural supremacy ideas that always exist among invading armies to a minimum, and instead chose to focus on the contradictions in the lives of these men so far away from their homes in England. Given the anti-Arab characterizations of our own era, THE LOST PATROL seems positively evolved by comparison. Victor McLaglen leads the cast, with able support from Reginald Denny as a mercenary, Wallace Ford as a displaced vaudevillian, and Boris Karloff as a religious fanatic. Among the many fine supporting cast members is Alan Hale Sr. in an almost invisible part, but for the few seconds he's on, he's really on.
Like many others, I'd heard from the very first review I'd seen of this film written by Denis Gifford in his biography of Boris Karloff "The Man, the Monster, the Movies" (1973) that Karloff is way over the top in his portrayal. I don't think so, but that may have more to do with the edition that is available on DVD then anything else. Perhaps there are prints of this film that contain footage not available on the disc I was able to lay my hands on.
Still, I think if anything, that Karloff seems to be overplaying it because many of his co-stars are actually under-playing the situation. In fact, the delivery of their lines seems somewhat glib and typical of the 1930s war film delivery and macho super white man characterization that rose to the fore between and after the two world wars. Some have said Karloff's portrayal of the religious fanatic who goes completely over the edge is anti-Christian, I think the actuality of combat fatigue and isolation has created far stranger emotional and mental disorders than Karloff attempted to re-create in this film. In my opinion, his performance, while far from stellar, is one of the stronger ones in this movie. Given Karloff's love of Joseph Conrad's novels and "Heart of Darkness" in particular, I believe he was trying to explore the mostly unrecognized nuttiness of the European invader and "civilizer" through the character of the religious fanatic Sanders. But that's just an opinion.
THE LOST PATROL is an interesting period piece, and for admirers of the work of John Ford, I believe it's a must see. It's not bad at all, indeed, much better than I expected it to be, considering the portrayal of non-white people in most western films of the period.
The plot of the film is built around the trauma of battle fatigue, and the exhaustion of men sent to fight a war in a culture that is not their own. I was pleasantly surprised to find in viewing this film that John Ford strove to keep the portrayal of the racist current and cultural supremacy ideas that always exist among invading armies to a minimum, and instead chose to focus on the contradictions in the lives of these men so far away from their homes in England. Given the anti-Arab characterizations of our own era, THE LOST PATROL seems positively evolved by comparison. Victor McLaglen leads the cast, with able support from Reginald Denny as a mercenary, Wallace Ford as a displaced vaudevillian, and Boris Karloff as a religious fanatic. Among the many fine supporting cast members is Alan Hale Sr. in an almost invisible part, but for the few seconds he's on, he's really on.
Like many others, I'd heard from the very first review I'd seen of this film written by Denis Gifford in his biography of Boris Karloff "The Man, the Monster, the Movies" (1973) that Karloff is way over the top in his portrayal. I don't think so, but that may have more to do with the edition that is available on DVD then anything else. Perhaps there are prints of this film that contain footage not available on the disc I was able to lay my hands on.
Still, I think if anything, that Karloff seems to be overplaying it because many of his co-stars are actually under-playing the situation. In fact, the delivery of their lines seems somewhat glib and typical of the 1930s war film delivery and macho super white man characterization that rose to the fore between and after the two world wars. Some have said Karloff's portrayal of the religious fanatic who goes completely over the edge is anti-Christian, I think the actuality of combat fatigue and isolation has created far stranger emotional and mental disorders than Karloff attempted to re-create in this film. In my opinion, his performance, while far from stellar, is one of the stronger ones in this movie. Given Karloff's love of Joseph Conrad's novels and "Heart of Darkness" in particular, I believe he was trying to explore the mostly unrecognized nuttiness of the European invader and "civilizer" through the character of the religious fanatic Sanders. But that's just an opinion.
THE LOST PATROL is an interesting period piece, and for admirers of the work of John Ford, I believe it's a must see. It's not bad at all, indeed, much better than I expected it to be, considering the portrayal of non-white people in most western films of the period.