The Lost Patrol (1934)

User Rating:

7.1/10   

Director:

John Ford

Writers:

Dudley Nichols (screenplay)
Garrett Fort (adaptation)
(more)

Release Date:

16 February 1934 (USA)

Genre:

Adventure | War

Tagline:

BLISTERING SUN...BLAZING BULLETS! (original print ad - all caps)

Plot:

A dozen British soldiers, lost in a Mesopotamian desert during world war I, are menaced by unseen Arab enemies.

Plot Keywords:

Desert | Sergeant | Sniper | Arab | Cavalry

Awards:

Nominated for Oscar.

Cast

Victor McLaglen	...	The Sergeant
Boris Karloff	...	Sanders
Wallace Ford	...	Morelli
Reginald Denny	...	Brown
J.M. Kerrigan	...	Quincannon
Billy Bevan	...	Hale
Alan Hale	...	Cook
Brandon Hurst	...	Bell
Douglas Walton	...	Pearson
Sammy Stein	...	Abelson
Howard Wilson	...	Aviator
Paul Hanson	...	MacKay
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Abdullah Abbas	...	Last Arab (uncredited)
Frank Baker	...	Rescue Patrol Colonel / Arab Shot By Sergeant (uncredited)
Neville Clark	...	Lieutenant Hawkins (uncredited)
Francis Ford	...	Arab (uncredited)

Directed by
John Ford

Writing credits
Dudley Nichols		(screenplay)
Garrett Fort		(adaptation)
Philip MacDonald		(story "Patrol")

Produced by
Merian C. Cooper	....	executive producer
Cliff Reid	....	associate producer
John Ford	....	producer (uncredited)

Original Music by
Max Steiner

Cinematography by
Harold Wenstrom		(photographed by)

Film Editing by
Paul Weatherwax

Art Direction by
Van Nest Polglase
Sidney Ullman

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Argyle Nelson	....	assistant director (uncredited)

Sound Department
Philip Faulkner Jr.	....	sound (as P.J. Faulkner)
Clem Portman	....	sound

Special Effects by
Vernon L. Walker	....	process photography (uncredited)

Camera and Electrical Department
Louie Anderson	....	grip (uncredited)
James Lee Davis	....	grip (uncredited)

Music Department
Murray Spivack	....	music recordist
Bernhard Kaun	....	orchestrator (uncredited)

Other crew
Frank Baker	....	technical advisor (uncredited)
Louis Shapiro	....	utility man (uncredited)

Production Companies

• RKO Radio Pictures (as Radio Pictures)

Distributors

• RKO Radio Pictures (1934) (USA) (theatrical)
• Bio-Kuva (1936) (Finland) (theatrical)
• RKO Radio Pictures (1949) (USA) (theatrical) (re-release) (edited)
• RKO Radio Pictures (1954) (USA) (theatrical) (re-release) (edited)
• C&C Television Corporation (1955) (USA) (TV)
• Mainostelevisio (MTV3) (1967) (Finland) (TV) (MTV2)
• Yleisradio (YLE) (1978) (Finland) (TV) (2002) (TV2)
• Republic Pictures Home Video (1988) (USA) (video)
• Warner Home Video (2006) (USA) (DVD)
• Pan Vision Oy (2003) (Finland) (DVD)

Runtime:

USA:66 min (1949 re-release version) | USA:73 min (original release)

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (RCA Victor System)

Certification:

UK:A (original rating) | Canada:PG (Ontario) | USA:Passed (National Board of Review) | USA:TV-PG (TV rating) | USA:Approved (PCA #1345-R, re-release)

Filming Locations:

Buttercup Dunes, Imperial County, California, USA

Company:

RKO Radio Pictures

Trivia:

Composer Max Steiner re-used the main title music he wrote for this film for the main title music for Casablanca (1942), albeit with a slightly different tempo and instrumentation.

Goofs:

Revealing mistakes: As the plane is circling the encampment, you can see tire marks in the sand.

Quotes:

Sanders: Brown, you're a gentleman! You've got breeding! You must have faith!
Brown: Why?
Sanders: Why? Why in Heaven's name, man, what do you believe in?
Brown: Would it really interest you? Oh, a lot of things. A good horse, steak and kidney pudding, a fellow named George Brown, the asinine futility of this war, being frightened, being drunk enough to be brave and brave enough to be drunk, the feel of the sea when you swim, the taste and strength of wine, the loveliness of women, the splendid, unspeakable joy of killing Arabs, the smell of incense and bacon, the weight of a fist, an old pair of shoes, a toothache, triunph...
[...]

Movie Connections:

Referenced in The Searchers (1956)

Soundtrack:

It's a Long Way to Tipperary

Sandy Classic

THE LOST PATROL from the British Army in Mesopotamia desperately defends itself in a tiny oasis from Arab attackers.

John Ford directed this powerful Great War tale of agonizing heartbreak and desperate perseverance. The film becomes a character study as the eleven soldiers succumb, inevitably, to madness and snipers' bullets. Ford craftily keeps the Arabs unseen for an hour, making the implacable desolation of the sun scorched desert the men's worst enemy.

British actor Victor McLaglen is the absolute backbone of the film. Beefy McLaglen--who had his own distinguished military career in World War One--is perfectly believable as the stalwart sergeant with the task of keeping his men alive at the water hole until relief can arrive. Bullying, blustering, brave, his is a heroic performance of a man fighting titanic odds.

Gaunt Boris Karloff appears as a religiously fanatical private; his final scene, carrying a large cross up a dune, is especially memorable. Also in the patrol are Wallace Ford as a lively music hall performer and Reginald Denny as a gentleman with a past. Among the other men are good-natured Billy Bevan, sturdy Alan Hale and naive teenager Douglas Walton.

Max Steiner's powerful soundtrack propels the plot onward to its inevitable conclusion.