Under Two Flags

CinemaSerf

There is certainly a good deal of chemistry between Claudette Colbert ("Cigarette") and both a charismatic Ronald Coleman ("Victor") and a less curmudgeonly than usual Victor McLaglen ("Doyle") in this otherwise pretty unremarkable desert adventure. You can tell it wasn't shot on location - way too many clouds in the sky, but it's still got plenty of action as the legendary French Foreign Legion must try to keep the peace in a southern Algeria smouldering with revolutionary arabs led by "Sidi-Ben Youssiff" (Onslow Stevens). The story is really just a love triangle - with Colbert playing off the two men quite successfully for a while, and the two men trying to out manoeuvre each other to win her heart. Lots of personable performances - including Nigel Bruce and Fritz Lieber - help this rumble along before a slightly unexpected ending.