Directed By: D. Ross Lederman
Starring: Paul Kelly, C. Henry Gordon, Lorna Gray
Tag line: "A Yankee Daredevil Hits The Foreign Legion... To Bring You Breath-Taking Thrills!"
Trivia: Based on a story by future director Samuel Fuller
Based on a story written by Samuel Fuller (who also penned the tale that inspired 1943’s Power of the Press), Adventure in Sahara is a passable, if unspectacular drama / adventure about mutiny in the French Foreign Legion.
When his brother, a legionnaire, dies while on duty, American Jim Wilson (Paul Kelly) joins the Foreign Legion in the hopes of getting his revenge on Captain Savatt (C. Henry Gordon), who he believes was responsible for his brother’s demise. At his request, Wilson is stationed at the Agadez Outpost in the Sahara, where Savatt serves as commanding officer, and before long has rallied his fellow troops against the tyrannical Captain. Ignoring the pleas of Lt. Dumond (Robert Fiske), Savatt’s second-in-command, as well as those of his girlfriend Carla (Lorna Gray), who ended up at Agadez when the plane she was flying crashed in the desert, Wilson goes ahead with his mutiny, taking control of the entire outpost. Yet as he’ll soon discover, his problems are far from over.
Adventure in Sahara isn’t without its charms. Along with a handful of well-staged (though not particularly exciting) battle sequences in which the Legion faces off against Arabs on horseback, the film does a good job establishing Captain Savatt as a stern disciplinarian who occasionally crosses the line into cruelty. While on sentry duty, new recruit René Malreaux (Stanley Brown) tries to piece together a photo of his fiancé, which Savatt had torn into pieces earlier in the day. When Savatt happens by, he has Malreaux arrested for neglecting his responsibilities, and then sentences him to serve as lookout on the wall for 48 hours straight (a punishment that ends in tragedy). On top of this, Adventure in Sahara also features a cameo appearance by actor Dwight Frye (Dracula, Frankenstein, The Vampire Bat), who pops up briefly in the role of Gravet, Capt. Savatt’s right hand man.
Yet, despite its stronger elements, Adventure in Sahara fails to generate any lasting thrills, and will fade from memory soon after the final credits roll.
