Yvonne de Carlo had her own money in this film, so its interesting to see the sort of movie she felt obliged to provide to her fans - to wit, an action-adventure tale set in the third world, with de Carlo in a series of skimpy outfits playing a spy.
On those terms its enjoyable - at the time critics yawned and they may still do but it's the sort of movie Hollywood doesn't make any more so I liked it. It's interesting being a contemporary tale about the French Foreign Legion - the French are battling off Arabs (led by Raymond Burr) who are supported by unspecified foreign powers (presumably communist though the movie doesn't come out and say this - I remember a Tarzan film which did a similar thing).
The movie had the same producer as Outpost in Morocco which means it could use some of that film's impressive location photography - shots of genuine Arab faces and impressive cavalry charges. There are some effective foreign legion bits such as the opening massacre, and Arabs charging at a fort at the end, and being repelled by makeshift explosions. I also liked how de Carlo's character propelled a lot of the action.
It's a shame the movie isn't in colour and doesn't have a more interesting leading man than Carlos Thompson, who was from South America. He's okay looking but lacks flair, warmth and vivacity - also it's annoying he's playing an American. The script was creaky in places - such as revealing the explanation of why Thompson and de Carlo broke up and over-relying on Burr's character being dumb.
De Carlo and Burr are perfectly cast and there's solid support from old reliables like John Dehner.
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