Das letzte Fort

War movies were not really the long suit of Cary Grant. He was much more comfortable in lighter roles which displayed his formidable wit and humor. He is featured in this rather common triangle formula with Claude Rains, who occasionally goes over the top, ala Vincent Price and others, but still gives a believable performance. I know if I were a woman, Rains would not have a chance against Grant in a triangle. For soap lovers only.

"The Last Outpost" is billed as an adventure film but it mostly resembles a sword and sandal picture, with a segment in the middle that provides for development of a romance. The film is based on a novel by British author F. Britten Austin, "The Drum." The time is World War I, and the story centers around two British officers and their "adventures." Cary Grant plays Captain Michael Andrews who commands an armored unit, and Claude Rains plays Captain John Stevenson, whom Grant knows only as Smith, because Stevenson is in the British intelligence service. He works undercover to infiltrate enemy forces and maintain liaisons with friendly tribes and cultures.

The setting moves between three locations. The first is in what the movie identifies as Kurdistan, but was actually a larger area then identified as the Kurdish State where that tribal culture dominated others and warred against other cultures that were friendly toward the West. This Western Asia area encompasses large portions of Turkey, Syria, and the countries of the South Caucasus near the Caspian Sea and Black Sea.

The second setting is in Cairo where Andrews is treated for a broken leg in the British hospital, and where he meets and falls in love with his nurse, Rosemary Haydon. The third setting is In the Sudan of North Africa, including the endless sand dunes and then the bordering jungle.

There's a little mystery and intrigue in this - between the two male leads, that also involves nurse Haydon. Besides the fighting in the last part between British soldiers and hostile African desert tribes, the first segment especially has some excellent filming of a mass migration. The friendly tribes are fleeing an advancing Kurd attack, and cross a swollen river with people, sheep, carts and goods being swept downstream. In the last segment of the Sudan, Africans set fire to the jungle to flush out Stevenson and Andrews, and it shows panicking and stampeding animals - monkeys, hippos, various cats, and more.

The story of the characters seems to be woven into the bigger picture of a world war that involves peoples, tribes, and cultures across a vast area. But it doesn't do that very well. This wasn't the trench-warfare of France that WW I has been mostly identified with; but may be a better picture of the overall worldwide dimension of the war.

This doesn't give away the gist of the romance and relationship of the two men, but it shouldn't be too hard to guess the details. While Rains and Grant were stars and leading men of cinema by 1935, Gertrude Michael had been mostly in supporting roles. She was an up-and-coming actress at Paramount who didn't reach stardom. She made lots of movies, some with very good supporting roles into the early 1950s. That decade was spent mostly working for television. She never married, but had a long affair as an alcoholic and died in Los Angeles in 1964, at age 53.

An underrated little film about the efforts of the British Army to protect the British Empire in Kurdistan, THE LAST OUTPOST depicts the friendship that is formed between two soldiers (Cary Grant and Claude Rains) as they help native refugees to safety. Their bond soon comes under the ultimate test as they vie for the love of the same woman (Gertrude Michael). This film is extremely predictable, but Grant and Rains develop a unique and genuine on-screen chemistry that infuses much of the picture with a invaluable sense urgency and interest. The film is marred somewhat by the sloppy incorporation of woefully inconsistent stock footage (which looks to be of a completely different stock and shot at a different speed) into various moments, which is often distracting, but fortunately does not undermine the picture as a whole.

This is a pretty bog-standard tale, and you've almost certainly seen it done before. Two men who fall in love with the same woman during wartime. Claude Rains plays the stodgy but noble-minded husband while Cary Grant is the suave outsider. Yadda, yadda, yadda.

What is absolutely WONDERFUL about this movie is that the studio tried to save money by recycling scenes from an earlier, silent version of the same (?) film. On paper it made a sort of sense, the earlier film had enjoyed a bigger budget with lots of extras and so on. Unfortunately no-one took into account the film stock and frames per second differences between the two films.

So there you are, watching what seems like a low-budget pot boiler. Suddenly you're thrust into a blurry, gritty shot of hundreds of natives moving VERY quickly and jerkily for a couple of seconds. And then we're back to normal tempos and film stock.

OK, it's not much to write home about but it's quite a fun effect.

An adventure and thrilling movie about the reckless British soldiers fighting in the remote Kurdishtan . During WW1, the destinies of two British officers Michael Andrews (Gary Grant) and John Stevenson (Claude Rains) are intermingled on and on . British-officer Michael Andrews is captured by a gang of raiders on the Eastern Front , and is rescued by a man calling himself John Stevenson. Both of whom help save an entire Kurdish tribe : The Balkari, from a slaughter by crossing a river and an arduous journey of the unfortunate nomads and also avert a surprise assault on the British army-unit stationed there . Along the way , at the battle front , Michael is wounded and he is healed by a nurse (Gertrude Michael), and both of them fall in love . Later on , their lives once again are interspersed in a far garrison in which appears to have the possibility of no survivors among the defenders and they come face-to-face against enemies that are under a bloody attack . Men of steel in an empire of fire! They wanted an assignment in Hell...and a woman gave them the job! A great desert , thundering path of empire , the fanatic Kurdish horsemen and the hordes of Sudan warriors . And the crowning spectacle of the two men who carved a saga of battle and love across the deserts , jungles and towering peaks of the Kurdishtan .

Moving and thrilling movie set in Kurdishtan and Sudan in the turbulent beginning of the 20th century , during WWI . It is a rousing , stirring tale , but rough-edged fare . Entertaining adventure set in the Kurdishtan desert , jungles and mountains where our starring Gary Grant is imprioned and freed by Claude Rains , subsequently suffering an injured leg and is sent to the British military-hospital in Cairo where meets his love . As our two protagonists : Gary Grant and Claude Rains seem intertwined on the battleground as much as on a more personal level . Being freely based on a short story "The Drum" by Britten Austin , adaptated by prestigious Charles Brackett , Billy Wilder's regular , and screenplay by Philip MacDonald . The latter was a notorious novelist and expert horseman who prior to World War I he trained horses bought from Argentina for the British army, and when war broke out he enlisted in the army and was posted to a cavalry unit in Mesopotamia (modern-day Iraq) . This ¨The last outpost¨ contains noisy adventures , thrills , action , romance , battles and an exciting end . But including a lot of stock footage from a native migration that are taken from Merian C. Cooper's documentary Grass (1925) and other shots from Four Feathers (1929 silent version) regarding the battle scenes in the later half of the movie . The film develops an enjoyable relationship beteween two men by forming a strange friendship , only spoiled by a woman who turns out to be the damsel who falls in love for both . Gary Grant gives a nice acting in his usual style as the brave officer harassed by enemies . And Claude Rains as another undercover Brit officer who has not seen nor heard from his wife in over three years . Support cast is pretty good , such as Billy Bevan , Claude King , brief appearance by Akim Tamiroff and Kathleen Burke of Island of the lost souls , among others .

It packs atmospheric cinematography in brilliant black and white , filmed in exteriors but mostly shot in studios , Iverson Ranch - 1 Iverson Lane, Chatsworth, Los Angeles, and Paramount Studios ,Melrose Avenue , Universal Studios City Plaza , Universal City , California . The motion picture was professionally directed by Charles Barton and Louis J. Gasnier, though it has some flaws , gaps and failures . Director Charles Barton was a prolific craftsman who directed as Television episodes as cinema , as he made a lot of Bud Abbott and Lou Costello vehicles , such as : Abbott and Costello meet Frankenstein, Abbott and Costello meet the killer Boris Karloff , Africa screams and other films as Hell town , Toby Tyler and Shaggy dog . Rating : 6/10 . Acceptable and passable adventure movie . An attractive film and better than expected .