Pilot Lieutenant Tom Wayne tries to uncover the identity of Arab terrorist El Shaitan, an enigmatic cult leader responsible for the murder f his fiancee's brother as well s others. He is aided by three enlisted legionnaires who are his very good but oddly matched friends: Clancy, Renard, and Shmidt. Edited version of the 1933 Mascot serial "The Three Musketeers," first released in 1946. Desert Command (1946) <br/><br/>** 1/2 (out of 4)<br/><br/>The French Legionnaires are in the Sahara desert fighting some Arab gunrunners when they run into some trouble. But have no fear because Tom Wayne (John Wayne) comes through with a plane and wipes out the bad guys. Soon he and The Three Musketeers form a friendship and have to try and bring down an evil Arab who is doing illegal things.<br/><br/>DESERT COMMAND is a feature length version of the 1933 serial THE THREE MUSKETEERS. If you're familiar with these feature versions then you know that they usually cut out almost two hours worth of footage and it comes across as a confusing mess. I was shocked to see how this one here managed to tell a pretty straight story and if you didn't already know this was a serial you probably wouldn't even realize that it's missing so much footage.<br/><br/>I found this to be pretty entertaining thanks to a pretty good cast and some of them giving really bad performances. This includes Wayne who is all over the place here, which I was shocked to see. I recently watched a lot of his "B" Westerns from this period and he wasn't nearly as bad in them as he is here. Some of his line delivery is extremely bad but it's still fun seeing him. Lon Chaney, Jr. (still working under his original name) also gives a pretty bad performance as he was still years away from tuning his craft. Noah Beery, Jr. and silent star Francis X. Bushman Jr. are in the supporting cast. <br/><br/>As I said, the story itself holds up fairly well in this 72-minute version but the most impressive thing were the various stunts. I thought the stunt work was extremely good and we got some pretty good action scenes scattered throughout the running time. I'd also argue that the ending, which turns into a semi-horror film, was also quite good. DESERT COMMAND certainly isn't a masterpiece but it's mildly entertaining. . . . of the FOUR-HOUR, 12-part John Wayne serial, THE THREE MUSKETEERS. This movie also is an "Eastern." There are horse chases galore, and the Tribal Arabs behave just as Native Americans do in Westerns, with lots of drumming, smoke signals, and plotting against "Christians." It seems that this feature is suggesting that just as Native American Religions were outlawed, and the last group of Faithful Fundamentalist Ghost Dancers were mowed down with their women and children at Wounded Knee in 1890, the same measures must be taken against these Eastern Tribes, who drown people in cages, as U.S. Presidential Front Runner Donald Trump always is saying. It's easier to play Cowboys & Arabs, DESERT COMMAND reveals, than the more familiar game Cowboys & Indians because once guys don their white robes and start gargling their words in a deep voice, White Men are indistinguishable from North Africans. This is probably pretty effective with the Arab women folk, too, as Mr. Wayne looks downright fetching when he's sporting Osama Bin Laden garb.
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293 weeks ago