''Desert Hell'' is a 1958 American

adventure film The adventure film is a broad genre of film. Some early genre studies found it no different than the Western film or argued that adventure could encompass all Hollywood genres. Commonality was found among historians Brian Taves and Ian Cameron in ...

directed by

Charles Marquis Warren Charles Marquis Warren (December 16, 1912 – August 11, 1990) was an American motion picture and television writer, producer, and director who specialized in Westerns. Among his notable career achievements were his involvement in creating the ...

and written by

and

Endre Bohem Endre Bohem (May 1, 1901 – May 5, 1990) was a Hungarian American screenwriter, film producer and television writer. Bohem is best known for such films and television series as ''Twenty Bucks'', ''The Boys of Paul Street'', '' Monster from Gre ...

. The film stars

Brian Keith Robert Alba Keith (November 14, 1921 – June 24, 1997), known professionally as Brian Keith, was an American film, television, and stage actor who in his six-decade career gained recognition for his work in films such as the Disney family ...

Barbara Hale Barbara Hale (April 18, 1922 – January 26, 2017) was an American actress who portrayed legal secretary Della Street in the dramatic television series ''Perry Mason (1957 TV series), Perry Mason'' (1957–1966), earning her a 1959 Emmy Award ...

Richard Denning Richard Denning (born Louis Albert Heindrich Denninger Jr.; March 27, 1914 – October 11, 1998) was an American actor who starred in science fiction films of the 1950s, including ''Unknown Island'' (1948), ''Creature from the Black Lagoon'' ( ...

Johnny Desmond Johnny Desmond (born Giovanni Alfredo De Simone; November 14, 1919 – September 6, 1985) was an American singer who was popular in the 1940s, 1950s and 1960s. Biography Early years Desmond was born Giovanni de Simone in Detroit, Michigan. ...

Phillip Pine Phillip Pine (July 16, 1920 – December 22, 2006) was an American film and television actor, writer, film director, and producer. Early life Pine was born in Hanford, California, the son of immigrants from Portugal. The family name was P ...

, Richard Shannon and

Albert Carrier Albert Carrier (born Alberto Carrieri; October 16, 1919 – May 23, 2002) was a Canadian film and television actor, active in Mexico and the United States. He was perhaps best known for playing Pedro Quinn in the 1983 film '' Scarface''. He was ...

. The film was released on June 25, 1958, by

20th Century Fox 20th Century Studios, Inc., formerly 20th Century Fox, is an American film studio, film production and Film distributor, distribution company owned by the Walt Disney Studios (division), Walt Disney Studios, the film studios division of the ...

Plot

After an ambush by an

Arab Arabs (, , ; , , ) are an ethnic group mainly inhabiting the Arab world in West Asia and North Africa. A significant Arab diaspora is present in various parts of the world. Arabs have been in the Fertile Crescent for thousands of years ...

tribe, two surviving French Legionnaires return to their fort. One of them, Capt. Edwards, is assigned a new patrol and a mission to alert another fort that an attack may be imminent. The other, Sgt. Major Benet, remains behind. Edwards' situation is further complicated when he catches his wife, Celie, in the arms of a lieutenant, Forbes. Forbes catches up to the patrol to inform Edwards that the mission has been called off. Edwards disobeys orders and rides on, Forbes joining him in what he calls a suicide mission. A pair of privates, Bergstrom and Hoffstetter, desert the patrol. They are ambushed and Bergstrom is killed. A scout, Kufra, is captured and tortured as well. In another attack, five Legionnaires are killed and Edwards is mortally wounded. He places Forbes in command. Almost making it back safely, Forbes, too, is seriously wounded and expires as Sgt. Major Benet drags him back to the fort.

Cast

as Capt. Robert Edwards *

as Celie Edwards *

as Sgt. Major Pierre Benet *

as Lt. Richard Forbes *

as Cpl. Carlo Parini * Richard Shannon as Pvt. Hoffstetter *

as Sgt. St. Clair *Duane Grey as Pvt. Aruazza * Charles H. Gray as Pvt. Bandurski *Richard Gilden as Pvt. Kabussyan * Ron Foster as Pvt. Bergstrom *John Verros as Pvt. Kufra, scout *

Michael Pate Michael Pate Order of Australia, OAM (born Edward John Pate; 26 February 1920 – 1 September 2008) was an Australian actor, writer, director, and producer, who also worked prolifically as a supporting actor in Hollywood films and Ameri ...

as Ahitagel *

Patrick O'Moore Patrick O'Moore (1909–1983) was an Irish actor who appeared in a variety of American films and television shows.Keaney p.445 A character actor, he appeared in a number of Hollywood's British-themed films during the 1940s and 1950s. Selected fi ...

as Pvt. Corbo *

Felix Locher Felix Maurice Locher (pronounced Lo-Shay) (July 16, 1882, Bern, Switzerland - March 13, 1969, California) was a Swiss actor and inventor and father of actor Jon Hall. Career Felix Locher was an inventor who held over 100 copy ...

as Marsaya *William Hamel as Pvt. Brocklin *Bhogwan Singh as Holy Marabout *Robert Etienne as Pvt. Sirmay

Production

Filming started November 1957.

References

External links

* 1958 films 20th Century Fox films American adventure films 1958 adventure films Films directed by Charles Marquis Warren Films set in deserts Films about the French Foreign Legion Films scored by Raoul Kraushaar 1950s English-language films 1950s American films English-language adventure films {{1950s-adventure-film-stub