Bengazi

Plot

Richard Conte plays the obligatory Man With a Past in RKO's Bengazi. Joining up with disreputable Irishman Victor McLaglen and army deserter Richard Erdman, Conte heads into the African desert in search of hidden Arab gold. They in turn are pursued by British police inspector Richard Carlson and by McLaglen's daughter Mala Powers. When the raffish trio find the gold, they must defend themselves against hostile Arab tribesmen. The remainder of the film evolves into a reworking of the 1934 RKO film The Lost Patrol, which also costarred Victor McLaglen. Bengazi was filmed almost entirely out-of-doors, on location in Arizona's Yuma Desert. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Review

The script may tell you that Bengazi is about a fight between Arab tribesmen and Western treasure hunters, but your ears will tell you otherwise. After a few minutes, it's clear that the real battle in Bengazi is between Victor McLaglen's Irish brogue and Richard Carlson's Scottish burr. The two actors spend the film seemingly trying to prove which accent is the more indecipherable -- and Carlson wins by a fair margin. McLaglen's is thick, but it at least has some basis in reality, unlike Carlson's. It may seem odd to focus so much attention on a matter of accents, but if one does so, one doesn't have to concentrate on the flat, boring, lifeless and tedious script that sinks Bengazi almost from the start. Director John Brahm tries intermittently to inject some life into the proceedings, but to little avail. And Joseph Biroc's cinematography manages to provide some moments of beauty and drama. But then the script rears its head again, and McLaglen and Carlson start making those awful sounds, and it's all one can do to notice that Richard Conte is actually managing to turn in a pretty good performance, or that Mala Powers looks quite lovely when given half a chance. It's not enough to make Bengazi good, but it helps. ~ Craig Butler, Rovi

Cast

• Richard Conte - Gillmore
• Victor McLaglen - Donovan
• Richard Carlson - Levering
• Mala Powers - Aileen
• Richard Erdman - Selby

Hillary Brooke - Nora; Maury Hill - Peters; Jay Novello - Basim

Credit

Michael Woulfe - Costume Designer, John Brahm - Director, Robert Golden - Editor, Roy Webb - Composer (Music Score), Joseph Biroc - Cinematographer, Eugene Tevlin - Producer, Sam Wiesenthal - Producer, Endre Bohem - Screenwriter, Louis Vittes - Screenwriter, Jeff Bailey - Short Story Author

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