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Directed by Frank Lloyd
Frequently adapted for film, the Foreign Legion story "Under Two Flags" (1936) catered to Depression-era audiences' taste for high adventure in exotic locales to distract them from the despair and monotony of the breadline.
Helmed by Frank Lloyd, who directed other literary actioners such as Mutiny on the Bounty (1935), the film stars Ronald Colman, already a veteran of the cinematic Legion with the 1926 Beau Geste. Colman plays Col. Victor, who, as in Beau Geste, joins the corps out of familial loyalty. Though suave as always, Colman does not capture the roguish qualities of Gary Cooper in Morocco (1930) or Cary Grant in Gunga Din (1939). Lloyd and Colman paired more successfully in If I Were King two years later.
Simone Simon was set to make her American screen debut as Cigarette (previously played by Theda Bara), the cafe singer who falls for Col. Victor, but Lloyd fired her after two weeks because of her temperamental attitude. The "New York Times" commented that her replacement, Claudette Colbert, "was not particularly fitted for the role" and lacked qualities the original author imagined. Modern audiences unfamiliar with the novel may disagree.
Supporting actor Victor McLaglen is reliably brutish as a battalion commandant, though Rosalind Russell as the patrician Lady Venetia is neither as believable nor as enjoyable as in her later, more acerbic roles in His Girl Friday (1940) or The Women (1939). This restored version includes a glimpse of prolific character actor John Carradine, whose role was excised from the more commonly seen 1943 reissue. A brief selection of outtakes from Under Two Flags will be presented after the feature.
–Donna Ross
Twentieth Century-Fox Producer: Darryl F. Zanuck Screenwriters: W.P Lipscomb, Walter Ferris, Alan Rivkin, Bess Meredyth Based on the novel "Under Two Flags" by Ouida Cinematographer: Ernest Palmer Editor: Ralph Dietrich Cast: Ronald Colman, Claudette Colbert, Victor McLaglen, Rosalind Russell
35mm, 110 min.
Preserved in cooperation with Twentieth Century Fox, the Academy Film Archive and The Library of Congress from the original 35mm nitrate picture and soundtrack negatives, a 35mm nitrate work print, a 35mm nitrate print and a 16mm print. Laboratory services by Triage Motion Picture Services, Audio Mechanics, OJ Audio. Special thanks: Schawn Belston, Jon Mirsalis.
This evening is dedicated to the memory of Dorothy and Carl Anderson, and recognizes Carl Anderson's lifetime commitment to motion picture art direction and design. It has been made possible by a gift from Renee and David Kaplan.
