The Desert Bride

Name: The Desert Bride
Director: Walter Lang
Genre: Drama, Action, Romance
Released: 1928
Duration: 56 min
Cast: Betty Compson, Allan Forrest, Edward Martindel, Otto Matieson, Roscoe Karns

1928 Drama Action 56 minutes Directed by Walter Lang

About The Desert Bride

In North Africa, French intelligence officer Maurice de Florimont is taken by Arab nationalists. His fiancée Diane Duval is taken with him. Their leader, Kassim Ben Ali, tortures them. They do not talk. French troops storm the fort, kill Kassim, and free them. Betty Compson plays Diane. Allan Forrest plays Maurice. Otto Matieson plays Kassim. Walter Lang directed.

Cast & crew

More about The Desert Bride

Harry Cohn produced. Elmer Harris and Anthony Coldeway adapted Ewart Adamson’s story “The Adventuress.” Ray June photographed it. Arthur Roberts edited. Columbia released it on 26 March 1928. Wikipedia times it at 56 minutes. The AFI Catalog gives 5,425 and 5,528 feet, six reels. A working title was The Adventuress. Copyright is listed as 19 April 1928, LP25167. It was treated as lost until a complete 35mm nitrate print turned up with a private collector in 2017. Sony included it as a bonus on Columbia Classics Volume 5, released 22 October 2024.

Themes

A spy and his fiancée taken together
Torture that does not make them talk
A fort stormed by French troops
Maurice de Florimont
Diane Duval
Kassim Ben Ali
North Africa
fort
Columbia

Making

Columbia finished cutting in early March 1928 and opened the picture later that month. The nitrate that proved it was not lost stayed with a private collector until 2017.

Look

Ray June shot the fort, the interrogation, and the French attack.

Preservation

A complete 35mm nitrate print is held by a private collector. Sony issued the film in 2024 on Columbia Classics Volume 5. A file is also on Wikimedia Commons.

Notes

Edward Martindel plays Colonel Sorelle. Roscoe Karns plays Private Terry. Frank Austin plays a beggar.
A Los Angeles Times note of 5 March 1928 said the film was in the cutting room.
Jamiel Hassom, a Syrian actor who advised other pictures, commented on this one in Motion Picture Magazine in November 1928.
A Commons file uses the title The Desert Bride (1928).

Scenes

Kassim tortures Maurice and Diane for information they will not give.
French troops take the fort and kill him.

Influenced by

Ewart Adamson’s story The Adventuress

Also available

Wikimedia Commons (The Desert Bride (1928).webm)
Columbia Classics Volume 5 (Sony, 22 October 2024), bonus film