Desert Legion

Desert Legion is a 1953 American adventure film directed by Joseph Pevney and starring Alan Ladd.

Desert Legion
Directed by	Joseph Pevney
Screenplay by	Irving Wallace Lewis Meltzer
Based on	novel The Demon Caravan by Georges Surdez
Produced by	Ted Richmond
Starring	Alan Ladd Richard Conte Arlene Dahl Akim Tamiroff
Cinematography	John F. Seitz
Edited by	Frank Gross
Music by	Frank Skinner
Color process	Technicolor
Production company	Universal Pictures
Distributed by	Universal Pictures
Release dates	April 3, 1953 (1953-04-03) (Los Angeles) May 8, 1953 (1953-05-08) (United States)
Running time	86 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Box office	$1,650,000 (US)[1]

Plot

Ladd stars as a soldier in the French Foreign Legion who stumbles across a lost city in the desert mountains of Algeria in North Africa.

Cast

• Alan Ladd as Paul Lartal
• Richard Conte as Crito
• Arlene Dahl as Morjana
• Akim Tamiroff as Pvt. Plevko
• Oscar Beregi as Khalil (as Oscar Berefi)
• Leon Askin as Major Vasil
• Anthony Caruso as Lt. Messaoud
• George J. Lewis as Lt. Lopez
• Sujata Rubener as Dancer (as Sujata)
• Asoka Rubener as Dancer (as Asoka)

Production

The film was made by Universal Pictures, and based on a 1927 novel The Demon Caravan by Georges Arthur Surdez.

It was Alan Ladd's first film for Universal since becoming a star. It was a one-picture deal and gave Ladd a percentage of the profits, a relatively novel thing at the time.^[2][3] (He split profits with the studio 50–50.^[4]) Joseph Pevney was assigned to direct.^[5]

Ladd had broken his hand during a fight scene towards the end of his most recent film The Iron Mistress, but recovered to begin work on Desert Legion on 7 July 1952.^[6]

Akim Tamiroff joined the support cast. It was his first Hollywood film in three years.^[7]