Outpost in Morocco (1949)

George Raft is the most notorious ladies' man in the French army in the desert. (How Raft ever got to be a ladies' man is beyond me, but there you are.) He is assigned to escort an emir's daughter (Marie Windsor) to her father's mountain citadel, and try to find out what is going on in her father's stronghold, for things seem to be stirring. Enroute they fall in love (very quickly - I guess they had time restraints in the plot). However, her father greets him with cool formality. He hints to his daughter that he is planning to take up arms against the French. Then a sentry at the French post is shot. The bullet appears to be from a new weapon. Raft slips back into the emir's fortress, against all odds. Windsor hides him. He escapes and returns to the garrison with a sample of their new rifles.

He returns to his original base, but it  told that he will have to make a forced march back with reinforcements. When they arrive, they find the garrison wiped out, with evidence of prisoners having been executed. In the meantime the emir is rousing support among the other Arab leaders. Raft sends Akim Tamiroff to lead an attack against the Arabs. They try to capture the emir and end up instead with Windsor. Their water begins to run out. Tamiroff leads a party to water the stock and the Arabs ambush them, then divert the river. But the emir cannot attack with his daughter in the fort. Raft orders the horses released so they can find water, and limits the men to one cup per day. One man is shot while stealing water. The movie does a good job of depicting the heat and the thirst. Finally a shower starts, but it causes the outer wall of the fort to collapse.

The French dig in with explosives and machine guns. The Arabs attack, but Windsor has sneaked out and is riding with them. Raft sees her, but orders the charges detonated anyway. The emir and Windsor are killed. The emir's successor makes peace.




Raft and Windsor


Tamiroff