The Desert Bride

1928

Action / Drama / Romance

4
IMDb Rating 5.2/10 10 67 67

silent film

Director

Walter Lang Photo
Walter Lang

Top cast

Frank Austin Photo
Frank Austin as Beggar
Harry Semels Photo
Harry Semels as Kassim's Henchman
Roscoe Karns Photo
Roscoe Karns as Pvt. Terry
Betty Compson Photo
Betty Compson as Diane Duval
720p.BLU 1080p.BLU
519.95 MB
960*720
English 2.0
NR
23.976 fps
12 hr 56 min
Seeds 1
965.06 MB
1440*1080
English 2.0
NR
23.976 fps
12 hr 56 min
Seeds 1

Movie Reviews

Reviewed by boblipton 5 / 10

Once Again, The Natives Are Revolting

And, as the old joke goes, they need deodorant. Betty Compson is the colonel's niece, visiting a troubled city in French North Africa, where intelligence officer Allan Forrest has just hidden all the guns the were going to use in their uprising. These two quickly fall in love, but then are captured by the insidious Otto Matieson. Forrest won't tell them where the guns are hidden, but can he hold out when Miss Compson is dressed in a harem costume and sold to the highest bidder?The first problem with this movie is that it is underwritten, so that editors Ben Pivar and Arthur Roberts have to extend sequences to bring it up to a bare 56 minutes: a B production at best. Cinematographer Ray June clearly was inspired by what von Sternberg was doing with scrims at Paramount, but the rigs are not large enough for the effects, and art director Robert E. Lee also looks to have been working under pressure and a tight budget. Forrest looks like he was chosen for the lead because he looks a bit like Ronald Colman in profiles. One area in which there's no skimping is in extras. Harry Cohn must have negotiated a special rate -- no box lunches, perhaps -- for the hordes of dirty natives.Columbia's directors could often work miracles with their budgets, but Walter Lang needed either a good script or lots of money; both would be even better. Here he has none and it shows.
Reviewed by MogwaiMovieReviews 5 / 10

A Pleasant-Enough Mediocrity, Once Lost, Now Found

Very average film, chiefly of note for being considered lost for close to 90 years. Everything in it is decently done, but no character stands out, the romance is tepid and the fight at the end fails to excite. Glad it has been rediscovered, as the great majority of silent films from that time have been lost, and the BluRay print we now have is excellent, but the film itself is very much by-the-numbers.That's about all there is to say about that, really. I can tell you right now I'm laid up in bed with a sore throat and wheezy cough and feel a little too weak to get out of bed and fix some food, but I'm perfectly willing to accept you didn't come here to hear that.
Reviewed by drednm

Betty Compson Stars

Alas, The Desert Bride (1928) just isn't very good despite having the wonderful Betty Compson as its star.Standard tale of the Middle East. In a French colony (probably Syria) Compson is visiting her military uncle (Edward Martindel) and meets the "dashing" Captain Deveraux (a very UN-dashing Allan Forrest). Their love is played out against the "revolting natives" who are planning to attack the military post and take back their ancient land.In the end, the Captain is captured and tortured but won't talk, so the rebels grab Compson and threaten to torture her too. He still won't talk, so they dress her up in Arab gear and put her up for sale on the auction block. THAT does it!Everything about this Columbia release looks cheap (just my opinion). Otto Matieson plays a rebel boss and Roscoe Karns is the comedy relief, mostly chasing local women. On the plus side, Betty Compson is very beautiful.
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