Wikipedia

Women of All Nations

Women of All Nations is a 1931 American pre-Code military comedy film directed by Raoul Walsh and starring Victor McLaglen, Edmund Lowe, Greta Nissen and El Brendel. It was the second of three sequels to Walsh's 1926 film, What Price Glory?, with McLaglen and Lowe reprising their roles.[1]

Women of All Nations
Film poster
Directed byRaoul Walsh
Written byBarry Conners
Produced byWilliam Fox
StarringVictor McLaglen
Edmund Lowe
Greta Nissen
El Brendel
CinematographyLucien Andriot
Edited byJack Dennis
Music byCarli Elinor
Production
company
Fox Film Corporation
Distributed byFox Film Corporation
Release date
  • May 31, 1931 (1931-05-31)
Running time
72 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish

Plot

edit
 
Greta Nissen, Victor McLaglen and Edmund Lowe in publicity photo

The film opens at the end of World War I, with lifelong rivals Captain Jim Flagg and Sergeant Harry Quirt in the trenches. After the war ends, both men re-enlist, and the film follows their adventures through the Philippines, Asia, and the Panama Canal.

After a stint in the brig, Flagg is given command of a recruiting office in Brooklyn, New York, where he works with Olsen, who has a persistent sneezing problem, much to the annoyance of Flagg. Quirt, meanwhile has been discharged. When a local "joint" is raided by the police, Flagg discovers it is being run by Quirt, and he forces Quirt to re-enlist, or be turned over to the police. Flagg has been highly unsuccessful as a recruiter, managing only a single other recruit, Izzy Kaplan, who Flagg promised to look after to his father.

 
El Brendel and Greta Nissen

They are sent to Sweden, where a love triangle develops between Flagg, Quirt and a dancer they meet in a café, Elsa. Elsa's boyfriend, Olaf, eventually intervenes, and the three Marines leave Sweden, bound to Nicaragua, to help out in earthquake rescue and relief efforts. During the efforts, Izzy is killed, and Flagg digs out a buried marine, discovering it is Quirt.

Their final mission takes them to the Mid-East, where they find Elsa as a favorite in a harem. She had arrived there from Paris, where she had met Prince Hassan, in whose harem she now finds herself. Quirt, Flagg and Olsen rescue Elsa from the Harem, sneaking her out in an enclosed harem chair. As they argue about who will end up with Elsa, they hear Olsen's sneeze from within the chair, and they understand that Olsen will wind up with Elsa, much to the chagrin of the other two Marines.

Cast

edit

Reception

edit

Mordaunt Hall of the New York Times gave the film a favorable review.[2]

In his autobiography, Walsh did not have too much positive to say about the film, calling it "...a turkey because it could not be anything else. A third McLaglen-Lowe film was too much for the public; I had been afraid of this from the start. It should have been called `The League of Nations,' because it flopped just as hard."[3]

Notes

edit

Humphrey Bogart was cast in the role of Stone in the film, but in the final edited version, none of his scenes made it to the screen.[4]

This was the second sequel to Walsh's 1926 film What Price Glory, the first being Walsh's film, The Cock-Eyed World, released in 1929. A third sequel, entitled, Hot Pepper, was directed by John Blystone and released in 1933, with McLaglen and Lowe once again reprising their roles.[5]

References

edit
  1. ^ The AFI Catalog of Feature Films:..Women of All Nations
  2. ^ "War, Women and Wine". New York Times. Retrieved April 1, 2014.
  3. ^ "Women of All Nations". tvguide.com. Retrieved April 1, 2014.
  4. ^ "Women of All Nations: Notes". Turner Classic Movies. Retrieved April 1, 2014.
  5. ^ "Women of All Nations: Synopsis". allmovie.com. Retrieved April 1, 2014.
edit
 
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Women of All Nations.
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Women_of_All_Nations&oldid=1254646309"