The Lost Patrol (1934)

Sanders: Brown, you're a gentleman! You've got breeding! You must have faith!
Brown: Why?
Sanders: Why? Why in Heaven's name, man, what do you believe in?
Brown: Would it really interest you? Oh, a lot of things. A good horse, steak and kidney pudding, a fellow named George Brown, the asinine futility of this war, being frightened, being drunk enough to be brave and brave enough to be drunk, the feel of the sea when you swim, the taste and strength of wine, the loveliness of women, the splendid, unspeakable joy of killing Arabs, the smell of incense and bacon, the weight of a fist, an old pair of shoes, a toothache, triunph...
Sanders: STOP!
Brown: All right.

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Brown: I can't say much for the women though, but, oh, the girls! All Malayan females should be poisoned at 21. Before that, they're... Mmmmmm!
Jock MacKay: But a bit on the dark side, hunh, Brown?
Brown: Oh, yes, they're dark, but the longer you're there, the whiter they get, or that's the way it seems. That didn't bother me, Jock. I'll never forget the first time I saw... We sailed into a little harbor about sundown. The girls all came swimming out, flowere in their long hair, singing and laughing up at us from the water. Brown skin? Seemed like gold to me! A richer, deeper gold than any metal! I can see that gold shimmering now on their wet bodies as they swam like mermaids to the rail and climbed on board, laughing at us like a lot of shameless imps.
Quincannon: Ah, man, Topper, 'tis the soul of a poet you have!

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The Sergeant: What's the use of chewin' the rag about something we might of done?
Morelli: Right you are, Sarge!
The Sergeant: Yeah, I know what you're thinkin'. Perhaps I've done everything wrong! Perhaps this and perhaps that! But what I've done I've done, and what I haven't, I haven't!

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The release of the almost complete version on DVD allows viewers to compare it with the edited 1949 re-release, occasionally shown on Turner Classic Movies. Eliminated in the shorter version is an early shot of Karloff with a book of poetry about the desert, Hanson's reminiscing about Kerrigan's and Hale's earlier days in the service, and McLaglen and Ford sharing cigarettes and recalling their wives and sweethearts. Apparently, a boxing match between Hale and Stein immediately following the death of Bevan, before they all draw lots, is still missing.
McLaglen actually served with the Irish Fusiliers in Mesopotamia (Modern Iraq) during World War I at the same time this story takes place. He eventually rose to be Provost Martial of Baghdad.
Director John Ford's older brother Francis appears in an uncredited role.
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