Film Preview - Bognor Regis Observer – Friday, 03 September 1954

PAVILION, SELSEY. AGAINST the burning desert sands, "DESERT LEGION" spreads its exciting, hard-hitting story. Doing most of the hard-hitting is Alan Ladd In one of the most vigorous adventure roles of his career. Ladd is seen as an officer of the French Foreign Legion, determined to track down the villainous leader of a band of desert raiders. He seeks revenge for an ambush in which his patrol was wiped out. The trail of revenge leads him to a desert "Shangri La" where he meets not only his enemy but also the glamorous daughter (Arlene Dahl) of the man who rules this peaceful haven. Richard Conte mixes a smoothly callous streak of villainy into a part which crackles with action, and his duel with Ladd when they fight for possession of a single spear is one of the highlights. Second feature is "SOUTH OF DIXIE". Main attraction for the second half of the week is "THE CAPTAIN'S PARADISE," starring Alec Guinness. As Captain of the Golden Fleece a ferry steamer ploughing between Gibraltar and Kalik in North Africa he is confident that he has discovered the secret of earthly paradise, a paradise founded on the love of two women, who are as diametrically opposed as the two sides of his own personality. All is plain sailing until a storm arises to ruffle the calm of his content and cause a break in the delicate machinery of his blissful composite relationship. For he has overlooked the possibility that women, too, can be creatures of mood and contrast and that a heaven on earth can very easily transform itself into a fool's paradise.