Foreign Legion in the Sahara

[Jim McDougall]

Originally Posted by fernando

Concerning dates, P.C. Wren published the novel in 1924 (1925 in USA) and the movie came to the screens in 1939, featuring a period of the Legion quoted as pre-1914.

Actually that is correct, though the copy I have of the novel is published by Grosset & Dunlap and dated 1926, and seen as a first edition. It would seem this was published promotionally as it specifies the Paramount pictures movie starring Ronald Coleman in that year, movie stills are throughout the book.
The 1939 movie starring Gary Cooper was a remake.

The phrase pre WWI is used in describing the period set for the story as is often the case with historical fiction to allow certain latitude in the plot and developments. It does seem understandable as specific dates would be of course confining and subject to too much critical scrutiny. As it is, the circumstances and descriptions in the text seem to allude to the period I had mentioned in Algeria in the 1870s-80s and thus the demeanor of the Legion that was popularly held at the time of the novel, as also described.

On p.20 of the novel, "..,.lying on his back, his sightless eyes out-staring the sun-lay the commandant, and through his heart, a BAYONET, one of our long, thin, French sword bayonets with its single curved hilt".
This seems a perfect description for the Gras M1874 bayonet which was used from that date until about 1886.

The mention of automobiles in the novel further illustrates the amalgamation of settings and period combined in the story.