Women of All Nations (1931)

Flagg and Quirt, the eternally bickering "friendly enemies" introduced in Lawrence Stallings' WWI play What Price Glory, were at it again in 1931's Women of All Nations. Victor McLaglen and Edmund Lowe reprise their screen characterizations as pugnacious, girl-crazy marine sergeants Flagg and Quirt, who in the course of the film's 71 minutes hopscotch from Panama to Sweden to Nicaragua to Turkey. In Sweden, the boys battle over the affections of icy blonde Elsa (Greta Nissen), while in Turkey they find themselves in the middle of a sheik's harem (where else?) Comic relief El Brendel has the film's best scene, in which he obeys Flagg's order "Get me the lay of the land" by returning with coquettish Fifi D'Orsay! Humphrey Bogart was supposed to have played the romantic lead in Women of All Nations, but his role was all but eliminated in the final release print. The McLaglen-Lowe teaming was good for at least one more pre-Production Code vehicle, Hot Pepper (1933). ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi