Desert Nights
Directed by William Nigh
Written by John T. Neville et al
1929/US
Metro Goldwyn Mayer
IMDb page
First viewing/YouTube
Hugh Rand: [Overcome by Diana’s beauty] Three years away from the world – – a man almost forgets there are women like you…
Fun, short romance/adventure with John Gilbert and Mary Nolan.
Hugh Rand (Gilbert) is the manager of a diamond mine somewhern in southern Africa. The mine is preparing for the arrival of Lord Stonehill (Ernest Torrence) and his daughter Lady Diana (Nolan). They ask Rand to guide them on a lion hunt. When he sees how beautiful the daughter is he agrees. So begins a somewhat stormy romance.
Hugh offers to show Mary some rough diamonds and suddenly some thugs with guns arrive to assist Mary and her “father” (also known as Steve) in pocketing the entire tray worth millions of dollars. They then kidnap Hugh to force him to guide them to safety on a trek through the Kalahari desert. But water runs out. Hugh is determined to recover the diamonds.
I don’t think I’ve ever seen Gilbert in anything but very serious roles. Here he has a dashing cockiness reminiscent of Errol Flynn. Nolan is gorgeous and is very good as a sly conwoman and love interest. Available free on YouTube.
John Gilbert tribute – what a gorgeous man!
