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DramaAdventureWar

The Black Watch

- To lead an army was her ambition —but to love one man was her fervid passion

Captain Donald King is sent to India to carry out a secret mission while the Black Watch, his regiment, leaves for France at the outbreak of the First World War.

Release Date : 1929-05-22

Language :English

Adult : false

Status : Released

Production Company : Fox Film Corporation

Production Country : United States of America

Alternative Titles : King of the Khyber Rifles

Cast

Victor McLaglen

Character Name : Captain Donald King

Original Name : Victor McLaglen

Gender : Male

Myrna Loy

Character Name : Yasmani

Original Name : Myrna Loy

Gender : Female

David Torrence

Character Name : Field Marshal

Original Name : David Torrence

Gender : Male

David Rollins

Character Name : Lieutenant Malcolm King

Original Name : David Rollins

Gender : Male

Cyril Chadwick

Character Name : Major Twynes

Original Name : Cyril Chadwick

Gender : Male

Lumsden Hare

Character Name : Black Watch Colonel

Original Name : Lumsden Hare

Gender : Male

Roy D'Arcy

Character Name : Rewa Ghunga

Original Name : Roy D'Arcy

Gender : Male

David Percy

Character Name : David

Original Name : David Percy

Gender : Male

Mitchell Lewis

Character Name : Major Mohammed Khan

Original Name : Mitchell Lewis

Gender : Male

Claude King

Character Name : General

Original Name : Claude King

Gender : Male

Walter Long

Character Name : Harrim Bey

Original Name : Walter Long

Gender : Male

Francis Ford

Character Name : MacGregor (uncredited)

Original Name : Francis Ford

Gender : Male

Randolph Scott

Character Name : Black Watch Soldier (uncredited)

Original Name : Randolph Scott

Gender : Male

John Wayne

Character Name : Black Watch Soldier (uncredited)

Original Name : John Wayne

Gender : Male

Reviews

C

CinemaSerf

@Geronimo1967

2025-03-27

This might have fared better with a stronger leading character because, for my money, getting Victor McLaglen to play a captain in the Royal Scots engaging in some tribal Indian subterfuge was just a mission too far! Anyway, he is “King” who just as his regiment is heading for France is re-routed to the Northwest Territories of India on a top secret mission. His erstwhile colleagues view this as akin to desertion, but we know that his task to discover and destroy a massive arms dump that could spell doom and destruction for the Raj and rescue some hostages is something that this locally born man is best suited to do. Pretty effortlessly this six-foot gent finds and infiltrates the tribe and thanks to the sponsorship of it’s high priestess “Yasmani” (Myrna Loy) manages to formulate a plan to thwart the cunning antics of the would-be revolutionaries. The last ten minutes or so bring the story alive and allow the engaging McLaglen to show us a little of the glint in his eye, but the rest of this is a remarkably stage-bound exercise that rarely ventures outdoors and rather than steeping us in end-to-end action, rather drowns us in end-to-end dialogue. Loy looks every inch the star, but more of the silent movies than a talkie as her poise is perfect but her pitch “will you obey my commands?” much less so. Inadvertently, perhaps, the conclusion also reminds us just how the tiny contingent of British soldiers did manage to subdue a population hundreds of times their number and of course there isn’t a great deal of jeopardy as the story takes a bit too long to reach it’s predictable end. I do like the genre, but this is just a bit too static an interpretation of derring-do to stick in the mind for long with some of the editing looking like it was done on a rollercoaster.