Plot
Colonel Michael Donovan, a soldier of fortune and former U.S. Marine captain, is fed up with his latest job: keeping spoiled playboy George Foster out of trouble from women and liquor in Paris. Thus, he is eager to accept when revolutionaries Valdis and Ledgard want to hire him to kidnap King Peter II, ruler of a country somewhere in the Balkans. When a drunken Foster wakes up and interrupts their meeting, Donovan calls him his aide.
Donovan and Foster reconnoiter at a masquerade ball held at the king's palace, but King Peter II does not make an appearance. Foster quickly falls in love with a woman there named Sonia.
When the two men sneak back into the palace later that night, they are surprised to discover that King Peter II is just a boy. Donovan is too disgusted to want to abduct him, though Peter is thrilled at the idea of an adventure, thinking Donovan and Foster are Chicago gangsters, as were the protagonists in Damon Runyan's original story. However, when Countess Sonia stumbles upon the scene and raises the alarm, Donovan has no choice. Peter helpfully shows him a secret escape passage; a bound and gagged Sonia reluctantly goes with them to take care of the lad.
As prearranged, the kidnappers take Peter to Lady Augusta, who turns out to be Peter's former nurse. Donovan's employers succeed in overthrowing Gino, the leader of the government, and installing their own reform government under the leadership of Stefan Bernaldo.
As time goes on, Donovan becomes very fond of Peter and vice versa. Donovan teaches Peter to play baseball and shoot craps, and entertains Peter with tall tales of his wartime exploits. At the same time Foster convinces Sonia he really does love her. However, that does not sway her from what she sees as her duty; she manages to send a message from a gypsy camp to Gino revealing where the king is being held. Peter and Donovan initially evade Gino's men, but are recaptured within sight of the palace.
Peter orders Gino to release Donovan unharmed, but Gino secretly has him imprisoned. Gino tells supporter Prince Edric to start rumors that the new regime has killed the very popular king. Edric is aghast, grasping the implication that Gino intends to murder Peter. Sonia also realizes her mistake and frees Donovan and Foster. With Foster's help, Donovan defeats the enemy by hand holding a M1917 Browning machine gun where he kills or captures all 250 of Gino's men just in time to save Peter from a firing squad. When Gino resists, Donovan shoots him. Later, a grateful Peter bestows a decoration on Donovan before they tearfully part.
Reception
In The New York Times , Frank Nugent wrote "Professional Soldier is incongruous, it is loud and, intermittently, it is funny. ... Although there are long moments when nothing happens, the picture is rousingly comic in the scenes devoted to Colonel Mike's battles, and it has some claim to fame in presenting the most amazing co-starring team in screen history – Victor McLaglen and little Freddie Bartholomew." [2]
Writing for The Spectator in 1936, Graham Greene gave the film a poor review, summarizing it as one that "should be carefully avoided", and said Freddie Bartholomew "recites his words by rote". [3]
The 2015 DVD Talk review of the film calls it "an enjoyable – if often sketchy – big screen adventure", adding that "To its credit, you don't really care that Professional Soldier bounces nonsensically around ... because the dialogue is light and amusing ... while the players, particularly McLaglen and Bartholomew, are charming together." [4]
Alfred Damon Runyon was an American journalist and short-story writer.
Victor Andrew de Bier Everleigh McLaglen was a British-American actor and boxer. His film career spanned from the early 1920s through the 1950s, initially as a leading man, though he was better known for his character acting. He was a well-known member of John Ford’s Stock Company, appearing in 12 of the director’s films, seven of which co-starred John Wayne.
The Informer is a 1935 American drama thriller film directed and produced by John Ford, adapted by Dudley Nichols from the 1925 novel of the same title by Irish novelist Liam O'Flaherty. Set in 1922, the plot concerns the underside of the Irish War of Independence and centers on a disgraced Republican man, played by Victor McLaglen, who anonymously informs on his former comrades and spirals into guilt as his treachery becomes known. Heather Angel, Preston Foster, Margot Grahame, Wallace Ford, Una O'Connor and J. M. Kerrigan co-star. The novel had previously been adapted for a British film of the same name in 1929.
Frederick Cecil Bartholomew, known for his acting work as Freddie Bartholomew, was an English-American child actor. One of the most famous child actors of all time, he became very popular in 1930s Hollywood films. His most famous starring roles are in Captains Courageous (1937) and Little Lord Fauntleroy (1936).
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Andrew Victor McLaglen was a British-born American film and television director, known for Westerns and adventure films, often starring John Wayne or James Stewart.
Kidnapped (1938) is an adventure film directed by Otto Preminger and Alfred L. Werker, starring Warner Baxter and Freddie Bartholomew. It is based on the 1886 novel Kidnapped by Robert Louis Stevenson.
The Loves of Carmen is a 1948 American adventure drama romance film directed by Charles Vidor. The film stars Rita Hayworth as the gypsy Carmen and Glenn Ford as her doomed lover Don José.
Like piracy, the mercenary ethos resonates with idealized adventure, mystery, and danger, and appears frequently in popular culture. Many are called adventurers, filibusters, soldiers of fortune, gunslingers, gunrunners, ronin, and knights errant.
Thoroughbreds Don't Cry is a 1937 American musical comedy film directed by Alfred E. Green and starring Mickey Rooney and Judy Garland in their first film together.
Wee Willie Winkie is a 1937 American adventure drama film directed by John Ford and starring Shirley Temple, Victor McLaglen, and Cesar Romero. The screenplay by Julien Josephson and Ernest Pascal was based on a story by Rudyard Kipling. The film's story concerns the British presence in 19th-century India. The production was filmed largely at the Iverson Movie Ranch in Chatsworth, California, where a number of elaborate sets were built for the film. This film was the first of three in which Shirley Temple and Cesar Romero appeared together, second was Ali Baba Goes to Town (1937) and The Little Princess (1939).
The Princess and the Pirate is a 1944 American comedy film directed by David Butler, and starring Bob Hope and Virginia Mayo. Based on a story by Sy Bartlett, the film is about a princess who travels incognito to elope with her true love instead of marrying the man to whom she is betrothed. On the high seas, her ship is attacked by pirates who plan to kidnap her and hold her for ransom, unaware that she will be rescued by the unlikeliest of knights errant. Produced by Samuel Goldwyn, The Princess and the Pirate received Academy Award nominations for Best Art Direction and Best Music Score.
The In Crowd is a 1988 American teen drama film directed by Mark Rosenthal and written by Rosenthal and his long-time writing partner Lawrence Konner. The period piece set in the 1960s features music of the era, including "Land of a Thousand Dances" and the instrumental "Cast Your Fate to the Wind" by Vince Guaraldi.
The Glorious Adventure is a 1922 British Prizmacolor silent feature film directed by J. Stuart Blackton and written by Felix Orman. The film's sets were designed by Walter Murton. It was shot at the Cricklewood Studios of Stoll Pictures in London.
The Shadow Riders is a 1982 American Western television film directed by Andrew V. McLaglen and starring Tom Selleck, Sam Elliott, Dominique Dunne, and Katharine Ross. Based on the 1982 novel of the same name by Louis L'Amour, the film is about two brothers who meet up after fighting on opposite sides of the Civil War and return home only to find their siblings kidnapped by ruthless raiders. Together they set out on an adventure to rescue their family. The film reunites actors Selleck, Elliot, and Jeff Osterhage, who also starred in the 1979 film The Sacketts. The Shadow Riders first aired in the United States on Tuesday, September 28, 1982.
Gypsy Wildcat is a 1944 Technicolor adventure film directed by Roy William Neil starring Maria Montez, Jon Hall and Peter Coe. It was co-written by James M. Cain.
South of Pago Pago is a 1940 American South Seas adventure film directed by Alfred E. Green and starring Victor McLaglen, Jon Hall and Frances Farmer.
Karwan-E-Hayat is a 1935 Urdu/Hindi costume action-adventure film. The film is directed by Premankur Atorthy, with assistance by Hemchandra, for New Theatres Ltd. Calcutta; and it was produced by Lahore branch of New Theatres. The cast included K. L. Saigal, Rattan Bai, Pahari Sanyal, Rajkumari, Shyama Zutshi, Gul Hamid, Rajkumari, Molina, Shyama Zutshi, Siddiqi, Kapoor and Rana. The cinematographer was Krishna Gopal, with music composed by Mihir Kiran Bhattacharya and his brother Timir Baran Bhattacharya, with lyrics by Hakim Ahmad Shuja Pasha. The film, a costume drama, involved the Prince Pervez on the run from an arranged marriage to a princess, only to fall in love with her when they meet in unusual circumstances.
Battle of Broadway is a 1938 American comedy film directed by George Marshall and written by Lou Breslow and John Patrick. The film stars Victor McLaglen, Brian Donlevy, Gypsy Rose Lee, Raymond Walburn, Lynn Bari and Jane Darwell. The film was released on April 22, 1938, by 20th Century Fox.
Hranoush Sidky Bey, better known as Madame Bey, also Hranuş Sıdki Hanım, was an American boxing trainer. She ran a boxing camp for world champion boxers in Chatham Township, New Jersey, in the United States. Her life and boxing camp are documented in the book Madame Bey's: Home to Boxing Legends. Her prominence during the time she operated her boxing camp from 1923 to 1942 is documented in the thousands of press photos taken at her camp. Forgotten today, her camp's namesake was an everyday occurrence in sports sections of newspapers.
