John Ford’s incisive study of men under pressure from an unseen enemy is set in the North African desert, where a British patrol is lost and under siege during the First World War. Focusing on character more than plot, the film chronicles the fear and delirium that sets in as the soldiers in the patrol fall victim to Arab sniper attack. Boris Karloff’s remarkable performance as a soldier who is convinced the patrol is doomed is memorable as much for its sheer intensity as for its stylistic excesses.