A World War I-era British regiment finds itself stranded in the Mesopotamian desert when its commanding officer—the only one who knows where they are going—is killed by a sniper. Surrounded by bandits, the men hole up in an abandoned mosque to fend off their attackers and wait for reinforcements. Remade numerous times, the film has had enormous influnce on many later war films, especially in its deft handling of the wartime interplay between the personal, the political, and the religious. Highlights include Max Steiner's score (elements of which were incorporated into his later score for Michael Curtiz's Casablanca), Ford's espressive direction, and Karloff's notorious freak-out as a religious zealot driven insane by the situation.