A quick reply to Donald Larsson's suggestion of a couple days ago

          that  CHINA GATE,  in  1957,  was  the earliest Hollywood Vietnam

          movie.  Instead,  that distinction probably  belongs  to  ROGUES'

          REGIMENT, made nearly a  decade earlier and released by Universal

          in  1948.  ROGUES' REGIMENT  was  written  (in collaboration with

          Robert Buckner) and directed by Robert Florey  as  a follow-up to

          their unusual wartime version of  THE  DESERT  SONG (1943), which

          linked   fascism   with   imperialism,   showing   Nazi   Germany

          manipulating French control of Northwest Africa for its own ends.

          The  Arab  rebels  were valorized as  heroes  whose struggle  for

          freedom promoted the  goals  of  the Allies. In ROGUES' REGIMENT,

          the French Foreign Legion is shown, as it had become, a haven for

          escaped  Nazis,  and  by  depicting Nazis  as  the  enforcers  of

          colonial  power, imperialism again  implicitly  links colonialism

          with  fascism.  Communist  influence  is  not  ignored,  but  the

          Vietnamese rebels  are portrayed  as  using communist agents  for

          their  own goals. Just  as  THE DESERT SONG  ran  into censorship

          troubles in  the  US, ROGUES' REGIMENT was banned by  the French,

          making it  a commercial failure. As  a result, it  has often been

          overlooked in  noting  early critiques  of  the conflict, despite

          delineating the issues in  the same manner as they would face the

          United States more than a dozen years later.

          Brian Taves, Motion Picture Division

          Library of Congress

                                 Tavesmail.loc.gov