During World War I, the young lieutenant in charge of a small British mounted patrol in the empty Mesopotamian desert is shot and killed by an unseen sniper.

Riding north in the hope of rejoining their brigade, the eleven remaining men reach a deserted oasis where they find water, edible dates, and shelter.

A British patrol which had seen the smoke from the burning plane rides up and the officer in charge asks the sergeant roughly where his men are.

The novel was first adapted in 1929, by Walter Summers, who directed and wrote the film with Victor McLaglen’s younger brother Cyril in the lead role.

The novel and movies focus on the psychological strain on a patrol of British soldiers when they become lost in the desert and surrounded by the enemy in Iraq.

[citation needed] Richard Dix was cast to play the lead role in The Lost Patrol but he went into another film instead and Victor McLaglen replaced him.

[citation needed] Already an actor in 1909, Boris Karloff attempted to enlist in the British Army during World War I, but was rejected due to his heart murmur.

[4] According to Karloff’s biographer Peter Underwood, the temperature on the Yuma locations could be as hot as 150 °F (66 °C) and actors were limited to working two hours a day.

[1] Film reviewer Paul Tatara claims, "Critics have alternately hailed The Lost Patrol as a flawed masterpiece and a failed experiment.

"[4] In a contemporary review, Mourdant Hall of The New York Times, noted: "In The Lost Patrol, a picture now sojourning at the Rialto, women are conspicuous by their absence.