Abd el-Krim's guerrilla war against Spain and France in North Africa: An adventure setting for screen melodramas

Abstract

The Riffian rebel leader Mohammed Abd el-Krim Al-Khattabi (1882–1963) became an important early guerrilla leader by successfully initiating extensively organized resistance in the Moroccan Rif against Spanish and French imperial power in the early 1920s. The Rif War triggered a wave of adventure films since the 1930s. This article will look at some of these, especially Sergeant Klems (1971) and The Wind and the Lion (1975), and suggest that they can be seen in terms of the wider impact of screen Orientalism derived from the iconic film Lawrence of Arabia (1962) directed by David Lean. The article will show that these films promoted what it terms a colonial gaze by underlining many stereotyped cinematic clichés relating to the Islamic cultural area and Abd el-Krim's revolt that stretch back to the early history of cinema.

Keywords::

• Abd el-Krim; Sergeant Klems
• Rif War
• Morocco
• guerrilla warfare
• clichés
• stereotypes

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

^1. See e.g. Kunz and Müller, Giftgas gegen Abd el Krim, 17.

^2. Pröbster, ‘Die Befriedung der Berbern und der Rifkrieg’, 158.

^3. The title of the 1977 version is The Last Remake of Beau Geste and is a comedy.

^4. The 1943 version does not relate to the Rif War but to World War Two.

^5. Shaheen, Reel Bad Arabs.

^6. Pennell, A Country with a Government and a Flag, 237; Abd el-Krim, Memoiren, 10–11.

^7. Abd el-Krim, Memoiren, 39.

^8. Ibid.,10.

^9. Zaeper, Unter der Glutsonne Marokkos gegen Ab del Krim, 24. This incident took place at the end of May 1925.

^10. Ayache, Les origines de la guerre du Rif, 182.

^11. Ibid., 217.

^12. Hart, The Aith Waryaghar of the Moroccan Rif, 373.

^13. Pennell, A Country with a Government and a Flag, 81.

^14. Hart, The Aith Waryaghar of the Moroccan Rif, 374.

^15. In particular, there are great disparities in the literature concerning numbers. See e.g. El-Asrouti, Der Rif-Krieg 1921–1926, 61, 92, 95. The total number of the Riffian army (regular and local) is estimated to have been around 80,000, see Woolman, Rebels in the Rif, 149.

^16. El-Asrouti Der Rif-Krieg 1921–1926, 61. Another writer says 8000. See Sasse, Franzosen, Briten und Deutsche im Rifkrieg 1921–1926, 40.

^17. Hart, The Aith Waryaghar of the Moroccan Rif, 374.

^18. Terhorst, Feuer am Rif, 177, 179.

^19. There are significant disparities in the existing literature concerning the death toll on both sides. This number is based upon the analysis by Pennell, A Country with a Government and a Flag, 176.

^20. Kunz and Müller, Giftgas gegen Abd el Krim.

^21. Sasse, Franzosen, Briten und Deutsche im Rifkrieg 1921–1926, 51. Pröbster, ‘Die Befriedung der Berbern und der Rifkrieg’, 154. Pröbster makes the following statement concerning the number of troops on each side: ‘On the 9^th July 1925 the French decided to increase the number of their troops to 150,000. The Spanish army consisted of about 100,000 Soldiers. In contrast the number of the Riffians were at most 40,000–50,000. The aim of the Franco-Spanish army consisting of a quarter million men was to destroy the Rif republic founded by Abd-el-Krim.’ With regard to the number of Riffian troops, Pröbster adds: ‘Marshal Pétain estimates this figure to be between 30,000 and 40,000’.

^22. Sasse, Franzosen, Briten und Deutsche im Rifkrieg 1921–1926, 125.

^23. Ibid., 126.

^24. Ibid., 127.

^25. See the pictures in Kunz and Müller, Giftgas gegen Abd el Krim. Abd el-Krim states in his memoirs that the death toll of his enemies would have been much higher had he not given the strictest orders and threatened with death penalties those of his followers who killed prisoners (see Abd el-Krim, Memoiren, 72; Pennell, A Country with a Government and a Flag, 81).

^26. Everett, Sigmund Romberg, 158.

^27. Bradley, The First Hollywood Musicals, 169; Hischak 2009. Broadway Plays and Musicals.

^28. Sasse, Franzosen, Briten und Deutsche im Rifkrieg 1921–1926, 136, 153.

^29. Furneaux, Abdel Krim, 235.

^30. Sasse, Franzosen, Briten und Deutsche im Rifkrieg 1921–1926, 136.

^31. Everett, Sigmund Romberg, 168.

^32. Wren, Stories of the Foreign Legion.

^33. Sasse, Franzosen, Briten und Deutsche im Rifkrieg 1921–1926, 136.

^34. Ibid., 136.

^35. Ibid., 137.

^36. Furneaux, Abdel Krim, 143.

^37. Sasse, Franzosen, Briten und Deutsche im Rifkrieg 1921–1926, 137.

^38. Furneaux, Abdel Krim, 142.

^39. Sasse, Franzosen, Briten und Deutsche im Rifkrieg 1921–1926, 137.

^40. Ibid., 138.

^41. Ibid., 138.

^42. Furneaux, Abdel Krim, 143.

^43. Sasse, Franzosen, Briten und Deutsche im Rifkrieg 1921–1926, 139, 141; Furneaux, Abdel Krim, 142–143.

^44. Furneaux, Abdel Krim, 143; Sasse, Franzosen, Briten und Deutsche im Rifkrieg 1921–1926, 141; Woolman, Rebels in the Rif, 25.

^45. Sasse, Franzosen, Briten und Deutsche im Rifkrieg 1921–1926, 153. In the film, Klems's death is stated as 16 October 1933, which is most likely the date of death of a namesake. Thus Klems was still alive when Zappa published his novel in 1935.

^46. Abd el-Krim, Memoiren, 96.

^47. Sasse, Franzosen, Briten und Deutsche im Rifkrieg 1921–1926, 153.

^48. Ibid., 140, 150.

^49. Ibid., 199.

^50. Ibid., 130, 133.

^51. Abd el-Krim, Memoiren, 103.

^52. Sasse, Franzosen, Briten und Deutsche im Rifkrieg 1921–1926, 196.

^53. Ibid., 199; Tucker, Encyclopedia of Insurgency and Counterinsurgency, 477.

^54. Daoud, Abdelkrim, 155 cited in Sasse, Franzosen, Briten und Deutsche im Rifkrieg 1921–1926, 96.

^55. Woolman, Rebels in the Rif, 213; Fleming, Primo de Rivera and Abd-e-Krim, 226; Sasse, Franzosen, Briten und Deutsche im Rifkrieg 1921–1926, 203.

^56. Abd el-Krim, Memoiren, 94; Hart, The Aith Waryaghar of the Moroccan Rif, 388.

^57. Sasse, Franzosen, Briten und Deutsche im Rifkrieg 1921–1926, 96 provides their names as well as the regions they were responsible for.

^58. Abd el-Krim, Memoiren, 94; Hart, The Aith Waryaghar of the Moroccan Rif, 388.

^59. Sasse, Franzosen, Briten und Deutsche im Rifkrieg 1921–1926, 135.

^60. Furneaux, Abdel Krim, 116, 142–143.

^61. Sasse, Franzosen, Briten und Deutsche im Rifkrieg 1921–1926, 122.

^62. Ibid., 117–119, 122–123.

^63. Everett, Sigmund Romberg, 162–163; Shohat, ‘Gender and Culture of Empire’, 39.

^64. Furneaux, Abdel Krim, 108–109.

^65. Woolman, Rebels in the Rif, 207.

^66. Jarschel, Abd el Krim.

^67. Sasse, Franzosen, Briten und Deutsche im Rifkrieg 1921–1926, 141; Furneaux, Abdel Krim, 142.

^68. Sasse, Franzosen, Briten und Deutsche im Rifkrieg 1921–1926, 141.

^69. Fleming, Primo de Rivera and Abd-e-Krim.

^70. Youssoufi, Les Institutions de la République du Rif, 94.

^71. Ibid.

^72. Furneaux, Abdel Krim, 90–92; Sasse, Franzosen, Briten und Deutsche im Rifkrieg 1921–1926, 141.

^73. Furneaux, Abdel Krim, 90.

^74. Ibid., 90, 142.

^75. Sasse, Franzosen, Briten und Deutsche im Rifkrieg 1921–1926, 141.

^76. Isabella died shortly before the end of the war (see Furneaux, Abdel Krim, 91; Sasse, Franzosen, Briten und Deutsche im Rifkrieg 1921–1926, 141).

^77. See, for instance, Kendall, ‘Epic Film of The Wind and the Lion’.

^78. According to Furneaux, Abdel Krim, 36, Raisuli demanded as ransom £14,000.

^79. Blackwell, ‘1904: “Perdicaris alive or Raisuli Dead”’.

^80. Furneaux, Abdel Krim; Hart, Qabila, 37.

^81. Furneaux, Abdel Krim, 35.

^82. Pröbster, ‘Die Befriedung der Berbern und der Rifkrieg’, 157; Furneaux, Abdel Krim, 40.

^83. Furneaux, Abdel Krim, 97.

^84. Ibid., 34.

^85. Ibid., 133.

^86. Ibid., 136, 138.