Under Two Flags was a best-selling novel of the late 1860s by Ouida

Ouida

Ouida was the pseudonym of the English novelist Maria Louise Ramé .-Biography:...

. Perhaps "her best" novel.

Plot

The novel is about The Hon. Bertie Cecil (nicknamed Beauty of the Brigades).

At the beginning of the novel, Bertie has strong homoerotic ties to his best friend and servant.

He exiles himself to Algeria

Algeria

Algeria , officially the People's Democratic Republic of Algeria , also formally referred to as the Democratic and Popular Republic of Algeria, is a country in the Maghreb region of Northwest Africa with Algiers as its capital.In terms of land area, it is the largest country in Africa and the Arab...

 where he joins the Chasseurs d'Afrique

Chasseurs d'Afrique

The Chasseurs d'Afrique were a light cavalry corps in the French Armée d'Afrique . First raised in the 1830s from regular French cavalry posted to Algeria, they numbered five regiments by World War II...

, a regiment comprising soldiers from various countries, rather like the French Foreign Legion

French Foreign Legion

The French Foreign Legion is a unique military service wing of the French Army established in 1831. The foreign legion was exclusively created for foreign nationals willing to serve in the French Armed Forces...

.

Bertie's "inconvenient" admirers are erased, with the result that Bertie is converted to a person whose identity is socially acceptable.

Adaptations

The book has also served as a basis for a number of stage and film adaptations.

• Under Two Flags (1912 film), a 1912 film
• Under Two Flags (1916 film)
  Under Two Flags (1916 film)
  Under Two Flags is a 1916 silent drama film directed by J. Gordon Edwards and starring Theda Bara. The film is now considered to be lost.-Cast:* Theda Bara - Cigarette* Herbert Heyes - Bertie Cecil...
  
  , a 1916 film starring Theda Bara
  Theda Bara
  Theda Bara , born Theodosia Burr Goodman, was an American silent film actress – one of the most popular of her era, and one of cinema's earliest sex symbols. Her femme fatale roles earned her the nickname "The Vamp" . The term "vamp" soon became a popular slang term for a sexually predatory woman...
  
  
• Under Two Flags (1922 film)
  Under Two Flags (1922 film)
  -Cast:* Priscilla Dean - Cigarette* James Kirkwood - Cpl. Victor* John Davidson - Sheik Ben Ali Hammed* Stuart Holmes - Marquis de Chateauroy * Ethel Grey Terry - Princess Corona...
  
  , a 1922 film directed by Tod Browning
  Tod Browning
  Tod Browning was an American motion picture actor, director and screenwriter.Browning's career spanned the silent and talkie eras...
  
  
• Under Two Flags (1936 film), featuring Ronald Colman
  Ronald Colman
  Ronald Charles Colman was an English actor.-Early years:He was born in Richmond, Surrey, England, the second son and fourth child of Charles Colman and his wife Marjory Read Fraser. His siblings included Eric, Edith, and Marjorie. He was educated at boarding school in Littlehampton, where he...
  
  , Claudette Colbert
  Claudette Colbert
  Claudette Colbert was a French-born American-based actress of stage and film.Born in Paris, France and raised in New York City, Colbert began her career in Broadway productions during the 1920s, progressing to film with the advent of talking pictures...
  
  , Victor McLaglen
  Victor McLaglen
  Victor Andrew de Bier Everleigh McLaglen was an English boxer and World War I veteran who became a successful film actor.Towards the end of his life he was naturalised as a U.S. citizen.-Early life:...
  
   and Rosalind Russell
  Rosalind Russell
  Rosalind Russell was an American actress of stage and screen, perhaps best known for her role as a fast-talking newspaper reporter in the Howard Hawks screwball comedy His Girl Friday, as well as the role of Mame Dennis in the film Auntie Mame...
  
  

Classics Illustrated # 86 Under Two Flags is an excellent adaptation with outstanding comic art by Maurice del Bourgo.