Beau Geste (Universal Backlot Series)
by William A. Wellman
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DVD details
Actor: Gary Cooper, Ray Milland, Robert PrestonDirector: William A. Wellman
Brand: Universal Studios
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Subtitled); French (Subtitled); Spanish (Subtitled); English (Original Language)
Format: Black & White, Dolby, DVD, Full Screen, NTSC
Picture Format: 1.33:1
Running Time: 112 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2009-07-07
Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Studio: Universal Studios
DVD Reviews of Beau Geste (Universal Backlot Series)
DVD Review: the love of brother for brother is steadfast as the stars
Summary: 4 Stars
The most famous of the many adaptations of P.C. Wren's 1924 adventure novel of jewel thievery and life in the foreign legion, with a fairly spectacular cast consisting of Gary Cooper in the title role, Robert Preston and Ray Milland as his younger brothers Digby and John, Susan Hayward as Isobel, the ward of Lady Brandon who brought the orphaned brothers up, and Brian Donlevy as the sadistic Sergeant Markoff. I saw this years and years ago and remembered very little of it except for Donlevy's imposing performance, and the long, long battle sequence involving the besieged For Zinderneuf that is the climax of the film.
And those are the most memorable elements, I think. The rest of the cast is good, and the simple storyline (three orphaned brothers grow up in a once-wealthy household; suspects in the theft of an immense sapphire that is the last wealth in the family, they all leave to join the French Foreign Legion, and struggle to survive under the sadistic sergeant and the Tuareg hordes) is well told. Wellman's camerawork is very assured, the sets are terrific, Alfred Newman's music is stirring, but...there's a bit of drag in the middle I think. Hayward is barely used as there is little development in the early-adulthood passage just before the jewel theft, thus the romantic angle is hardly exploited - on the other hand the army barracks sequence makes up roughly half the film. I suppose this does serve get across the theme of brotherhood - and to get across the vindictiveness and pettiness of Donlevy's brutal sergeant, but with characters so readily delineated and relatively simple in their motivations, I think it just gets to be a bit too much, like the film is striving to be an "epic" where it doesn't - except for the long concluding battle sequence - really feel like one. Not a huge fault at all, but enough to keep it from the very top ranks of adventure films from this era as far as I'm concerned - though I'd certainly recommend this to lovers of the period adventure, I'd personally pick THE ADVENTURES OF ROBIN HOOD, LOST HORIZON, THE FOUR FEATHERS, or THE THIEF OF BAGDAD as the best representations of the genre as a whole.
Supposedly an almost scene-for-scene remake of the 1926 film with Ronald Colman in the title role; this was also remade again in 1966 with Tell Savalas in the equivalent of Donlevy's role, and Guy Stockwell as Beau. Finally there was a 1982 BBC miniseries that is presumably the closest adaptation of the novel. And there have been several parodies. Donlevy was nominated for an Oscar for this and well deserved to be, though he lost out to Thomas Mitchell in what was certainly a career year for that actor, who appeared in just about every major, well-remembered 1939 American film except for this one.
The Universal DVD is no great shakes with minimal extras but nothing to complain about in the sound or picture areas either.
Description of Beau Geste (Universal Backlot Series)
Academy Award winners Gary Cooper and Ray Milland star along with Robert Preston in the epic adventure Beau Geste. When three brothers join the Foreign Legion to escape a troubled past, they find themselves trapped under the command of a sadistic sergeant deep in the scorching Sahara. Now the brothers must fight for their lives as they plot mutiny against tyranny and defend a desert fortress against a brutal enemy. Nominated for 2 Academy Awards, Beau Geste has been universally acclaimed by generations of critics and audiences alike as a true motion picture classic.Bestsellers in DVD
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