Adventure

Drama

Beau Geste

Paramount Pictures

United States of America

العربية

Magyar

English

Gary Cooper

Ray Milland

Robert Preston

Brian Donlevy

Susan Hayward

J. Carrol Naish

Albert Dekker

Broderick Crawford

Charles Barton

James Stephenson

Heather Thatcher

James Burke

G.P. Huntley

Harold Huber

Donald O'Connor

Billy Cook

Martin Spellman

Ann Gillis

David Holt

Harvey Stephens

Stanley Andrews

Harry Woods

Arthur Aylesworth

Henry Brandon

Barry Macollum

Ronald R. Rondell

Joseph E. Bernard

George Chandler

Joseph William Cody

Joe Colling

Gino Corrado

Frank Dawson

Joe Gray

Duke Green

Thomas E. Jackson

Gladys Jeans

Bob Kortman

Larry Lawson

Tony Martelli

Francis McDonald

Nestor Paiva

Bob Perry

George Regas

Jerome Storm

Henry Sylvester

Carl Voss

Joe Whitehead

Harry Worth

William A. Wellman

Edith Head

Hans Dreier

William LeBaron

Robert Odell

Percival Christopher Wren

A. E. Freudeman

Theodor Sparkuhl

Archie Stout

Alfred Newman

Edward B. Powell

Richard Talmadge

Hugo Grenzbach

Robert Carson

Thomas Scott

Walter Oberst

Wonderful, just blooming wonderful.

Gary Cooper, Ray Milland and Robert Preston play three orphaned brothers who are raised at Brandon Abbas by their aunt Lady Patricia Brandon. When money troubles hit the household, attention focuses on the Blue Water Sapphire, the last remaining wealth in the Brandon estate. The sapphire disappears and is thought to have been stolen, fleeing the scandal, the brothers follow each other into the Foreign Legion, where at Fort Zinderneuf they encounter sadistic Sgt. Markoff and face a test of their respective courage, honour and loyalty.

Beau Geste is a truly classic picture, directed by the highly talented William A Wellman, it combines all the elements needed to entertain across the board. Heroes and villains, battles ahoy, potential mutiny and a mystery at its heart, all combine here to flesh out a ripper of an adventure picture. The actors all perform excellently, with a special mention for Brian Donlevy as the nasty Markoff, it's a truly frightening and bully like characterisation, while a nod of approval goes to Susan Hayward appearing in one of her first pictures. The art direction from Hans Dreier & Robert Odell was rightly nominated for an Academy Award and Alfred Newman's score flows seamlessly within the films fluctuating story.

So many wonderful scenes to enjoy, watching the boys (and girl) as children playing Admirals is just wonderful, and sets us up a treat for the films emotive last reel - it's a masterstroke of story telling to observe the innocence of youth surrounded by staunch loyalty. Then there are all the sequences at Fort Zinderneuf, where the boys are now men of stature, but still they have that mystery baggage in their past to carry around with them, this makes for an  involving viewing experience as the tests are thrown at them. As this is 1939 the film fails to give us any insight as to why the enemy is the enemy, the Tuaregs are merely the aggressors of the piece, but to over analyse and be critical there would be churlish. For Beau Geste is something of an action adventure leading light, it is in fact, a Beautiful Gesture indeed. 9/10

Beau Geste Trailer 1939

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Beau Geste

Cast & Crew

Videos

Cast

Gary Cooper

Ray Milland

Robert Preston

Brian Donlevy

Susan Hayward

J. Carrol Naish

Albert Dekker

Broderick Crawford

Charles Barton

James Stephenson

Box office

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