Beau Geste **** (1939, Gary Cooper, Ray Milland, Robert Preston, Brian Donlevy, J Carrol Naish) – Classic Movie Review 5413

‘The love of a man for a woman wanes and waxes like the moon… but the love of brother for brother is steadfast as the stars, and endures like the word of the Prophet.’ Producer-director William Wellman’s tremendous 1939 remake of Ronald Colman’s 1926 silent adventure classic Beau Geste is a vigorous, steadfast and splendidly entertaining sound adventure classic.

Gary Cooper, Ray Milland and Robert Preston star as the three musketeers, upper-crust English brothers Beau, John and Digby Geste, who join the French Foreign Legion, are victimised by the evil and sadistic commander, Sergeant Markoff (Brian Donlevy), and fight rampaging Arabs in North Africa.

These three genial stars give the most rousing of performances, energetic and captivating, but they are still easily upstaged by the two menacing bad guy performances, Donlevy and J Carrol Naish as an informer called Rasinoff. Donald O’Connor plays the 12-year-old Beau.

Also in the cast are Susan Hayward, Heather Thatcher, James Stephenson, G P Huntley Jnr, Albert Dekker, Broderick Crawford, Charles Barton, James Burke, Harold Huber, Billy Cook, Martin Spellman, Ann Gillis, David Holt, Harvey Stephens, Stanley Andrews, Harry Woods, Arthur Aylesworth, Henry Brandon, Barry Macollum, Ronald R Rondell, George Chandler, Gino Corrado, Frank Dawson, Bob Kortman, Joseph E Bernard, Nestor Paiva, George Regas, Bob Perry, Carl Voss, Harry Worth and Jerry Storm.

It runs 116 minutes, is made by Paramount, is written by Robert Carson, based on the novel by Percival Christopher Wren, is shot in black and white by Theodor Sparkuhl and Archie J Stout, is scored by Alfred Newman, and is set designed by Hans Dreier and Robert Odell.

Cooper had already played Beau Geste in Beau Sabreur, sequel to the 1926 silent Beau Geste, in 1928.

Region 1 DVD available.

© Derek Winnert 2017 Classic Movie Review 5413

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