IMDb > Beau Geste (1939)
Beau Geste
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Beau Geste (1939) More at IMDbPro »

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Overview

User Rating:
8.0/10   2,006 votes
MOVIEmeter: ?
Down 7% in popularity this week. See why on IMDbPro.
Director:
William A. Wellman
Writers:
Robert Carson (writer)
Percival Christopher Wren (novel)
Contact:
View company contact information for Beau Geste on IMDbPro.
Release Date:
15 September 1939 (USA) more
Genre:
Action | Adventure | Drama | War more
Tagline:
AGAIN...the three Gestes face a thousand dangers of the Sahara for each other...and love! more
Plot:
Beau, John, and Digby Geste are three inseparable, adventurous brothers who haven been adopted into the wealthy household of Lady Brandon... more | add synopsis
Plot Keywords:
more
Awards:
Nominated for 2 Oscars. more
NewsDesk:
(8 articles)
Celebrate Veteran’s Day with a War Movie Overload
 (From FilmSchoolRejects. 11 November 2009, 2:33 PM, PST)
5 High-Tech Operas That Radically Transform the Stage
 (From Fast Company. 30 October 2009, 7:00 AM, PDT)
User Comments:
Great Adventure - Dated Geopolitics more (28 total)

Cast

  (in credits order) (verified as complete)

Gary Cooper ... Michael 'Beau' Geste

Ray Milland ... John Geste
Robert Preston ... Digby Geste

Brian Donlevy ... Sgt. Markoff

Susan Hayward ... Isobel Rivers
J. Carrol Naish ... Rasinoff
Albert Dekker ... Legionnaire Schwartz

Broderick Crawford ... Hank Miller
Charles Barton ... Buddy McMonigal
James Stephenson ... Maj. Henri de Beaujolais
Heather Thatcher ... Lady Patricia Brandon
James Burke ... Lt. Dufour
G.P. Huntley ... Augustus Brandon (as George P. Huntley)
Harold Huber ... Legionnaire Voisin

Donald O'Connor ... Beau at age 12
Billy Cook ... John at age 10
Martin Spellman ... Digby at age 12
Ann Gillis ... Isobel at age 10
David Holt ... Augustus at age 12
Harvey Stephens ... Lt. Martin
Stanley Andrews ... Legionnaire Maris
Harry Woods ... Legionnaire Renoir
Arthur Aylesworth ... Legionnaire Renault
Henry Brandon ... Legionnaire Renouf
Barry Macollum ... Legionnaire Krenke
Ronald R. Rondell ... Bugler
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Joseph E. Bernard ... Legionnaire (uncredited)
George Chandler ... Legionnaire Cordier (uncredited)
Joseph William Cody ... Legionnaire (uncredited)
Joe Colling ... O. Leo (uncredited)

Gino Corrado ... Recruit wearing Top Hat (uncredited)
Frank Dawson ... Burdon (the butler) (uncredited)

Joe Gray ... (uncredited)
Duke Green ... Legionnaire Glock (uncredited)
Thomas E. Jackson ... Colonel in recruiting office (uncredited)
Gladys Jeans ... Girl in Saida cafe (uncredited)
Bob Kortman ... Maharaja's agent (uncredited)
Larry Lawson ... Legionnaire (uncredited)
Tony Martelli ... Minor Role (uncredited)
Francis McDonald ... Arab scout (uncredited)
Nestor Paiva ... Cpl. Golas (uncredited)
Bob Perry ... Bald Legionnaire (uncredited)
George Regas ... Arab scout (uncredited)
Jerome Storm ... Sergeant Major (uncredited)
Henry Sylvester ... Legionnaire (uncredited)
Carl Voss ... Legionnaire (uncredited)
Joe Whitehead ... Sergeant (uncredited)
Harry Worth ... Corporal (uncredited)
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Directed by
William A. Wellman 
 
Writing credits
(in alphabetical order)
Robert Carson  writer
Percival Christopher Wren  novel

Produced by
William A. Wellman .... producer
 
Original Music by
Alfred Newman 
 
Cinematography by
Theodor Sparkuhl 
Archie Stout 
 
Film Editing by
Thomas Scott 
 
Art Direction by
Hans Dreier 
Robert Odell 
 
Set Decoration by
A.E. Freudeman (interior decorator)
 
Costume Design by
Edith Head 
 
Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Richard Talmadge .... second unit director
 
Sound Department
Hugo Grenzbach .... sound
Walter Oberst .... sound
 
Stunts
Otto Metzetti .... stunts (uncredited)
George Suzanne .... stunts (uncredited)
Richard Talmadge .... stunt coordinator (uncredited)
 
Camera and Electrical Department
Cliff Shirpser .... assistant camera (uncredited)
 
Music Department
Edward B. Powell .... orchestrator
 
Other crew
Louis Van der Ecker .... technical advisor
 

Production CompaniesDistributors
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Additional Details

Parents Guide:
Add content advisory for parents
Runtime:
112 min
Country:
USA
Language:
English | Arabic
Color:
Black and White
Aspect Ratio:
1.37 : 1 more
Sound Mix:
Mono (Western Electric Mirrophonic Recording)
Certification:
Finland:K-16
Filming Locations:
Buttercup Dunes, Imperial County, California, USA more
Company:
Paramount Pictures more

Fun Stuff

Trivia:
One of over 700 Paramount Productions, filmed between 1929 and 1949, which were sold to MCA/Universal in 1958 for television distribution, and have been owned and controlled by Universal ever since. more
Goofs:
Continuity: It is night when Markoff and the others go into the barracks to stop the mutiny, but it is midmorning when they come out. more
Quotes:
Foreword: "The love of a man for a woman waxes and wanes like the moon, but the love of brother for brother is steadfast as the stars and endures like the word of the prophet." Arabian proverb more
Movie Connections:
Referenced in "Mystery Science Theater 3000: Horrors of Spider Island (#11.11)" (1999) more

FAQ

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User Comments

   (Comment on this title)
5 out of 8 people found the following comment useful.
Great Adventure - Dated Geopolitics, 2 March 2006
10/10
Author: theowinthrop from United States

The film gets high kudos for being well directed, well acted, and well produced. It is one of the great films of 1939 that remains entertaining nearly seventy years later. But like that other classic GONE WITH THE WIND the racism in the background is amazing.

Percival Wren's novels are not readily available today, although back in 1971 I was amazed to see them on the shelf of my high school library. Wren, growing up in the late 19th Century, was growing up in an age of hyper - nationalism, and imperialism. So when he writes, the negative stereotypes of third world types (and of peoples of other European countries) come out. In this case, the Arabs are the evil villains. That the French are invading their land is not dealt with. The odd thing is that the author was British, and he could (if he wanted to) have made the French less likable, but that did not happen. To Wren, British character was the top of the line, and French not far behind it. But Arab was at the bottom (in some of his books Jews do not come out too well either, but that is not apparent in this film).

He's lifted some of the plot line from Wilkie Collins' THE MOONSTONE, as the plot is about the theft of a very valuable jewel, and how the "Geste" brothers (Gary Cooper, Ray Milland, and Robert Preston) leave England in disgrace and join the French Foreign Legion to make amend for their apparent theft of the jewel, leaving Heather Thatcher (Lady Isobel - their guardian) and Susan Hayward (Isobel - Ray Milland's sweetheart) and James Stephenson (Major Henri De Beaujolais - their friend since childhood) shocked. Only their old childhood nemesis, G.P.Huntley (Augustus "Sir Mordred") is glad to see the thieves go.

Question might arise - why join the French Foreign Legion? Well, if they joined the British army or navy, after confessing the theft, they could have been brought back for trial. They could have crossed the Atlantic and joined the American cavalry out west (there are cases like that), but they choose the Foreign Legion as Major De Beaujolais has always told them stories about it.

So they go to North Africa and sign up. It is a harsh life as a mercenary, in one of the all-time hardest fighting units in military history. The Foreign Legion is usually associated with fighting the Riffs and Tuaregs of North Africa (particularly with books or films like this). They also fought in Mexico (in the 1860s) to prop up Emperor Maximilian, in Southeast Asia (Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam) in the 19th and 20th Centuries, and are still in use today.

But here they are used for policing purposes: they are to put down revolts by the natives who won't give up their rights to rule themselves. They are actually fighting the grandfathers of the men who reclaimed Morocco, Algeria, and Tunisia in the 20th Century.

Cooper, Milland, and Preston soon meet the men they fight alongside with: Broderick Crawford, Albert Dekker, and J. Carroll Naish. This is one film with a great cast of character actors. As was pointed out on another comment it is the character actors who make this film live. Naish as the hyena-like Razomov, who makes himself too useful to the villain of the piece (the unscrupulous Sgt. Markov - Brian Donleavy) gave one of the best performances in his career. Same with Donleavy, who is a real bastard but also a great fighter. Watch as Donleavy keeps figuring out ways to fool the enemy such as propping up dead bodies on the roof of the fort, or having the men laugh to suggest there are more men in the fort than they think. Yet for all of the clever tricks, it's a lucky shot killing the head of the attacking forces that ends the siege.

If this film were made today, we would get to know the personalities of the Arabs. It would be a more complex tale. But the complexities of the story are enough as is. Why do men willingly go into danger to prove themselves? Why do they act in negative ways, surprising and hurting those who love them? And what are the secrets that we carry with us that we try never to reveal. That is at the heart of BEAU GESTE and it's characters, and of the Foreign Legion it glorified.

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