Beau Geste (1939)DVDRip



Beau, John, and Digby Geste are three inseparable, adventurous brothers who haven been adopted into the wealthy household of Lady Brandon.

When money in the uppercrust household grows tight, Lady Brandon is forced to sell her most treasured jewel the mighty "Blue Water" sapphire. The household gets it out for one final look, the lights go out and it vanishes stolen by one of the brothers, no doubt.

That night, Beau, Digby, and John each "confess" and slip out, John leaving behind Isabel, whom he loves. They all join the Foreign Legion, and Beau and Digby are split from John and put under the command of the ruthless and sadistic Sergeant Markoff.

Things begin to get hairy as the rest of the Legionaires plot a mutiny against Markoff, in the midst of an attack by Arab hordes.

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This is why we go to the movies. Great story telling, great characters, great actors, great directing, suspense, a certain pace and so on... a perfect movie. Why, oh why they don?t make movies like this anymore?

It?s all about adventure. Suspense, thrill, wit....Well, they would nowadays add some cruelties and that would be okay but it still would be superior to 99,9% of recent Hollywood flics.

I know this, along with Sherlock Holmes, is one of the most filmed stories ever, but the 1939 version must stand out as the best. The mood and atmosphere of the desert is captured brilliantly, the photography is excellent as is the cast.

Gary Cooper fits the role of Beau exactly as one would have imagined him, while the brothers played by Ray Milland and Robert Preston are spot on.

Of course Brian Donlevy was at his best in this film as the vicious Sergeant, and it is one of the few times when I have thought he acted well. Susan Hayward's role was minor, but of course she was a virtual unknown at that time.

It was good to see Donald O'Connor as a young Beau, as well as stalwarts like Albert Dekker and J. Carrol Naish.

The opening scene is quite remarkable even by todays standards.

# Gary Cooper was not in the original Beau Geste (1926), but he did appear both in this remake of it and in the sequel to it, Beau Sabreur (1928). William A. Wellman declined the job of directing the latter film but did direct this one.

# Film was honored on one of four 25? US commemorative postage stamps issued 23 March 1990 honoring classic films released in 1939. The stamp featured Gary Cooper as Beau Geste. The other films honored were Stagecoach (1939), The Wizard of Oz (1939), and Gone with the Wind (1939).

# At the film's world premiere, the first reel of the 1926 silent version of "Beau Geste" was shown just before the entire 1939 sound version, in an effort to demonstrate how far films had advanced in thirteen years. This almost backfired because the 1939 film apparently followed the 1926 one extremely closely, and some of the first-night critics were annoyed rather than pleased at this, feeling that the 1939 version should have been more imaginative. However, this did not keep the 1939 version from becoming a smash hit and a film classic.

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

ScreenShots:

Thanks for one of my old favourites

thanks

thanks for this oldie

Thanks!

Thank you.