Noticias

“A Gallant Gesture”

By Raymond Benson

The novel Beau Geste by Percival Christopher Wren was published in 1924 and has been adapted to film no less than four times and parodied a few instances as well. It’s a classic story of the French Foreign Legionnaires set in the years between the turn of the 20th Century and the First World War, and for nearly a hundred years it has been deemed one of the great adventure tales.

The 1939 adaptation, directed by William A. Wellman, was the second filmed version and is generally considered the best and certainly most well-known variation (the first was a silent picture made in 1926 and starring Ronald Colman). With an outstanding cast that includes Gary Cooper, Ray Milland, Robert Preston, Brian Donlevy, Susan Hayward, J. Carrol Naish, Broderick Crawford, Albert Dekker, and even a young Donald O’Connor, Beau Geste is indeed a rousing “Arabian” action flick,...

It’s a classic from the Golden Year of 1939, directed in fine style by Wild Bill Wellman and well cast with Paramount stars Gary Cooper, Ray Milland, and Robert Preston, and with Brian Donlevy as one of the movies’ most hissable villains. The popular story has been remade and spoofed innumerable times, yet this remains the indelible best version. A commentary with William Wellman Jr. and Frank Thompson points out many things we didn’t notice before, including where some excised scenes belong, and what originally happened in them.

Beau Geste

Blu-ray

Kl Studio Classics

1939 / B&w / 1:37 Academy / 112 min. / Street Date April 7, 2020 / available through Kino Lorber / 24.95

Starring: Gary Cooper, Ray Milland, Robert Preston, Brian Donlevy, Susan Hayward, J. Carrol Naish, Albert Dekker, Broderick Crawford, Charles Barton, James Stephenson, Heather Thatcher, George P. Huntley, Donald O’Connor, Billy Cook, Martin Spellman, Ann Gillis, David Holt, Henry Brandon, Nestor Paiva, Francis McDonald.

Copyright© A.M.P.A.S.

Beverly Hills, CA . The 1926 Photoplay Magazine Medal of Honor winner .Beau Geste. will be the next film screened in the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. .Summer of Silents. series on Monday, July 25, at 7:30 p.m. at the Academy’s Samuel Goldwyn Theater. The evening will feature live musical accompaniment by the Mont Alto Motion Picture Orchestra.

Ronald Colman and William Powell starred in this first film version of Percival Christopher Wren.s classic adventure novel about three brothers who join the French Foreign Legion to protect their family.s honor. Film historian Frank Thompson will introduce the feature.

At 7 p.m., .Saturday Afternoon. (1926), starring Harry Langdon, will be screened as part of the evening.s pre-show festivities.

The Medal of Honor, the first significant annual film award, pre-dating the establishment of the Oscars®, was voted by the readers of Photoplay Magazine...