Beau Brummel

BEAU BRUMMEL (A Warner Brothers Classic of the Screen, 1924), directed by Harry Beaumont, from the play and historical data by Clyde Finch, stars the legendary John Barrymore in one of his most prestigious films of the silent era. Mixing fact and fiction into the life of George Bryan Brummell (1778-1840), an English social arbiter, the opening inter-title sums it up best: "Nowhere in all history can be found a more amazing character than George Bryan Brummel, the friend of princes, the arbiter of fashion and the social ruler of England during the reign of George II. And nowhere in all fiction can be found more romance than was crowded into the life of this penniless commoner, whose natural charm and studied insolence made him the greatest dandy of all time - the immortal Beau Brummel." For the plot summary, beginning in the year 1795, George Bryan Brummel (John Barrymore), British Army officer and captain of the Tenth Hussars, deeply loves Margery Werthaim (Mary Astor). Because her mother (Clarissa Selwynne), "ambitious, relentless," finds Brummel to be a young man of no importance, insists Marjory wed Lord Alvanloy (William Humphrey) instead. As she takes her daughter to get married, Alvanloy leaves Brummel in the garden in humiliation by throwing him a sixpence. Next scene: "Revenge was all he thought of now. He would use his charmed wit and personal appearance in a game against the society which has robbed him of his love."  For the years to follow, Brummel does just that. Through the guidance of the Prince of Wales (Willard Louis), Brummel makes his way through society, resigns from the Army, abandons his whig for a more natural hair, has an affair with Mrs. Snodgrass (Betty Brice), the landlord's (James Marcus), wife; and makes his indiscretions with the ladies of the court, particularly Lady Hester (Carmel Myers), wife of Lord Henry Stanhope (Richard Tucker), whom he finds terribly annoying; and Frederica Charlotte (Irene Rich), sister-in-law of the Prince of Wales, whom he claims to be a tender woman, all of whom he loves and leaves. Making many enemies and finding himself heavily in debt, he at first serves time in a jail in Calais, and later finds himself living in poverty. His only true friend during his declining years is his servant, Mortimer (Alec B. Francis), whom he dismisses from his employ for being too helpful. Falling out of love with everything, Brummel is approached by Marjory, only to lose her again as explained with these words: "Death kills but once, life kills many times." What further develops remains to be seen. 

At first glance, BEAU BRUMMEL comes across as an overlong (128 minutes) dull costume drama about doomed love (with portions closely resembling George Du Maurier's PETER IBBETSON), redeemed by sincere yet "ham" acting of John Barrymore, from a young dandy to aged old man (with a striking resemblance to the older appearance of his brother, Lionel), and the ever youthful Mary Astor, both of whom would be reunited in DON JUAN (Warners, 1926), and supporting Claudette Colbert in the sound comedy, MIDNIGHT (Paramount, 1939). Looking over and comprehending everything not absorbed the first time around, this can now classified as a rich atmospheric production with fine acting, by 1920s standards, and detailed period pieces of long, long ago. Although there's really no action involving sword play to stir up excitement, there's little suspense midway involving a duel a Bowling Green between Brummel and a jealous husband.

BEAU BRUMMEL, a fortunate survivor of the silent film era, is not as relatively known as others from that era. In the wake of home video, however, it was placed on video cassette during the late 1980s through various distributors, including Video Yesteryear and Grapevine Video, just to name a few, mostly with missing footage and poor quality visuals. It can also be acquired in the DVD format as well.

Cable television's Turner Classic Movies brought BEAU BRUMMEL back to life by having a restored copy for its January 29, 2008 presentation accompanied by new and exceptional orchestral score conducted by young film composer James Schafer of Rancho Cucamonga, California. Regardless of host Bob Osborne announcing BEAU BRUMMEL making its "world television premiere," in fact, has played on television before in April 1994 on the Nostalgia Channel as part of its Saturday night weekly presentation of "When Silents Were Golden." Aside from an already pre-recorded orchestral score from a 1930s reissue used for this feature, watching BEAU BRUMMEL or any silent movie for that matter, couldn't really be fully appreciated on the Nostalgia Channel due to its frequent commercial interruptions. Now that it has finally turned up on the commercial free TCM, BEAU BRUMMEL may have its chance of rediscovery to the delight of film enthusiasts wanting to compare this with its 1954 remake (with Brummel ending with two L's) starring Stewart Granger, Elizabeth Taylor and Peter Ustinov. (***)

"George Byron Brummel" (John Barrymore) is a soldier and not an especially significant one at that. He falls in love with the "Lady Margery" (Mary Astor) and though she reciprocates to an extent, she's not prepared to sacrifice her status to marry him so instead marries the "Lord Alvanley" (William Humphrey) and leaves her erstwhile paramour to the life of a bit of a libertine. The best way to achieve success at doing very little is to attach oneself to one even better at it, and so he engineers a meeting with the Prince of Wales (Willard Louis) and soon the pair are firm friends and "George" - now widely called "Beau" is holding court in a regal splendour all of his own. Gradually he acquires enemies at court and begins to over-play his hand. He racks up debts and philanders to the point where his royal patron starts to tire of his toy and, after a rather rash retaliatory comment to the Prince one day, "Beau" is abandoned to his multiple creditors, That causes him to flee to the relative safety of France, but clearly clearly his goose is starting to look cooked and he is increasingly reliant on the loyalty of his manservant "Mortimer" (Alec B. Francis) and on the charity of his few remaining friends in Britain. A potential reconciliation between the two seems possible when the now King George III visits France, but pride and rancour put paid to that and condemn poor old "Beau" to a decline that is anything but beautiful. Harry Beaumont takes his time with this drama and that helps develop the quite complex character of "Brummell". We see ambition and shallowness from Barrymore's performance, but we also see a shrewdness and a sort of perverse type of loyalty and humanity as he grows older and more considered. Astor delivers well too - she imbues her character with a combination of stoicism and emotion well. On the downside, though the Prince was reputedly quite a dandy character, I felt Louis rather overplayed that here at times. The two men still give us a decent dynamic when both are in full pomp, though. There's also a strong ensemble supporting cast that demonstrate well the foppishness of the court and the contrasting poverty endured by those who (not so) cheerily waved their flags and cheered. The last twenty minutes is poignant with some well executed special effects conveying the conclusion to us and those on screen to another place. As ever with lengthy silent films, you have to admire the musicians who read the contours of the film and accompany it so skilfully and here, we have some considerable artistry from the set designer and costumier too in the ultimate story of reaping what you sow!

This silent version of "Beau Brummel" (there was one in 1913) stars the great John Barrymore in the title role, and he manages without speaking to give us a clear, layered view of this vain social climber. Also starring are Mary Astor, Carmel Myers, and Irene Rich as three of the women in his life. Mary Astor was nearly unrecognizable - low, long eyebrows (they all seemed to have them) and different teeth, and 18 years old! Though in black and white, the sumptuousness of the costumes and the beauty of the sets, as well as the prevailing atmosphere, are all evident. Brummel resigns his commission so that he can literally hang out with the Prince of Wales, who becomes George IV. When he falls out of favor, he also falls on hard times. The woman he loses to her marriage into a wealthy family, Lady Alvanley, remains a loyal friend as does his butler Mortimer.

Barrymore's acting, particularly in his last scenes, is brilliant. Thankfully he went into talkies so we would have a chance to hear his beautiful speaking voice.

Superior to the MGM color version starring Stewart Granger.

"Nowhere in all history can be found a more amazing character than George Bryan Brummel, the friend of Princes, the arbiter of fashion and the social ruler of England during the reign of George III. And nowhere in all fiction can be found more romance than was crowded into the life of this penniless commoner, whose natural charm and studied insolence made him the greatest dandy of all time - the immortal 'Beau' Brummel," asserts the this film's illustrative opening. And John Barrymore is well-suited for the leading role...

We begin in 1795, when dapper officer Barrymore gathers with the greatest personages in England for a wedding. The bride is his beautiful young lover Mary Astor (as Margery). Unfortunately, the groom is not Barrymore. Pressured by family to dismiss her true love and submit to an arranged marriage, Ms. Astor weds foppishly fat Willard Louis because Barrymore is a poor commoner and Mr. Louis is a Prince in line to be King. For revenge, Barrymore decides to infiltrate British high society with scandal...

"Beau Brummel" suffers from a threadbare plot, but boasts rich production values. Hollywood offered Barrymore greater access to life's pleasures and he returned the favor with moments of relentless overacting; considering the weaknesses in this story, it helps the film. Much admired, Barrymore won the Rudolph Valentino Medal as 1924's "Best Actor" for his "Beau Brummel" characterization. And the film went to the Top 5 in annual lists compiled by the New York Times, Film Daily, and Motion Picture Magazine.

****** Beau Brummel (3/30/24) Harry Beaumont ~ John Barrymore, Mary Astor, Willard Louis, Alec B. Francis

What can anyone say about this? Beautiful print, some fine acting by Barrymore -- wonderfully subtle for the period in the early sequences and quite appropriately over-the-top at the end. Given the uniformly over-the-top performances he was called on to make towards the end of his career, the well-preserved Barrymore silents -- this one, his fine, generous performance in THE BELOVED ROGUE, and the sheer electricity between him and Dolores Costello in WHEN A MAN LOVES show what a fine actor he is -- those turns and his wonderful comic work in MIDNIGHT.

I have been less than impressed in the past by some of the scores offered by the Young Composers but, although a bit shaky in the earlier sequences, this one settled right down and was quite good.

I had quite forgotten this was directed by Harry Beaumont, who became my favorite MGM B director -- even though, of course, MGM didn't make B movies.