Beau Geste (1939) is director/producer William Wellman’s superb, high adventure tale set in the desert – a classic melodramatic, rousing film of the late 30s from Paramount Studios. The film was originally to be directed by Henry Hathaway, and touted as Paramount’s first Technicolor feature, but neither came to pass. The screenplay by Robert Carson was based on the 1924 novel of the same name by English soldier/author Percival Christopher Wren (1885-1941). The themes of the film, involving three Geste brothers who disappear from England to avoid scandal and become members of the French Foreign Legion, include brotherly loyalty, patriotic honor, self-sacrifice, and treachery.Beau Geste.
This is the best-remembered film version of the novel, but there were others:
* it was previously filmed as a silent by director Herbert Brenon in 1926, starring Ronald Colman
* it was remade in 1966 by director Douglas Heyes, with Telly Savalas as the cruel, sadistic sergeant at the fort,
* comedian Marty Feldman directed and starred in Universal’s parody The Last Remake of Beau Geste (1977), with cleverly-edited footage from the 1939 version spliced in
The film received two Academy Awards nominations (with no wins): Brian Donlevy received his only Academy Award nomination (Best Supporting Actor) for his performance as the sadistic, horrendous Sergeant Markoff – the film changed his nationality from French to Russian to avoid offending the French legionnaires and French film audiences. And Hans Dreier and Robert Odell also received nominations for Best Art Direction, for their marvelous sets and production values. More importantly, the film featured four future Oscar winners – Gary Cooper, Ray Milland, Susan Hayward (in her film debut), and Broderick Crawford.
