Beau Geste
Directed by William A. Wellman. 112mins. (1939)
Gary Cooper – Beau Geste
Epic Adventure….When three brothers join the Foreign Legion to escape a troubled past, they find themselves trapped under the command of a sadistic sergeant deep in the scorching Sahara. Now the brothers must fight for their lives as they plot mutiny against tyranny and defend a desert fortress against a brutal enemy. Nominated for 2 Academy Awards, Beau Geste has been universally acclaimed by generations of critics and audiences alike as a true motion picture classic.
Also starring Ray Milland, Robert Preston, Brian Donlevy, Susan Hayward, and J. Carrol
Based on the classic adventure novel by P.C. Wren, first published in 1924. The Film was honored on one of four 25¢ US commemorative postage stamps issued 23 March 1990 honouring classic films released in 1939. The stamp featured Gary Cooper as Beau Geste. The other films honoured were Stage Coach, Wizard of Oz and Gone with the Wind.
Oscar nominations for Best Supporting Actor (Brian Donlevy) and Best Art Direction.
Tagline - AGAIN...the three Geste’s face a thousand dangers of the Sahara for each other...and love!
MARIA’s NOtes
Beau Geste was made first as a silent movie in 1926 with Ronald Coleman as the major lead. In 1939 paramount did a remake “talkie” with my father Gary Cooper chosen to play one of theGeste brothers, who run off together to join the French foreign legion— the others portrayed by Robert Preston and Ray Milland.I remember my mother telling me that it was a very tough location, filmed in the Mojave Desert, some miles from Yuma, Arizona. The studio built a complete “movie town” with tents that had wooden floor and actual working bathroom for a crew of over 700 people.
I was told a dramatic story as I was growing up about how my father had gotten word that I was very sickbut with no details. So being stuck out in the desert he highjacked a camel and rode at full gallop to the nearest highway, where he ties the camel to a telephone pole and hitchhiked into Yuma and to the nearest hotel telephone to “phone home” to see if I was alright. Well, I later learned that colorful story was totally dreamed upby an eager PR person who fed it to the tabloids of the day!!! The adventure story itself of Beau Geste praises courage and appealed to my father’s early training and sense of values—and his belief in the importance of loyalty and self-sacrifice
Maria Cooper Janis