Beau Geste (1939)

Beau Geste is a 1939 Paramount Pictures action/adventure motion picture starring Gary Cooper, Ray Milland, Robert Preston, Brian Donlevy, and Susan Hayward.

Directed and produced by William A. Wellman, the screenplay was adapted by Robert Carson, based on the 1924 novel of the same title by P. C. Wren. The music score was by Alfred Newman and cinematography was by Theodor Sparkuhl and Archie Stout.

The film is a virtual scene-for-scene remake of the 1926 silent version of the same title starring Ronald Colman. This is probably the best known adaptation.

Beau Geste is the first movie that features as many as four Academy Award winners for Best Actor/Best Actress in a Leading Role (Cooper, Milland, Hayward, and Broderick Crawford) prior to any of them receiving the award.

Synopsis

The film opens up with a company of French Foreign Legionaries approaching a fort. From a distance it is perceived to be occupied, but upon closer inspection the bodies representing are found to be dead, only mounted for deception. However, a lone shot is fired from inside and two people investigate. One goes missing and the other finds a death note on one of the bodies admitting to the stealing of a valuable sapphire called the "Blue Water".

Actors