BEAU GESTE
starring Ronald Colman, Neil Hamilton, Ralph Forbes, Alice Joyce
and Noah Beery
PHOTOPLAY
November, 1926
They're advertising this special as a man's picture, but girls, don't let that keep you away. Glance over the cast: Ronald Colman, Ralph Forbes and Neil Hamilton play the heroic Geste brothers. Noah Beery is that remorseless scoundrel of the Foreign Legion, Sergeant Lejuane, and William Powell is a sly and sinister Legionnaire. That's a cast!
"Beau Geste" is a mystery story, first and last. The screen has too few good mystery tales. The love element is pretty slender, but the swing of adventure makes up for it. Perhaps you read Percival Wren's best seller. In filming it, Director Herbert Brenon has followed the original with a lot of fidelity. We aren't going to tell you about the mystery here, save that there is a stolen sapphire, "the Blue Water," of great value. Al three Gestes shoulder the blame of the theft and run away to join the Foreign Legion, that little army of lost men trying to forget and be forgotten in the African sands.
If you read Wren's novel, you will recall the fascinating and startling opening of the story. A detachment of the Legion is moving to the relief of Fort Zinderneuf. Approaching through the shifting sands, the advance guard hails the fort. At each battlement soldiers can be observed standing, gun in hand. But there is no answer to the rescuers' calls. Each man is dead, standing at his post.
The brave Gestes are splendidly played by Messrs. Colman, Ralph
Forbes (here's a good bet), and Hamilton. But the real acting
honors go to Mr. Beery for his Leguane and Mr. Powell for his
cringing Boldini. Watch those two boys cop the picture.