"Oh god, it's just the opening credits and already there's so much sand I'm getting Lawrence of Arabia flashbacks!" - my first thoughts on the film
I'll admit, this review took longer than I intended. I could say that it was because I had to work hard on reading and giving detailed notes on my roommate's script. I could say that it was because my day job of working in a mailroom is physically tiring and spiritually exhausting. I could say that it was because I kept getting distracted by other stuff I wanted to watch. Those are all true statements, but really what kept me from Beau Geste is the fact that it's a black-and-white adventure movie.
I know. It's a terrible prejudice to have in a would-be movie critic and a film student. But for some genres I just have a hard time dealing with black and white. Action/adventure is one of the hardest because I grew up with 80s action movies, which are loud, colorful, often bloody, and fast-paced. I knew I'd be challenged by the 1939 pace and style of Beau Geste. However, I overcame my trepidation for the sake of the blog and here we are.
Overall I enjoyed Beau Geste but, assuming that the Academy knew what it was doing, I agree with the decision to deny it an Oscar. It's one of those films that is great when it's good and kinda awful when it's not. If you're someone who appreciates film history and/or male character dynamics, it's worth a watch. If you just want an old-fashioned adventure movie, I humbly suggest Raiders of the Lost Ark, which contains nearly as much sand and bemusing racism with far fewer structure problems and pointless characters.
In what turned out to be a pleasant surprise, the character work in the film is excellent. I don't know why, but I don't expect solid character work from adventure stories. Particularly the early cinema variety, with their reliance on the strong, silent type of tough guy actor (a type I tend to vehemently dislike, by the way). But Gary Cooper shows a touching fraternal goofiness and sense of responsibility, rendering Beau a hero more by his interactions with other characters than by some martial deeds. His level-headed refusal to engage in the mutiny but unwillingness to execute the mutineers is a wonderfully complex inner conflict, again emphasizing that he's heroic because of who he is, not what he does. Ray Milland and Robert Preston as John and Digby, though not blessed with nearly as much narrative focus, work well as the younger brothers in awe of their older sibling, fiercely loyal to each other and Beau. Milland's romance with the boys' adopted sister Isabel is a bit of a throw-away and Digby literally disappears from the narrative for almost the entire last half of the film, but these are minor complaints when compared to the charm and nobility of the Geste boys. It's worth pointing out that there's an early scene, before the Gestes have left for the Foreign Legion, involving Digby and Beau flushing out and preparing to kill a mouse upstairs. Ultimately they decide that the poor thing is so tiny and harmless, and probably has a family, that it would be cruel to kill it. Beau even suggests bringing cheese up later. This is an AMAZING scene and probably my favorite moment of the entire film. It's a small moment, but it says so much...
Beau Geste is an adaptation, and like many film adaptations it suffers from trying to squeeze in too much from the source material. There are interstitials (a term I'm probably misusing but oh well) that give us an idea of time passing and some background info relevant to the following scenes, and these feel like the film is rushing us past potentially important moments from the novel. It's a strange acknowledgement, as if the film is saying to us, "Yeah, I know, but there's a lot of ground to cover." As well, the film opens with a rather long sequence establishing the Gestes as children and young adults. The sequence is actually great fun and does a good job of establishing character traits and a bit of exposition that will be important for the narrative later. But it's awfully long. And this sequence introduces the 100% pointless character of Augustus. I've never read the novel, but I have to believe that Augustus serves more of a narrative purpose than he does in the film. He's an over-the-top caricature of a snotty kid who ultimately has no influence on any of the events in the film. This sequence also introduces Isabel, who serves slightly more purpose as a motivation for lovestruck John to survive the Arab attacks. But Isabel doesn't write and John never talks about her in the barracks, so she's almost a non-entity for the majority of the film. (Having said that, John and Isabel's "goodbye" scene at the end of the first Act is very well-written and actually moved me). I think the first act generally could have used some judicious trimming, particularly in favor of greater focus on the Geste boys in the Legion.
The character work, though solid for the protagonists, wasn't so great for the antagonists. In the first act Augustus has to play the part of villain and he's so broad he might as well be the side of a barn. It's unintentionally hilarious how much he's just this shitty little kid for no discernible reason. Markoff is a better-written villain, but he's equal parts fascinating and frustrating. Beau's line that Markoff is "a trifle uncouth, but the best soldier we'll ever see" describes the man well. His fervor in the heat of battle and tactical cunning make him the kind of villain you admire. But there's a decidedly Augustus-like moustache-twirling "plain-dealing villain" aspect to the character that I just can't get behind. He relishes the death of his commanding officer because it leaves him in charge. It isn't enough to let the audience infer this, Brian Donlevy actually has to sneer maniacally in the dead officer's face the MOMENT AFTER DEATH. Not two feet away the next morning. No, the guy exhales his last breath, Donlevy puts his ear to the guy's chest, then when Donlevy doesn't hear an inhale he raises his face to the officer's face like he's about to plant a wet kiss on him, and grins like a cartoon cat. It's just sloppy and unsubtle and a shame when one considers the great work done with the Gestes.
I know the times were what they were, but I have to view this movie with a modern sensibility and the ridiculous jingoism in this movie bothered the hell out of me. First of all, this is the French Foreign Legion we're talking about. According to history, the vast majority of the Legion was commanded by French officers. You know how many French accents I heard in this film? None. According to this film, the French Foreign Legion was 99% white American. There are two overtly "foreign" main characters in the film: one is mad, cruel Russian Markoff and the other is ugly, thieving Russian Rasinoff. So we've got villainous Russians and Arabs battling heroic Yanks (the Gestes are technically British, but c'mon, you never hear an accent in any of their lines). Again, I know this is more a reflection of society and availability of casting talent, but it still really bothered me.
There are moments that I want to point out as being especially good but I don't have much to say about them. The opening sequence of the fort full of dead Legionnaires was a particularly effective hook, even if the bodies were a bit hokey. Lieutenant Martin's deathbed speech about there being too many soldiers and too few battles was intriguing and proven out by Markoff's talent for warfare. The scene wherein Markoff demands that the survivors laugh loudly to confuse the Arabs made Markoff that much more interesting and was a great pairing of an external conflict (Arabs must not realize the fort is almost dead) with an internal (the survivors are mentally exhausted and losing self-control). The "viking funeral" scene was really effective and had me tearing up, which was great when the darkly comical counterpoint of the dog at the foot of the bed was added.
As far as Beau Geste's relation to the theme goes, I'm calling this a failure. Look, the Foreign Legion gets mentioned and is a backdrop to the story, but there's more French in a McDonald's croissanwich than in this entire movie. The Geste boys don't go through any rigorous on-screen training to emphasize the military aspect of the Legion. If it weren't for uniforms and guns, you'd never even know these guys were soldiers. Decent movie, not really a great example of the theme.
So there you go. Recommended? Yes, with my aforementioned caveats.
Tune in next week when my new film will be..... well, I don't know. I didn't get the next DVD yet.
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