Beau Geste Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		4.0
Video		4.0
Audio		4.5
Extras		2.0
Overall		4.0

Beau Geste Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Dr. Svet Atanasov May 3, 2020

William A. Wellman's "Beau Geste" (1939) arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Kino Lorber. The supplemental features on the disc include vintage trailer for the film as well as exclusive new audio commentary by William Wellman Jr. and film historian Frank Thompson. In English, with optional English SDH subtitles for the main feature. Region-A "locked".

The Blue Water

William A. Wellman’s film is one of many different cinematic adaptations of Percival Christopher Wren’s popular novel. The earliest one was produced by Herbert Brenon in 1926, and some older articles have actually referred to Wellman’s film as a remake of it, but this is an undeserved description. Wellman’s film simply offers another unique take on the original material from the novel.

The film begins deep into the Sahara Desert where Foreign Legion Major Henri de Beaujolais (James Stephenson) and his men are slowly moving toward the remote Fort Zinderneuf. They have been tasked to provide much needed support in an ongoing conflict with Arab forces from the region. But when the fort eventually emerges amongst the sand hills they are greeted only by corpses, all carefully positioned to fool the enemy that the place is still fully protected. While trying to figure out the nature of the event that has caused the mass deaths inside the fort, Beaujolais stumbles upon the cold body of Sergeant Markoff (Brian Donlevy) and on it discovers a note confessing the theft of an extremely valuable jewel named Blue Water.

Now the film goes back in time and at a lavish Victorian estate in England introduces the orphan brothers Beau Geste (Donald O’Connor), John (Billy Cook), and Digby (David Holt), who are being raised by their aunt, Lady Patricia Brandon (Heather Thatcher). Isolated from the real world, the teenage boys spend most of their time playing military games that require of them to behave like adults. A few decades later, the brothers, now young men, gather to meet a relative that is supposed to reclaim the Blue Water, and before he arrives ask Lady Brandon to see it one last time. The precious stone is taken out of its box, but after the lights unexpectedly go off disappears without a trace. When the thief refuses to return it, the deeply disturbed Lady Brandon asks that he does the right thing while everyone is sleep. On the following morning, Digby (Robert Preston) and John (Ray Milland) discover a note from Beau (Gary Cooper) in which he confesses that he was the thief and has left for good. The two brothers then discover that Beau has joined the Foreign Legion and shortly after leave the estate as well.

In Africa, the brothers reunite and for a while it looks like they will stay in the same platoon. But when a petty criminal (J. Carrol Naish) overhears them discussing the stone and then shares a fake story with Markoff so that he can stay out of trouble, they are separated. Beau and John are transferred to Fort Zinderneuf, with Markoff also part of their platoon, while Digby remains at headquarters serving under Beaujolais.

The drama that ensues produces new character transformations and rearranges key relationships. With it the stone’s disappearance is also reexamined, leading to a memorable resolution that completely exonerates the thief.

The only part of this film that can be legitimately critiqued is the nature of its popular story, which introduces events that are quite difficult to take seriously. It feels like something that would have been imagined by the great Scheherazade but with the type of intricate relationships that western audiences would appreciate. Of course, this is a moot ‘flaw’ to address because it is in the original material from Wren’s novel.

Cooper gets top billing but the film works as well as it does because there are equally strong contributions from a number of different actors.

The visual effects are quite wonderful and in places like the estate and the fort in the desert the set decors actually look rather striking. The detailed period costumes from Hollywood icon Edith Head also make an impression.

The dramatic orchestral score was prepared by multiple Oscar-winning composer Alfred Newman.

Beau Geste Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Presented in its original aspect ratio of 1.37:1, encoded with MPEG-4 AVC and granted a 1080p transfer, Beau Geste arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Kino Lorber.

The release is sourced from a new 4K master that was supplied by Universal Pictures. Now, while the master has strong organic qualities, the film has not been fully restored. What does this mean exactly? It means that the studio appears to have scanned the best element(s) that it has in its vaults and then prepared the current master. However, there are areas of the film that could have used high-quality restoration work to repair damage and improve or remove other age-related anomalies. (You can see what type of damage is retained on the master in screencapture #13). There are also a few segments that could have benefited from small stability optimizations. The good news is that all of the retained damage and anomalies still amount to 'cosmetic' imperfections, so the film actually looks very pleasing in high-definition. For example, delineation typically ranges from very good to excellent. Clarity is also good during daylight and darker footage. The grading could have been managed a bit better to preserve some nuances in darker areas, but my feeling is that the current elements actually would not have allowed for a substantial difference in the areas where it appears that the blacks are a tad too prominent. Fluidity is quite good as well. All in all, even though there is room for some cosmetic improvements, this release offers a convincing organic presentation of the film, which could very well remain its definitive presentation on the home video market. (Note: This is a Region-A "locked" Blu-ray release. Therefore, you must have a native Region-A or Region-Free player in order to access its content).

Beau Geste Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

There is only one standard audio track on this Blu-ray release: English DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0. Optional English SDH subtitles are provided for the main feature.

The audio is clear and stable. However, there are select parts of the film where extremely light unevenness can be noticed. But this is the type of inherited limitation that is quite common on older films. The important point that needs to be made here is that the audio files are healthy, which makes it easy to have a proper viewing experience with the film. There are no audio dropouts, distortions, or other transfer-specific anomalies to report in our review.

Beau Geste Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Trailer - a vintage trailer for Beau Geste. In English, not subtitled. (480/60i).

• Commentary - William Hellman Jr. and film historian Frank Thompson -- promoted by the former as "the number one authority on Beau Geste in the world" -- supply the type of illuminating and personal information that actually makes audio commentaries worth listening to. They cover everything from the film's conception at Paramount and William A. Wellman's involvement with it to the specific casting choices that were made to the exact nature of the cinematic characterizations. There are also some very good observations about Percival Christopher Wren's novel and other notable adaptions of it, the real French Legion, the reshooting of some key sequences (for political reasons), and even some health problems that were encountered during the production process.

• Additional Trailers -
  
  1. The Lives of a Bengal Lancer
  2. The General Died at Dawn
  3. Man of the West
  4. Reap the Wild Wind
  5. Panic in Year Zero
  6. Junior Bonner
  7. Rawhide
  8. Canyon Passage
  9. The Ox-Bow Incident
  10. Yellow Sky

Beau Geste Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

In the late 1930s, Beau Geste must have delivered the type of exotic cinematic thrills that many decades later the Indiana Jones films produced. There are some social themes in it that are unique for its era, but it is so easy to tell that it was conceived to be that kind of a huge crowd pleaser. Hollywood always had the right talent for these genre films, but for different reasons it no longer makes them -- or at least not as they should be made. I had a great time revisiting Beau Geste on Blu-ray, and I am sure you will as well. (Now that more of these classic exotic adventure films are arriving on Blu-ray, let's hope that Warner Archive will soon surprise us with an upgrade of Gunga Din). Kino Lorber's release is sourced from a good 4K master that was supplied by Universal Pictures. It also features a very nice exclusive new audio commentary by William Wellman Jr. and film historian Frank Thompson. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.