REGENT THEATRE

Wairarapa Times-Age, 23 April 1940, Page 2

REGENT THEATRE

“BEAU GESTE.” A roaring lusty tale of the indomitable gallantry of three loyal brothers will blaze across the screen of the Regent Theatre again tonight when Paramount’s great new production of "Beau Geste” is presented. Gary Cooper, Ray Milland and Robert Preston are starred in this glorious picturisation of the great P. C. Wren novel. The superb supporting cast is headed by Brian Donlevy, Susan Hayward, J. Carrol Naish, Donald O’Connor and James Stephenson. As indicated by the nature of the production, thousands of other players round out the cast, serving as legionnaires, and members of wild desert tribes. With Cooper, Milland and Preston cast as the three “Geste” brothers —“Beau,” “John” and "Digby,” respectively, the picture tells how they gallantly join the French Foreign Legion to avert having the finger of suspicion point at any of them as guilty of the theft of a valuable sapphire, the “Blue Water,” from their guardian. In the legion, there is desperate conflict between the brothers and a mad, brutal sergeant, “Markoff,” played by Brian Donlevy, who, suspecting that one of the brothers has the gem in his possession, determines to get it for himself. The picture reaches high peaks of adventure when Markoff, having chosen only Beau and John for duty at an isolated desert fort, Fort Zinderneuf, gains command, and drives the men to mutiny with his savage treatment. His efforts to force Beau and John to shoot the leaders of the mutineers are interrupted by an attack by a wild desert tribe, the “Touaregs.” As the Legionnaires are killed in successive attacks, Markoff props their bodies in the fort’s embrasures to create the impression that it is still well-manned. A violent climax is reached when Beau is fatally wounded, and John plunges a bayonet through Markoff’s chest as the latter tries to search Beau for the jewel. The ultimate fate of the brothers Geste and of the jewel is explained in an exciting flashback in which Digby figures prominently. Although “Beau Geste” is predominantly a great adventure picture, there are many romantic scenes in which Ray Milland and Susan Hayward, cast as the lovely ward of the Geste brothers’ guardian, figure prominently.