A Film Canon

 

 

Beau Geste distinguishes itself from most other swashbuckling films of the 1930s by virtue of its artful challenge to reconstruct two mysterious events, as well as its own ability to do so in a way that maximises the thrill of recognition - of every seemingly incongruous, or inexplicable, factor slotting into its proper place. Although the most pervasive of these events is the theft of a precious sapphire during a blackout, the most memorable is the opening discovery of a desolate, undefended desert fort, replete with corpses at the battlements, and bearing no other indication of the events that set this carnage in motion than a series of nuances that it takes an entire narrative to contextualise. Although the resultant tension is partly that of P.C. Wren's original novel, it is reinforced by Wellman's artful direction - and, in particular, his ability to manipulate silence, often by lingering over an object for just the right period of time to ensure that its strangeness peaks without being normalised. As with most swashbuckling films, the "love of brother for brother" is prioritised over romance, while the genre's distinction between mischief and immorality reaches its logical conclusion in the contrast between Gary Cooper and Brian Donlevy's performances; and, more specifically, in the contrast between Cooper's ability to transform apparent immorality into the mere garment of a deeper morality (or, alternatively to embody conversion), and Donlevy's proclivity for sadistic, antisocial characters, which is here explicated in such a way as to ensure the most memorable performance of his career.