Film Forum

U.S., 1926
Directed by Herbert Brenon
Written by Herbert Brenon, John Russell, Paul Schofield
Based on the novel by P.C. Wren
Starring Ronald Colman, Neil Hamilton, William Powell, Noah Beery
Approx. 131 min., plus intermission. 4K Restoration.

“Herbert Brenon’s sweeping adaptation of P. C. Wren’s adventure novel created an enduring template for tales of legionnaire brotherhood and desert warfare. Ronald Colman stars as Michael ‘Beau’ Geste, the eldest of three devoted brothers who join the French Foreign Legion after being falsely suspected of stealing a valuable family sapphire. The film’s most indelible sequence—a desert fort populated entirely by dead soldiers propped up along the parapets—remains one of silent cinema’s most haunting images. Cinematographer J. Roy Hunt captures the expansive Algerian landscape (actually the Arizona desert) with painterly precision, while Brenon balances intimate character drama with spectacular military action. Noah Beery’s sadistic Sergeant Lejaune provides a memorably vicious antagonist whose cruelty tests the bonds of fraternal loyalty and honor at the heart of this classic adventure tale.” – Museum of Modern Art

Read about the restoration of BEAU GESTE

Reconstructed & Restored by Robert A. Harris and James T. Mockoski.

Presented by Film Preserve LTD., The Maltese Film Works and San Francisco Silent Film Festival.

Restoration supervised by the Library of Congress, in collaboration with Paramount Pictures, Library of Congress, UCLA Film and Television Archive, Museum of Modern Art, and George Eastman Museum. 

Restoration funded by Olivia & John Farr and The Lucille and Paul Maslin Foundation. 

Stills courtesy Bison Archives, Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences.  

Presented with support from The Ada Katz Fund for Literature in Film.

Reviews

“The perfect gateway for viewers who want to truly appreciate the pleasures of epic cinema.”
– IndieWire

“Adventure, romance, mystery, and brotherly affection are skillfully linked in the pictorial translation of Percival Christopher Wren's absorbing novel, Beau Geste.”
– Mordaunt Hall, The New York Times