An American joins the French Foreign Legion in order to rescue a boyhood friend.
Beau Ideal 1931 HD | War & adventure film directed by Herbert Brenon | Ralph Forbes, Loretta Young, Irene Rich & Lester Vail
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Movie Info
Beau Ideal is a 1931 American adventure film directed by Herbert Brenon and released by RKO Radio Pictures. The film was based on the adventure novel, Beau Ideal, by P C Wren, the third novel in a series of five novels based around the same characters. Brenon had directed the first in the series, Beau Geste (1926 film), which was a very successful silent film in 1926. The screenplay was adapted from Wren’s novel by Paul Schofield (screenwriter), who had also written the screenplay for the 1926 Beau Geste, with contributions from Elizabeth Meehan and Marie Halvey.
The film starred Ralph Forbes (reprising his role as John Geste from the 1926 film, Beau Geste), Loretta Young, Irene Rich, and Lester Vail, however it was neither a critical nor financial success. Although the film was not a success, it did introduce two technological advancements to film: the concentrator microphone and the Dunning process.
Plot Summary
The last two surviving members of a French Foreign Legion detachment consigned to a grain pit in the desert await death. The two soldiers who know each other as Smith and Brown recognize each other as the childhood friends, John Geste (Ralph Forbes) and Lester Vail (Otis Madison), respectively.
The two flashback to their boyhood friendship in England, followed by Otis’ return to England and discovery that John has joined the French Foreign Legion. Otis also learns that Isobel Landon (Loretta Young), who is enamored with, is betrothed to John. Despite this betrothal, he vows to follow John to Africa and return him to England. Upon his arrival in Africa, Otis, through a series of coincidences, ends up in the same penal detail as John, which puts them both in the pit where the film begins.
Back in the present, as they are about to die, they are miraculously rescued by a passing band of Arabs. Unknown to the two friends is that the Arabs intend to use them as bait to draw their fellow legionnaires into a death trap. Fortunately for the friends, the girlfriend of the Emir, Zuleika (Leni Stengel), also known as “the Angel of Death”, is attracted to Otis. After Otis agrees to marry her, Zuleika informs him of the impending attack by the Arabs, and then helps Otis and John to escape. The two legionnaires race to the fort, and help to repel the Arab attack, which earns both of them their freedom.
After Otis is relieved of his matrimonial duties to the exotic Zuleika, whose romantic attention has moved on from him to Major LeBaudy (Hale Hamilton), Otis and John return to England, where John relinquishes his claim on Isobel, clearing the way for Otis to marry her.
Cast
- Frank McCormack as Carl Neyer
- Ralph Forbes as John Geste
- Lester Vail as Otis Madison
- Otto Matieson as Jacob Levine
- Don Alvarado as Ramon Gonzales
- Bernard Siegel (actor) as Ivan Badineff
- Irene Rich as Lady Brandon
- Myrtle Stedman as Mrs. Frank Madison
- Loretta Young as Isobel Brandon
- John St. Polis as Judge Advocate
- Joseph De Stefani as Prosecuting Attorney
- Paul McAllister as Sergeant Frederic
- Hale Hamilton as Major Laboudy
- George Regas as The Emir
- Leni Stengel as Zuleika – the “Angel of Death”
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