The Last Remake of Beau Geste

Some of the best spoof movies work for people even if they haven't seen the films that are being spoofed so you don't have to be intimately familiar with Frankenstein or Bride of Frankenstein to find Young Frankenstein funny, nor do you have to have seen all of the Airport films to consider Airplane! one of the funniest films ever made. In the case of The Last Remake of Beau Geste, I haven't seen Beau Geste, the 1939 film starring Gary Cooper in the title role but wanted to watch and review this because Marty Feldman directed, co-wrote and starred in the film.

The Last Remake of Beau Geste follows, from what I can gather, the basic plot of the original novel and the 1939 film but with some bizarre variations. It begins in monochrome with a 1930s Universal Pictures globe spinning before a door opens on the left-hand side of the screen and a man enters who then tampers with the globe in accordance with the narration to tell you that the action commences in North Africa. Actually, it doesn't and the film goes back several years to show you how Beau Geste and his brother Digby were picked from an orphanage by a wealthy man and given a privileged upbringing with Beau excelling at everything but Digby always seeming to end up face down in a puddle of mud, exactly the way he was when he was found in the orphanage.

When the two orphaned boys are taken in by Sir Hector Brandon and his young new wife Lady Brandon, Beau excels at fencing and all aspects of behaviour expected of an upper-class young man whilst Digby is more or less an idiot and not quite his brother's "identical twin". One night, their father wants to show them the family's most treasured possession, the 'Blue Water' sapphire when suddenly the lights go out and, during the momentary period of darkness, the sapphire disappears. Everyone proclaims their innocence but, try as they might, no one can find the jewel or find anyone who will confess to having stolen the precious stone.

As a major suspect, Beau Geste decides to run away and join the French Foreign Legion whilst Digby is framed for the crime and, following some courtroom bartering, is sentenced to an inordinate amount of time behind bars. After some time in solitary confinement (in a very busy room with everyone else who is in solitary confinement), Digby decides to escape from jail and his adoptive mother uses her wiles and sexuality to convince the warden to facilitate the escape. Once he is free from the jail, Digby decides that the only place for him is North Africa where he intends to join his brother in the Foreign Legion.


The sadistic head of their unit, Sergeant Markoff, receives word that 'Digby Smith' is an escaped jailbird so suspects that either he or his brother is in possession of the 'Blue Water' sapphire and sends his dogsbody and informant, Boldini to search Beau Smith's room, clothing and eventually his person with each search being absolutely fruitless. However, Markoff isn't finished and orders the detachment to march to the abandoned Fort Zinderneuf to make it a stronghold in the French war against the Arabs.

This is one of those films that plays around with chronology, introduces various storylines and visual aspects at random, switching from monochrome to Technicolor and back again and even has a scene with Digby interacting with Beau Geste as played by Gary Cooper using a similar technique to that employed in Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid. It is a real scattergun approach to comedy with visual gags as well as puns and using Marty Feldman's unique appearance to great effect as he looks nothing like his 'identical twin brother', played by Michael York.

Some moments are extremely funny whilst others aren't as well developed and are silly rather than funny so the comedy is a little hit and miss but with more of the gags finding their target than the ones that fall flat. I suppose each viewer will find different bits funny and you could have four people watching the film, all of them laughing at various times but not necessarily together. Apparently the version that Marty Feldman made was cut down by the studio and the longer version has been lost in the mists of time so this version is simply one that Feldman would have ideally liked to see released on DVD.


One of the things The Last Remake of Beau Geste boasts is an extraordinary ensemble cast including Ann-Margret, Peter Ustinov, Michael York, Marty Feldman, Spike Milligan, James Earl Jones, Trevor Howard and Roy Kinnear. Obviously, they don't all have major roles with Milligan only appearing at the beginning as the family's butler, Crumble, and Trevor Howard has a recurring appearance as Sir Hector who is in a permanent state of "alive, but dying."

I'm not sure if Marty Feldman's direction is quite as assured as it needs to be for a film like this and if he had teamed up with Mel Brooks allowing him to concentrate on the writing and acting, leaving the direction up to Brooks then the film might have been more focused and less scattergun in its humour and construction. This is all conjecture but the fact of the matter is that this is a funny film but isn't up there with the likes of Young Frankenstein, Naked Gun or Airplane!, happily sitting on the shelf below the very best spoof movies but still one you could put on during a wet afternoon and cheer yourself up.


The Disc

The Picture
Presented in anamorphic widescreen 1.85:1, the film looks rather impressive with minor levels of grain, print damage and dirt and most of the detritus that is on screen is there intentionally as it cuts around from place to place and era to era.

The costumes, by Ron Beck and May Routh, are very good and keep the period setting very well but there are plenty of gags to be had, especially with Markoff's false legs (including one on his horse). The location shooting helps to establish place so the desert scenes all have a degree of authenticity as they were really shot in the desert.

The Sound
The Dolby Digital 2.0 mono soundtrack is clear enough despite some very slight background hiss and the odd crackle so the dialogue is very clear and all of the lines are delivered very well so the lack of subtitles will only be a problem for viewers who are hard of hearing.

The score, by John Morris, works by juxtaposition as it is a fairly serious piece of work that seems to enhance the lunacy on-screen and, even when it switches to a slightly more bizarre or chaotic composition, it continues to work.


Final Thoughts
The Last Remake of Beau Geste is not the greatest spoof/parody movie ever made but it is one that has an extremely well-written script by Marty Feldman and Chris Allen and Feldman's direction is surprisingly good without being perfect. The cast are all terrific, doing a wonderful job with the material they have been given and providing laughs from the first minute to last.

It is a slight shame that the disc doesn't have any extra features as retrospective interviews from the likes of Michael York, James Earl Jones or even Ann-Margret would have made interesting viewing. However, the RRP £15.99 does seem to be a touch high even though most online retailers have it available for pre-order at less than that (the cheapest I can find is £9.99). It is to Second Sight's credit that they have made this film available on DVD in the UK for the very first time, following its release in the US a year ago.