Beau Ideal (1931) – A Little Dust from the Sahara, a Lot of Drama

So, Beau Ideal, right? I caught it last weekend, slightly jetlagged and missing my old VHS tapes from Borås. Directed by Herbert Brenon – yeah, that Brenon, who did Peter Pan back in ’24 – so I got some nostalgic chills before it even started rolling. The film walks in the sand alongside its big brother Beau Geste (which grandma had a dodgy Betamax copy of), but it’s a bit more confused, like it had too much kaffe och en dammsugare and forgot where it put its boots.

Ralph Forbes is back as John Geste, and if anyone looks like they’d join the Foreign Legion by accident, it’s him. Add Loretta Young and Lester Vail – not exactly legends in my part of Sweden, but they’ve got that old Hollywood thing, all eyebrows and brooding under the desert sun. Producer Ralph Block keeps things crisp enough, but sometimes I felt like I was watching a sandstorm through the neighbor’s dirty window.

No kidding, a camel walked by onscreen and I literally smelled hay – triggered a memory from the time my cousin Jörgen dressed up as a legionnaire for midsommar. He ended up face-first in a flowerbed and never got the sand out of his shoes. That’s basically how Geste feels in Beau Ideal: trying for glory, finding mostly dust.

But here’s the thing – I’ll admit, a part of me likes the grand silliness; the over-the-top loyalty, that scrappy esprit de corps. It’s a bit like watching classic Swedish army flicks, everyone talking about honor but mostly itching from mosquito bites. Still, I wish Brenon had let Loretta Young do more than look worried. Can’t help but feel she’s wasted under those palm shadows.

If you crave epic old adventures, or just wanna see how they fumbled desert sagas before CGI made sand boring, Beau Ideal’s worth a look. Grab some kanelbullar and roll with it, bara.

watch the full movie on Mavshack Movies on YouTube

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