Word of the Day
Geste (zhest)
· Common clue: Beau _____
· Crossword puzzle frequency: 6 times a year
· Frequency in English language: 59848 / 86800
Definition: A gracious, noble gesture – but usually meaningless.
Beau Geste (boh-ZHEST) was a 1924 book by P. C. Wren.
Three movie versions released in 1926, 1939, and 1966, as well as a television mini-series in 1982 and a 1977 parody, the aptly named The Last Remake of Beau Geste starring Marty Feldman and Michael York. The best known version was made in 1939 with Gary Cooper, Ray Milland, Robert Preston, Susan Hayward, Broderick Crawford, and Brian Donlevy. Donlevy was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor.
Gary
Cooper and Ray Milland in Beau Geste, 1939
Although minor plot points separate the versions, all of the versions share a common element of a stolen gem, which one of the Geste brothers, Beau Geste, is thought to have stolen from his adoptive family.
In the 1939 version, the gem has to be sold to raise money for a project of the never-seen household head, Lord Brandon, who has been spending money unwisely for some period of time. The three Geste brothers, now adults, have lived with the family since their childhood, and their patroness, Lady Brandon, brings out the gem for one last look before it is sold. Suddenly, the lights go out and the gem disappears. All the participants claim innocence, but all the brothers later confess to the crime to each other…
This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Beau Geste".
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