''Beau Sabreur'' is a 1928 American silent romantic

adventure film The adventure film is a broad genre of film. Some early genre studies found it no different than the Western film or argued that adventure could encompass all Hollywood genres. Commonality was found among historians Brian Taves and Ian Cameron in ...

directed by

John Waters John Samuel Waters Jr. (born April 22, 1946) is an American filmmaker, actor, writer, and artist. He rose to fame in the early 1970s for his transgressive cult films, including '' Multiple Maniacs'' (1970), '' Pink Flamingos'' (1972) and '' Fe ...

and starring

Gary Cooper Gary Cooper (born Frank James Cooper; May 7, 1901May 13, 1961) was an American actor known for his strong, silent screen persona and understated acting style. He won the Academy Award for Best Actor twice and had a further three nominations, ...

and

Evelyn Brent Evelyn Brent (born Mary Elizabeth Riggs; October 20, 1895 – June 4, 1975) was an American film and stage actress. Early life Brent was born in Tampa, Florida and known as "Betty." When she was 10 years old, her mother Eleanor ( Warner) die ...

. Due to the public apathy towards silent films, a sound version was also prepared. While the sound version has no audible dialog, it was released with a synchronized musical score with sound effects using both the sound-on-disc and sound-on-film process. Based on the 1926 novel '' Beau Sabreur'' by P. C. Wren, who also wrote the 1924 novel ''

Beau Geste ''Beau Geste'' is an adventure novel by British writer P. C. Wren, which details the adventures of three English brothers who enlist separately in the French Foreign Legion following the theft of a valuable jewel from the country house of a r ...

''. Produced by

Paramount Famous Lasky Corporation Paramount Pictures Corporation, commonly known as Paramount Pictures or simply Paramount, is an American film production company, production and Distribution (marketing), distribution company and the flagship namesake subsidiary of Paramount ...

and distributed by

Paramount Pictures Paramount Pictures Corporation, commonly known as Paramount Pictures or simply Paramount, is an American film production company, production and Distribution (marketing), distribution company and the flagship namesake subsidiary of Paramount ...

, only a trailer exists of this film today. The released feature version is a

lost film A lost film is a feature film, feature or short film in which the original negative or copies are not known to exist in any studio archive, private collection, or public archive. Films can be wholly or partially lost for a number of reasons. ...

.(Wayback Machine) In the original novel the lead character Major Henri de Beaujolais is an officer of

spahi Spahis () were light cavalry, light-cavalry regiments of the French army recruited primarily from the Arab and Berber populations of Algeria, Tunisia and Morocco. The modern French Army retains one regiment of Spahis as an armoured unit, w ...

s (Algerian colonial cavalry of the French Army) and has no connection with the better known Foreign Legion. In all surviving stills of ''Beau Sabreur'' Gary Cooper is shown wearing the distinctive

uniform and it is not clear whether the

was intended to be a Foreign Legion epic.

Plot

A desert-bound member of the

French Foreign Legion The French Foreign Legion (, also known simply as , "the Legion") is a corps of the French Army created to allow List of militaries that recruit foreigners, foreign nationals into French service. The Legion was founded in 1831 and today consis ...

exposes a betrayer to the Legion. He is then sent on a mission among the Arabs to conclude the signing of a crucial peace treaty.

Cast

as Major Henri de Beaujolais *

as Mary Vanbrugh *

Noah Beery Noah Nicholas Beery (January 17, 1882 – April 1, 1946) was an American actor who appeared in films from 1913 until his death in 1946. He was the older brother of Academy Award-winning actor Wallace Beery as well as the father of characte ...

as Sheikh El Hammel *

William Powell William Horatio Powell (July 29, 1892 – March 5, 1984) was an American actor, known primarily for his film career. Under contract with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, he was paired with Myrna Loy in 14 films, including the ''The Thin Man (film), Thin M ...

as Becque *

Roscoe Karns Roscoe Karns (September 7, 1891 – February 6, 1970) was an American actor who appeared in nearly 150 films between 1915 and 1964. He specialized in cynical, wise-cracking (and often tipsy) characters, and his rapid-fire delivery enlivened many ...

as Buddy * Mitchell Lewis as Suleman the Strong * Arnold Kent as Raoul de Redon *

Raoul Paoli Jacques Marie Lucien Raoul Simonpaoli (24 November 1887 – 23 March 1960) was a French athlete, boxer, wrestler, rower and actor. Aged 12, he served as a coxswain in the French coxed pair and won a bronze medal at the 1900 Summer Olympics. He c ...

as Dufour *

Joan Standing Joan Standing (21 June 1903 – 3 February 1979) was an English actress, best known for playing Nurse Briggs in the 1931 horror film ''Dracula''. She appeared in more than 60 films from 1919 to 1940, with the majority under contract with Metro ...

as Maudie *

Frank Reicher Frank Reicher (born Franz Reichert; December 2, 1875 – January 19, 1965) was a German-born American actor, director and producer. He is best known for playing Captain Englehorn in the 1933 film ''King Kong''. Early life Reicher was born in M ...

as General de Beaujolais * Oscar Smith as Djikki * H.J. Utterhore (uncredited) * Alberto Morin (uncredited)

Music

The sound version of the film featured a theme song entitled "Desert Stars" which was composed by Edward Lockton and Frank Tours. A second song, "Thinking of You," by Joseph Grey (words) and Allie Moore (music), was also featured on the soundtrack.

Production

''Beau Sabreur'' was filmed on location in

Guadalupe, California Guadalupe is a small city located in Santa Barbara County, California. According to the 2010 United States census, 2010 census, the city has a population of 7,080. Guadalupe is economically and socially tied to the city of Santa Maria, Califo ...

, in Red Rock Canyon State Park in Cantil, California, and in

Yuma, Arizona Yuma is a city in and the county seat of Yuma County, Arizona, United States. The city's population was 95,548 at the 2020 census, up from the 2010 census population of 93,064. Yuma is the principal city of the Yuma, Arizona, Metropolitan ...

References

External links

* *
''Beau Sabreur''
at Virtual History *

at

Project Gutenberg Project Gutenberg (PG) is a volunteer effort to digitize and archive cultural works, as well as to "encourage the creation and distribution of eBooks." It was founded in 1971 by American writer Michael S. Hart and is the oldest digital li ...

Stills
at silenthollywood.com 1928 films 1928 adventure films 1928 lost films American silent feature films American black-and-white films Lost American adventure films Lost American romance films Films directed by John Waters (director born 1893) Films about the French Foreign Legion Famous Players-Lasky films Films produced by B. P. Schulberg Films set in deserts Films shot in Arizona Films shot in California American romance films 1920s American films Silent American adventure films Synchronized sound films {{1920s-US-film-stub