Frank Thompson's THE COMPLEAT BEAU GESTE on sale now

[Richard M Roberts]

Frank Thompson is simply put one of our best film historians, and his latest book THE COMPLEAT BEAU GESTE is a culmination of his many decades of research on everything involving the foreign legion in media, it is way more than just documenting P.C. Wren's classic book and its various incarnations in movies, television radio and stage, it really is a history of how foreign legions were presented in fiction.

It's a beautiful book, lavishly illustrated, with Frank's incredible research and entertaining and informational writing style, 456 pages, 1200 pieces of stills and artwork, it is a real pleasure to read as well. This one suggests you pick it up and enjoy, and get a genuine education in an era and a classic not well covered in other texts. And get it while you can, in these days of self -publishing, frequently the only way to go to get it done right and not have to deal with some mega or small press publisher clueless about the history and import of a book about movies more than twenty years old, one never knows how long an opportunity one has to purchase it (how many of you missed out on getting my book folks, and sadly, Frank's last excellent book with John Gallagher on the films of William Wellman is already out of print).

It's on amazon, in both hard cover and paperback, what are you waiting for?:

https://www.amazon.com/Compleat-Beau-Ge ... 130&sr=1-1

RICHARD M ROBERTS

[Frank Thompson]

Thanks for the kind words, Richard.

Here is a book trailer that gives some idea of the scope of the book:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h8v_M--vt3g&t=15s

[Ed Watz]

I just received my copy this morning from Amazon. Spending several hours with it I can honestly say that THE COMPLEAT BEAU GESTE is an amazing, engrossing and comprehensive book covering every film related to BEAU GESTE, plus a whole lot more. It reminds me of Kevin Brownlow's THE PARADE'S GONE BY in its scope, the insightful writing, and its wealth of rare photos, beautifully reproduced, in both black & white and vivid color. It's a great, GREAT book, I'm looking into a deep dive tonight.

So thank you Frank Thompson, if "the devil is in the details," then you've once again exceeded expectations in your fabulous research and excellent analyses.

And thank you Richard - since I'm not on any social media platforms, your post was the first notice where I learned that the book was now available.

P.S. - Regarding Smith & Dale's spoof ARABIAN SHRIEKS, those 1931 reviewers had to be blind not to realize footage was lifted from the silent BEAU GESTE - SHRIEKS has an obvious shot of Ronald Colman, who out of context appears to be smiling and waving at the audience!

[Frank Thompson]

Ed, your generous words are greatly appreciated. They mean a lot to me. I'm so glad that you're enjoying my lifelong labor of love and really grateful that you wrote about it here.

Best wishes.

Frank

[Ed Watz]

My 5-star review just appeared on Amazon (12 reviews are posted, all of them give 5 stars to this superb book):

https://www.amazon.com/Compleat-Beau-Ge ... merReviews

Coincidentally my son and I attended an antiques collectables show in Prague over the weekend. We thought of Frank's book when we saw this placard:

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