Beau Brummell (1954)

User Rating:

6.5/10   

Director:

Curtis Bernhardt

Writers:

Clyde Fitch (play)
Karl Tunberg (writer)

Release Date:

18 March 1955 (Australia)

Genre:

Biography | Drama

Plot:

Captain George Brummell is an upper-class dandy. He has to leave the army after having insulted the crown prince...

Plot Keywords:

Prince | Insult | Dandy | Beautiful Woman | Class Status

Cast

Stewart Granger	...	George Bryan 'Beau' Brummell
Elizabeth Taylor	...	Lady Patricia Belham
Peter Ustinov	...	George IV Prince of Wales
Robert Morley	...	King George III
James Donald	...	Lord Edwin Mercer
James Hayter	...	Mortimer
Rosemary Harris	...	Mrs. Maria Anne Fitzherbert
Paul Rogers	...	William Pitt
Noel Willman	...	Lord George Gordon Byron
Peter Dyneley	...	Midger
Charles Carson	...	Sir Geoffrey Baker
Ernest Clark	...	Doctor Warren
Peter Bull	...	Mr. Fox
Mark Dignam	...	Mr. Burke
Desmond Roberts	...	Colonel

Runtime:

113 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Eastmancolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Perspecta Sound encoding) (Western Electric Sound System)

Certification:

Australia:PG | Finland:S | Sweden:Btl | USA:Approved (PCA #16960, General Audience)

Filming Locations:

Brighton, East Sussex, England, UK

Company:

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM)

Goofs:

Boom mic visible: When the mad King George III hides from Brummel and the prince behind the draperies, the boom shadow makes a prominent appearance on the wall at the top right of the screen.

Quotes:

Lord George Gordon Byron: The trouble with most men of superior intellect is their pride. And a proud man can be just as foolish as a fool.

Movie Connections:

Remake of Beau Brummel (1924)

A remake would be interesting.

Though it's hardly likely that we'll see it (except perhaps on TV's 'Masterpiece Theater"), a remake of this story would possibly benefit from a somewhat less cautious approach to what looks like a more interesting story than what unreels in this glossy costumer. Peter Ustinov and Robert Morley, of course, outclass the nominal leads and the production values are sumptuous, though often quite obviously studio/soundstage-bound. Miss Taylor, before she came into her own as a movie actress of some ability, is gowned and coiffed in a manner that makes her presence understandable, but the whole enterprise is redolent of what helped to bring the studio system to a grinding halt. Just where one hopes for a little astringency and a more adult take on the story's complications, that dreaded Eisenhower-era conservatism blankets the proceedings in an ultra-safe approach that one suspects left even the audiences of the time when this was released wanting substantially more.