Foreign Legion Film Banned in Canada
Slander of "Beau Geste"
The film, "Beau Geste," dealing with the Foreign Legion was banned in Ontario for the duration of World War II following objections by the French Consul in Toronto. It previously had been banned by the Quebec Government.1 Here is the French ambassador, Count de Saint-Quentin, who sure did not like Hollywood.
France and its people too often seemed distorted by the lens of willfully myopic cameramen and by filmmakers who cast aspersions on the honesty of French public servants, exaggerated the sympathies of French women for German soldiers, insulted the French general staff, and slandered the Foreign Legion. Referring to this slander, and Paramount’s provocative Beau Geste, Ambassador Saint-Quentin suggested that the studio had engaged in “revolting” scenes crudely calculated to appeal to the viewer’s “basest instincts.”2
Source:
Stubbs, Jonathan. 2020. Hollywood and the invention of England: Projecting the English past in American Cinema, 1930-2017: Bloomsbury.
“Quebec Bans 'Beau Geste.' " New York Times ( Sep 1 1939: 25).
Young, R. J. (2004). Marketing Marianne : French Propaganda in America, 1900-1940. Rutgers University Press. (p.135)
This was fun to follow-up. Officials from other nations (like Count de Saint-Quentin) are posted to another country during a War and have to stand up for their country in another country. Marketing Marianne : French Propaganda in America, 1900-1940 tells the story. I just can't imagine how it must have been for Count de Saint-Quentin showing up in Washington DC to defend the honor of France against Hollywood movies wearing that hat. It's a picture from the 1940s! He was still wearing that hat. I should not be commenting on my posts, probably, but please look at that hat!!! Can you imagine, say, a Senator from Idaho going to an embassy party with the Count???