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

Colour:

Colour (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)

Trivia:

The film had troubles with the US censor, the Production Code Administration because of the apparent justification of the immoral relationship between the Prince Regent and Mrs Fitzherbert, because a steward at a gentlemen's club had the manner of a 'sex pervert', because the Prince checks the gender of a dog and use of the word 'damn'. Changes were made but the running time remained the same.

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:

Version of Beau Brummel (1924)

Clothes maketh the man...

Unusual to see Stewart Granger in period costume without a flashing blade, but I found this costume drama on the rise and fall of the Regency dandy and confidante to the then Prince of Wales, eminently watchable. Granger himself shows more acting depth than he was usually allowed in the swashbuckling actioners he frequented and is well cast as the proud, aspiring but ultimately over-ambitious George "Beau" Brummell, whose loose tongue and haughty wit ultimately saw him cast out of high society into a life of penury in France, on the run from his numerous creditors. However the real acting plaudits unquestionably lie with Peter Ustinov, who again, like his portrayal of Nero in "Quo Vadis", easily demonstrates his character, the king-in-waiting Prince George's initially fey and petulant ways but later conveys the depth of character of a man who matured into his kingship and his conflicting loyalty which turns to generous magnamity to best friend but loose cannon Brummell. Robert Morley gets to act a fine cameo performance as the mentally ill King whose condition leads to the Regency crisis and Elizabeth Taylor gets to wear some elaborate costumes not to mention hairstyles as Lady Belham, torn between her passionate attraction to Brummell's rebellious individual and the safe society gentleman Lord Edwin Mercer played stoically by James Donald. Historical figures of the day flit in and out of the narrative, but surely the "mad, bad and dangerous to know" Lord Byron should have been played with more zest and by a more handsome actor than we get here. The sets and costumes are sumptuous, the direction steady if uninspired, (for example, an intimate dialogue scene between Granger and Taylor pans back and forth unimaginatively between their faces with every sentence spoken). The dialogue while well-written and rarely trivial, does get bogged down in speechifying, forced wit and point-scoring which gets decidedly stultifying at times. The key scene were Brummell rashly insults the Prince is well staged and played and the viewer is left in no doubt that the bold Brummell has gone too far this time, prefiguring the fate of another high society dandy from a later generation, the writer Oscar Wilde. Having read a little background on the real Brummell's life, I'm aware that the usual Hollywood bowdlerisation has occurred (nowhere did I read of the Prince when King's final reconciliation with the broken Brummell in France), but it makes for a good finish to a meatier costume drama than I might have expected given the subject and personnel involved.