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One Perfect Night

A deserted street, the show is well under way. A
film of moisture seeps over the face of the concrete
verandah of the Capitol, the road beyond glistening in
reflected light. If this is a Saturday, the rain has been
the excuse for older children to be let off their
gardening or other outside chores, and instead go to a
day session at the wonder theatre. Now it's the adult's
turn to be snug inside.
Co-architect Marion Mahony predicted that the
Capitol would be the new cultural heart of Melbourne.
For many people it was.
Paramount had a winner both times with Beau
Geste; first in 1926 and then with this version, which
started at the Capitol Saturday 4 November 1939 and
ran five weeks. The suspense of the first minutes, when
a column of legionnaires halts at the gate of a strangely
silent fort, can still send tingles up the spine.

Footnote: The Canadian censor considered banning
the film outright on the grounds that it was bad for
wartime morale - three English brothers go off to fight
in the French Foreign Legion, but only one returns.
- William Gray