Danielle Darrieux stars as Arabella Delvaire in this baroque adaptation of Pierre Benoit's novel Bethshabee. Arabella is a woman of the world who arrives at a remote Foreign Legion outpost for a rendezvous with her current lover, Captain Duveuil. It so happens that one of Arabella's previous amours, Captain Somerville (Paul Meurisse), is also serving at the same post. So much for joining the Foreign Legion to forget. A climactic knife duel "solves" the film's various plot complications. Despite its Foreign Legion background, Bethsabee has next to no action, which must have made things difficult when the film was distributed to the U.S.
Acting
Darrieux serves face while men crumble spectacularly.
Production
Sahara-shot exteriors that sweat colonial glamour.
Director
Léonide Moguy
Danielle Darrieux
Arabella Delvert
Georges Marchal
Le capitaine Georges Dubreuil
Jean Murat
Le Colonel de Cervière
Paul Meurisse
Le capitaine Lucien Sommervill - l'ex amant d'Arabella
Pierre-Louis
Le lieutenant Testard (as Pierre Louis)
Nicolas Vogel
L'adjudant
Robert Darène
Le major
Andrée Clément
Evelyne - la fille du colonel, maîtresse de Sommerville
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Danielle Darrieux's real-life brother Olivier plays her driver—a nepotism wink in an already incestuous plot.
American distributors were baffled: no battles, just pent-up Frenchmen staring at sand. The poster probably lied.
FR
