 In 1928 Olivier created the role of <unk> in R. C. <unk> 's Journey 's End , in which he scored a great success at its single Sunday night premiere . He was offered the part in the West End production the following year , but turned it down in favour of the more glamorous role of Beau Geste in a stage adaptation of P. C. Wren 's 1929 novel of the same name . Journey 's End became a long @-@ running success ; Beau Geste failed . The Manchester Guardian commented , " Mr. Laurence Olivier did his best as Beau , but he deserves and will get better parts . Mr. Olivier is going to make a big name for himself " . For the rest of 1929 Olivier appeared in seven plays , all of which were short @-@ lived . Billington <unk> this failure rate to poor choices by Olivier rather than mere bad luck . 
