Michael "Beau" Geste leaves England in disgrace and joins the infamous French Foreign Legion. He is reunited with his two brothers in North Africa, where they face greater danger from their own sadistic commander than from the rebellious Arabs. The orphan brothers Beau, John, and Digby Geste have lived in Brandon Abbas with their dear aunt Patricia Brandon, the also adopted Isobel Rivers and their cousin Augustus Brandon, since they were children. Lady Brandon is near bankruptcy paying the debts of the absent Sir Hector Brandon; the family's last remaining asset, apart from Brandon Abbas itself, is the huge "Blue Water" sapphire. When Sir Hector sends word that he will arrive in the property to sell the precious stone, Beau, John, Digby, Isobel and Augustus ask to see the "Blue Water". Lady Brandon brings the stone, but the lights go out and the sapphire is stolen. Lady Brandon promises to call the police on the next morning. One by one the Geste brothers flee, each leaving a note confessing the robbery. The brothers join the Foreign Legion and are sent to North Africa; Beau and John under the command of the cruel and sadistic Sergeant Markoff in Fort Zinderneuf in the Sahara Desert. After an unsuccessful mutiny against the brutal treatment of Markoff, the fort is attacked by Tuaregs and the men have to join forces to fight for their lives. Opening scene. Turn of the century Sahara. A long line of French troops approach one of their isolated fortresses. The tricolor still flies, though the bugle calls get no answer. The French captain enters and finds the embrasures manned with armed dead men. Not a soul is left alive.<br/><br/>Lots of excitement in this story of three upper-class English brothers – Cooper, Milland, and Preston – two of whom die heroic deaths in the French Foreign Legion in the African desert. There was a time when everyone talked about joining the Foreign Legion to forget. The film makes clear that there must be far easier ways to forget than joining an army of stumble bums commanded by sadists.<br/><br/>The three brothers grow up happily together. (Donald O'Connor is the young Gary Cooper.) Not a care in the world until some tomfoolery about a stolen emerald leads them to take off for exotic climes.<br/><br/>They're stationed at a remote fort that is surrounded by hostile Tuareg tribesmen. The lieutenant in charge is stern but fair. But he dies and the sergeant takes over. In a nicely directed scene, by William Wellman, the lieutenant gasps out his last breath in the presence of the sergeant, Brian Donlevy. Donlevy, like Captain Bligh, is a splendid soldier but has a hellish disposition. He stares at the recently expired body, leans over it, presses his ear to the lieutenant's chest, and in a close up, a fiendish grin of satisfaction informs his features.<br/><br/>And what a bastard he is. He calls his men "scum," "pigs", and "my children," which must be mes enfants in his language. He relishes dealing out punishment, always operating more or less within the rules but pushing the envelope. He lives only for the army and for promotion. His goal? To become an officer and be awarded the Legion of Honor. He doesn't quite make it.<br/><br/>The three happy brothers are just that – playing jokes on one another, clapping each other on the back, waving and smiling even as they're about to be swept away on the very stream of time. Sort of dull.<br/><br/>But Brian Donlevy's sergeant is a much more complex and interesting character. The actor himself was quite a guy, pursuing Pancho Villa into Mexico under General Pershing, then the army in France, the Lafayette Escadrille, and a couple of years at Annapolis, before becoming an actor. He was usually a restrained mid-executive type. But here he reaches for the stars and turns in a very spirited performance.<br/><br/>Make up helped a lot. His bullish neck is encase in a tight uniform collar so it bulges over the edges. His haircut is abominable. And he has a discrete but nifty scar all the way down his cheek, suggestive of a combative past. In fact, make up is good all the way around. It's turned the curly haired, Italianate J. Carrol Naish into a whiny little Russian babushka.<br/><br/>It's slow getting started. We know how playful and loyal the brothers are, long before they run off to join the Foreign Legion. But once it achieves flight speed, it's highly enjoyable. The addition of sound, and a sharper focus, only serves to make this version of "Beau Geste" (1926) seem older, and less European; specifically, the lack of consideration for the change in technology, from silent to sound, does not make this an improvement over the original silent film. And, the ages in the cast do not add up. Still, it's a good adventure story, and a fine Hollywood production. Despite showing the obvious "generation gap", Gary Cooper (Beau), Ray Milland (John), Robert Preston (Digby) are valiant as the brothers Geste, who join the French Foreign Legion for honor and gratitude.<br/><br/>Brian Donlevy's sadistic "Sergeant Markov" (nee "Lejaune"), who promises his men, "I make soldiers out of scum like you and I don't do it gently!" was duly nominated for a "Best Supporting Actor" Oscar. A future nominated J. Carrol Naish (as Rasinoff) is also quite nasty. Donald O'Connor (young Beau) and the opening segments help get the film off to a great start. You'll have to decide whether or not the film proves the Arabian proverb: "The love of a man for a woman waxes and wanes like the moon, but the love of brother for brother is steadfast as the stars and endures like the word of the prophet." <br/><br/>******* Beau Geste (8/2/39) William A. Wellman ~ Gary Cooper, Ray Milland, Brian Donlevy, Robert Preston
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