646f9e108c Three boys grow up together with a wealthy family. Whilst young, one of the boys overhears his mother discussing the sale of the &quot;Blue Sapphire&quot;, a jewel that belongs to the family. It is replaced with a fake and the household continues on. Many years later the family is in financial trouble and the sale of the &quot;Blue Sapphire is discussed&quot;. Knowing it is a fake and wanting to save their mother from the shame it is stolen moments before being revealed during a black out. The boys are given to the morning to own up but when morning comes the eldest has left a note confessing and has gone to join the foreign legion. His brothers, knowing his sacrifice, also leave notes confessing and join the legion. The three brothers are stationed together until the middle one is sent away to separate the three. The general in charge of the outpost is considered a mad man with no respect for the dead. His plan is to prop dead soldiers up on the walls so the Arabs will think they have lots of men. When one of the brothers is killed the other fights to have his body respected and buried instead of used and shot up. With the return and subsequent death of the middle brother just moments before a final attack,the youngest is the only one to make it home back to his mother. Michael &quot;Beau&quot; 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. Told many times, this version of &quot;Beau Geste&quot; stars Gary Cooper in the title role, and Ray Milland and Robert Prestonhis brothers. The three boys live in the home of Lady Brandon, who has adopted them. Lady Brandon is the owner of the famous &quot;Blue Water&quot; sapphire. Because of tight money, however, it has to be sold. Lady Brandon brings out the sapphire for a final look by the family, the lights go off, and when they go back on, the sapphire is gone. <br/><br/>Beau admits to stealing it to his brothers, and in turn, Digby and John confess, leaving us not knowing what the story is. The three brothers join the Foreign Legion and are under the command of the cruel, sadistic Sgr. Markoff (Brian Donlevy). Eventually John (Robert Preston) is separated from the other two. <br/><br/>The film starts with John and the troop he is in coming upon Fort Zinderneuf, where everyone is dead. It then flashes back to 15 years earlier, and we learn about the boys&#39; camaraderie, Digby&#39;s (Ray Milland) love for Lady Brandon&#39;s ward Isobel (Susan Hayward), and the battle games they playedchildren.<br/><br/>Briskly directed by William Wellman, &quot;Beau Geste&quot; is a great adventure, a neat mystery, and a heartwarming story filled with wonderful performances. Gary Cooper is at the peak of his handsomeness and brings humor to the brave Beau, and Ray Milland does wellthe one with the romance. Robert Preston in those days was not a great movie star, though he is excellentJohn. His major coups would be on the stage, and it was in his roleHenry Hill in the Music Man, which he brought to film, that would much later make him a true star. Here he doesn&#39;t have a chance to shine until the end of the film. Susan Hayward is very sweet in what would prove to be an unusual type of role for her - just a few years later, she would be playing the other woman, and later than that, the tough, emotional one.<br/><br/>Beautifully done, with some amazing desert shots, &quot;Beau Geste&quot; is a film that again demonstrates the &quot;magic&quot; of 1939. Beau, Digby and John Geste are brothers who have been loyal to one another since childhood. When one of them is suspected of stealing a valuable jewel from their wealthy guardian Lady Brandon, Beau takes responsibility and leaves during the night. Blaming himself, Digby leaves later than morning, followed by John, who knows his brothers will have joined the foreign legion in disgrace and doesn&#39;t want them to be alone so sets out after them. Under the harsh eye of Sgt Markoff, the brothers band together even when they find they have enemies within the legionwellthe Arabs at the gate.<br/><br/>There are surely so many remakes or variations on this story in the world that most people will already be familiar with the plot. As I came to watch the original I had seen several other version of one form or another but I still enjoyed this. The story does a terrible job of explaining why the brothers all ran off (and found each other) and it was justwell that it quickly moved past this and onto the main body of the story. The three brothers are far too jovial for my tastes but the main &quot;bad&quot; guy Markoff breaks them down into more convincing characters. Of course these are probably unfair criticisms because this is a broad adventure yarn and detail is not its strength. However with these basic blocks it does fashion an engaging tale that has intrigue, death, battle and mystery.<br/><br/>The cast are a mixed bunch and it is telling that the material doesn&#39;t do a great deal to help them. Cooper, Milland and Preston all work well together but they only find depth towards the end of the film for too long they are back-slapping and happy regardless of what&#39;s happening round them. Thank goodness then for the scenery-chewing piece of work that is Donlevy. He loves every second of it and delivers a character that stands alongside Full Metal Jacketone of the finest sergeants on screen.<br/><br/>Overall then this is not a perfect film because it does have cut-out shapes instead of characters, leaving many of the actors just to puff out their chest and do the best they can. That said but it is still a solid adventure which has a great ending to compensate for the rather forced opening twenty minutes.
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