XoWizIama Excellent adaptation.

TrueHello Fun premise, good actors, bad writing. This film seemed to have potential at the beginning but it quickly devolves into a trite action film. Ultimately it's very boring.

PiraBit if their story seems completely bonkers, almost like a feverish work of fiction, you ain't heard nothing yet.

Freeman This film is so real. It treats its characters with so much care and sensitivity.

Ilpo Hirvonen At the beginning, the title of "Beau Geste" appears for a brief moment elusively in dunes of wind and dust. After this the viewer follows a French platoon discovering a deserted fortress all of whose guards are armed but dead. The incomprehensible mindlessness of war is drawn with simple crude strokes, leaving the audience gasp of astonishment. Taking a few steps back to shed light on the beginning, the film tells the story of three brothers who join the foreign league. During their service they come across with a cruel general, Arabic rebels and moral that is highly questionable. "Beau Geste" is really a basic classic of adventure film but also one of William A. Wellman's highest achievements. In the film, Wellman draws grand yet personal -- both individual and social -- lines of war and misery in a reduced fashion. After WWII he continued such depiction in "Story of G.I. Joe" which immersed deeper into the inhumane world of war. Although "Beau Geste" is very clear in means of narrative, it also features profoundly intense emotional depth. It has a severe tragic undertone but, at the same, it's filled with romantic and even comic moments. There is one gentle scene between two brothers, who rest for a while under attack in the zone between life and death, which particularly gave me the impression of this being an utterly moving film. I must confess that I wasn't expecting much of "Beau Geste" on the account of unfair factors that normally don't affect me when it comes to my viewing habits. Therefore, I apologize and recommend this film even to those who aren't interested. All in all, "Beau Geste" grows out to be a beautiful tale of brotherly love, enhancing the importance of fraternity. It is truly a film to remember.

dougdoepke Three brothers join the Foreign Legion following the mysterious disappearance of a valuable sapphire.This movie came out the same year (1939) as that other masterpiece of colonial adventure, The Four Feathers. Both make first-rate use of family bonds and family honor to create a strong emotional context to all the colorful combat. Those bonds really work here, establishing a strong sense of one for all and all for one. Plus the fact that the brothers have been adopted by the kindly Lady Brandon (Thatcher) not only lends poignancy, but makes the central twist work really well.As good as Cooper-Milland-Foster are, it's really Donlevy's movie. His cruel martinet has stayed with me over the decades—the military haircut, the perfectly squared shoulders, the command voice. He not only commands his legionnaires, he commands the movie, as well. And, when he falls, I still have mixed emotions, despite his many acts of cruelty. It's a crackling good story, but it's his imposing presence that makes the adventure memorable. No wonder Donlevy was Oscar-nominated, a near-perfect blend of character and actor.Two minor reservations. Cooper's fine in Beau's role, more animated than usual. However, at nearly forty, he appears a shade too old for the youthful part. Also, I've never been able to reconcile to the relative ease with which the mutiny is put down. There's like five guys with guns facing a hundred guys who stand to be executed for their planned mutiny, yet they meekly give up, especially after Schwartz (the great Albert Dekker) has so powerfully roused them to action. To me, director Wellman's staging here is less than convincing.Nonetheless, the mix of mystery, emotion and action remains superbly entertaining, and is ironically, one of the few movies that actually lives up to its title.

blanche-2 Told many times, this version of "Beau Geste" stars Gary Cooper in the title role, and Ray Milland and Robert Preston as his brothers. The three boys live in the home of Lady Brandon, who has adopted them. Lady Brandon is the owner of the famous "Blue Water" 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. 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. 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' camaraderie, Digby's (Ray Milland) love for Lady Brandon's ward Isobel (Susan Hayward), and the battle games they played as children.Briskly directed by William Wellman, "Beau Geste" 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 well as the one with the romance. Robert Preston in those days was not a great movie star, though he is excellent as John. His major coups would be on the stage, and it was in his role as Henry Hill in the Music Man, which he brought to film, that would much later make him a true star. Here he doesn'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.Beautifully done, with some amazing desert shots, "Beau Geste" is a film that again demonstrates the "magic" of 1939.

Lechuguilla It gets off to a great start ... as a mystery. A relief cavalry approaches a Saharan desert outpost called Fort Zinderneuf, enclosed on all four sides. A cursory investigation from the outside indicates that all the soldiers at the fort are dead, propped up like mannequins with guns in their hands as if prepared to shoot. Then, without warning, two shots are fired at the arriving cavalry from inside the fort. The head of the relief cavalry sends a soldier in to investigate, but he disappears. When the relief cavalry moves inside the fort, a note is found on the body of one of the dead soldiers. The note is a confession of theft of a high-priced sapphire."Beau Geste" is a rousing adventure story of three brothers who start out as close-nit siblings in a privileged English household, and end up as adults in North Africa, as part of the French Foreign Legion.The plot structure is mostly one long flashback. After the opening mystery, the plot reverts back fifteen years to when the three brothers were kids, with dreams of being in the military. The plot then progresses forward to reveal their actions that led ultimately to the film's opening mystery.The plot is okay but a tad weak in the middle Act. Too much emphasis is placed on the sadistic Sgt. Markoff (Brian Donlevy), leader of Fort Zinderneuf. He overshadows the three brothers, and is thus somewhat distracting.The film's B&W visuals are quite good. Yet, this is one film I would like to have seen in color. All that sand and the emptiness of the desert contrasts nicely with the staid, claustrophobic Victorian interiors the three brothers grew up in.Acting is acceptable overall. But Gary Cooper is miscast in the lead role. He looks too old to play Beau. And his acting is rather wooden. I would have preferred a younger, perhaps less well-known actor.Background music is wasted. It's too nondescript to contribute any emotional tone to the story, and it is at times manipulative.Overall, "Beau Geste" is an engaging adventure story, with themes of loyalty, bravery, and honor. Despite some minor irritations, it's a well-constructed, highly credible film, one that is definitely worth watching.