Beau Geste (1939) User Reviews

Brotherhood, Leadership and Gratitude

[claudio_carvalho · 8/10 · 21 January 2008]

The orphan brothers Beau, John, and Digby Geste have been raised in Brandon Abbas by their dear aunt Lady Patricia Brandon (Heather Thatcher) with 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 Lord Brandon, and the fortune of the family is limited to the valuable "Blue Water" sapphire. When they are grown-ups, Lord Brandon tells that he will arrive in the property to sell the precious stone. Beau (Gary Cooper), John (Ray Milland), Digby (Robert Preston), Isobel (Susan Hayward) and Augustus (G. P. Huntley) ask to see the "Blue Water". Lady Brandon brings the stone, but the lights go out, the sapphire is stolen and Lady Brandon promises to call the police on the next morning. However, first Beau and then Digby write notes confessing the robbery, and they are followed by John. 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 (Brian Donlevy) in Fort Zinderneuf in the Sahara Desert. After an unsuccessful mutiny due to the brutal treatment of Markoff, the fort is attacked by Tuaregs and the men have to join forces to fight for their lives.

"Beau Geste" is a dramatic adventure about brotherhood, leadership and gratitude. I have never watched the original version, but this remake is a great movie. The screenplay is intelligent, with two initial mysteries (what has happened in Fort Zinderneuf?, and why Beau Geste stole the stone?) and reveals the mystery in the fort in the end and the reason why Beau Geste stole the jewel in the very last scene, showing how honorable and gentle he was. Brian Donlevy is amazing and together with Gary Cooper, Ray Milland and Robert Preston, they have unforgettable performances. My vote is eight.

Title (Brazil): "Beau Geste"

Gallantly they lived and died

[bkoganbing · 8/10 · 2 March 2006]

The three Geste brothers, wards of their Aunt Patricia, go off to the Foreign Legion because they are suspected of stealing a family jewel, the Blue Water sapphire. It's a question of family honor and pride back in the day when this was thought to be a real virtue.

Beau Geste continues as a story about the Geste brothers in the Foreign Legion. Since they are all adopted wards with no clue as their real origins, that might account for the distinctly non-British speech of Gary Cooper as Beau and Robert Preston as Digby. Ray Milland as the youngest brother John was presumably influenced by British speech at a young enough age.

Though the three brother leads perform more than adequately, Beau Geste is truly a film where the character actors take over. Brian Donlevy was given his one and only Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actor as the sadistic Sergeant Markov. You won't forget him, I promise you.

Three others that also stand out are Albert Dekker who leads a mutiny against Markov at the distant outpost of Fort Zinderneuf and Stanley Andrews as Maris who tries to prevent the mutiny. And last but certainly not least is J. Carrol Naish who is Rassinov the eyes and ears of Markov among the men. Naish was an amazingly versatile character actor who played just about every ethnic type you could name. He blended into his characters so well he almost has no identity of his own on screen. And that hyenish high-pitched cackle that he uses for Rassinov will linger with you forever.

Susan Hayward is in this also as the love interest for Ray Milland. She's young and pretty wasted in a thankless role in a male dominated film. No hint at all here of the characters she later portrayed like Lillian Roth or Barbara Graham.

Beau Geste is the kind of adventure story for those who like their heroes gallant and romantic as so many of us do.

Foreign Legion Epic very well done.

[dougandwin · 8/10 · 16 August 2004]

I know this, along with Sherlock Holmes, is one of the most filmed stories ever, but the 1939 version must stand out as the best. The mood and atmosphere of the desert is captured brilliantly, the photography is excellent as is the cast. Gary Cooper fits the role of Beau exactly as one would have imagined him, while the brothers played by Ray Milland and Robert Preston are spot on. Of course Brian Donlevy was at his best in this film as the vicious Sergeant, and it is one of the few times when I have thought he acted well. Susan Hayward's role was minor, but of course she was a virtual unknown at that time. It was good to see Donald O'Connor as a young Beau, as well as stalwarts like Albert Dekker and J. Carrol Naish. The opening scene is quite remarkable even by todays standards.

A Rousing adventure when Hollywood knew how...

[d1494 · 10/10 · 28 March 2002]

This fine film wears exceedingly well more than 60 years after it was made. The story of a jewel with a haunted past, a trio of gallant brothers, a beautiful girl and the French foreign Legion make for for a mighty entertaining diversion. Brian Donleavy's riveting Oscar performance, as brutal Sargent Markoff, alone is worth the price of admission. Excellent acting all around From Gary Cooper's Beau Geste, his two stalwart 'brothers' played by Ray Milland and Robert Preston to that of J. carrol Naish as the 'human hyena' Rassinoff and Albert Dekker plays a menacingly mutinous legionaire. A great story of love and loyalty set in a rousing adventure film. A must see.

Man, I love it!

[MacaulayConnor · 10/10 · 28 August 2004]

This is why we go to the movies. Great story telling, great characters, great actors, great directing, suspense, a certain pace and so on... a perfect movie. Why, oh why they don´t make movies like this anymore? Why are we treated to flicks like "King Arthur"? Have we lost it?

It´s all about adventure. Suspense, thrill, wit....Well, they would nowadays add some cruelties and that would be okay but it still would be superior to 99,9% of recent Hollywood flics.

Come back Capra, Hawks, Frankenheimer, Zinnemann, Ford, Hitchcock, Lang et al. - please come back

10/10

Over long adventure with stars too old for their parts

[dbborroughs · 6/10 · 17 October 2008]

The tale of the Geste brothers, one of whom is a jewel thief, all of which run off to join the Foreign Legion is considered an adventure classic. This version of the film is held up as one of the many films that makes 1939 the best year there ever was in the movies.

As for me, tonight was the first time I was really seeing the film from start to finish (I don't think I'd ever seen any version of the story before other than Marty Feldman's Last remake). I had seen bits and pieces but never the whole thing. My reaction to seeing it is one of disappointment. Its a long rambling story with some great action, some wonderful lines, and allure that completely alludes me. Not a bad film, I just don't get it.Yes I know what happens but why is this hailed as something so great? I don't know. The cast Gary Cooper, Robert Preston, Ray Milland, and others are very good. except that with the exception of Robert Preston, everyone is at least 10 to 15 years too old (Beau is suppose to be 27 when the events take place Cooper was almost 40). For me I was watching lets pretend and not a real story.

I know I'm a party pooper but the film never got beyond okay, and I really wanted to reach for the remote on more than one occasion, though I didn't.

6 out of 10. Worth a look on a slow night.

Beautiful Gesture.

[dbdumonteil · 8/10 · 28 October 2001]

People who know Julien Duvivier's "la bandera"(1935) will find analogies between the two movies.In both of them, the legion is an escape from law.The approach is different however:in "la bandera",the hero and his mates are simple,crude people.In Wellmann's work,they are distinguished,"noblesse oblige" characters.Wellman's movie has a romantic flavor,which is totally absent in Duvivier's pessimistic story.

It seems that "beau geste" has worn well,better than Duvivier's dated saga.Both movies have the same flaw:the Tuaregs are the "villains",we absolutely know nothing about them.In Duvivier's movie,we don't even see them,and they are always referred to as "the bastards" (sic)They seem reduced to attacking baddies,an entity whose humanity is denied. Wellmann's superiority lies in the fact that he plays the game of adventure ,now matter how unlikely it is while Duvivier has "realist" ambitions.

Wellmann smartly blends a whodunit with pure adventure elements.The solution of the mystery,which we learn at the very end of the movie is very unexpected and gives the movie some kind of Hustonian touch (and in 1939,Huston had yet to make a movie!)

As for the directing is concerned,the last third of the movie shines.If the legion routine life scenes inside the fort are inferior to those of Duvivier,on the other hand its finale is more moving and more astonishing.The sergeant,using dead bodies as scarecrows ,is almost surrealist and might have influenced the conclusion of Anthony Mann's "Cid".A scene we saw at the beginning ,"the Viking funeral" finds an absolutely brilliant explanation .While John (Ray Milland) is preparing the "ceremony" in a fort full of dead bodies,we don't realize.It's only when he explains to his brother (yes,there was a dog at his feet)that we understand.

A very fine cast,including Susan Hayward on the threshold of a brilliant career (it's her second movie).The title is justified too.Because "Beau Geste" means in French "Beautiful gesture".

NB: A trip to Norway taught me this:the Vikings were buried in the ground on their boats.

The First Remake of "Beau Geste"

[wes-connors · 7/10 · 18 July 2009]

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.

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."

******* Beau Geste (8/2/39) William A. Wellman ~ Gary Cooper, Ray Milland, Brian Donlevy, Robert Preston

Viewers Are Welcomed To Fort Zinderneuf

[Ron Oliver · 10/10 · 6 September 2000]

A magnificent blue sapphire is stolen from the English estate of Brandon Abbas. BEAU GESTE and his two younger brothers are all suspected of the crime. To save their family from dishonor, they each make their way to join the French Foreign Legion. In the emptiness of North Africa, supported only by their love for each other, they will encounter pure evil...

Not only a wonderful adventure story, BEAU GESTE is also a morality tale on the true meaning of courage, the loyalty of brother for brother, and the responsibilities of virtue when confronted by absolute evil. Examined this way, the film can be enjoyed by the thoughtful viewer on many levels.

In the title role, Gary Cooper is excellent, exuding quiet strength & righteousness. Robert Preston & Ray Milland, as his younger brothers, give top-notch support. Here is a band of brothers to be reckoned with.

But it is the villains who really steal the show. Brian Donlevy is unforgettable as Sergeant Markoff, a sadist from the lowest depths of hell. To watch him drive the defense of his outpost, using the living & the dead, is to see a man driven mad by the evil chewing away at his very soul.

J. Carrol Naish is equally memorable as Rasinoff the rat. A little man used to lies & thievery, he becomes the natural toady for Markoff. When his fear finally drives him insane atop the watch tower, and he begins to cackle like a beast, it is a horrible sound to hear.

Broderick Crawford appears as a cowboy turned legionnaire. Albert Dekker is formidable as a mutinous soldier. Adolescent Donald O'Connor plays young Beau.

Director William Wellman gave the film fine atmospherics. Who can forget, in the very first sequence, the quiet ride up to eerie Fort Zinderneuf, manned by its unblinking sentries? The flashback scenes are rather tedious, but when the plot returns to the desert, there's adventure enough for the most jaded viewer.

Classic Hollywood adventure film packed with drama , impressive feats , thrills and breathtaking desert battles

[ma-cortes · 7/10 · 23 June 2021]

Classy adventure with all-star-cast about three children protected by aging Lady Patricia : Heather Thatcher , as she raised throughout their infancy and adolescence the orphaned brothers . Once grown-up Beau Geste : Gary Cooper takes the blame for a jewel theft . Later on , the three valiant brothers : Gary Cooper, Ray Milland, Robert Preston enlist in the Foreign Legion in Morocco country q, at the time a French colony . All of them face desert wars and despicable officers and tough Sergeants , especially the cruel , scarred Sgt. Markoff : Brian Donlevy . Again ..the three Gestes face a thousand dangers of the Sahara for each other ...and love ¡. Three against World ...brothers and soldiers !

One of Hollywood's greatest rousing adventures including brothership , heroism , bravery and spectacular final battle . A sweet plot in which predominates a sensitive comradeship , fraternity , craftiness and warlike feats . A thundering drama based on the famous bestseller novel written by Percival Christopher Wren . A romantic , epic and much-copied adventure that will appeal to the vintage films aficionados . The highlight of the movie results to be the overhelming climax with the Arabs attacking at the fort littered with dead men . Trio of main stars : Gary Cooper , Ray Milland , Robert Preston are frankly fabulous. This expensive , large scale , though overlong movie , was competently photographed by cameraman Archie Stout , alongside an attractive musical by Alfred Newman , adding stunning filmmaking by craftsman William A Wellman who lavishly produced as well . Along with the big name stars : Cooper , Milland , Preston giving top-notch acting , they're well accompanied by a good support cast , such as : Susan Hayward as the charming sweetheart , the young little boy Donald O'Connor subsequently to have a long career , the usual nasty Albert Dekker , Broderick Crawford previously his stardom , Charles T. Barton who was filmmaker too , Heather Thatcher as kind aunt Patricia , Stanley Andrews , James Stephenson , J. Carrol Naish , James Burke , George Chandler , among others . But is really Brian Donlevy who leaves one of his memorable portrayals , providing the most lasting impression as the sadistic and psychotic first Sergeant .

There are several versions about this popular novel by Christopher Wren dealing with heroism in the Foreign Legion , such as : Beau Geste 1926 by Herbert Brenon with Ronald Coldman , Noah Beery , Neal Hamilton , Ralph Forbes . 1966 by Douglas Heyes with Guy Stockwell , Doug McClure , Telly Savalas . 1977 The Last Remake of Best Geste by Marty Feldman starred by Marty Feldman himself , Michael York, Ann Margret , Peter Ustinov, Trevor Howard , James Earl Jones, Terry Thomas . 1982 TV series with Benedict Taylor , Jonathan Morris , among others .

In The French Foreign Legion

[Lechuguilla · 9/10 · 19 October 2009]

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.

Superbly Done

[dougdoepke · 1 May 2011]

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.

Classic war movie

[HotToastyRag · 6/10 · 12 August 2018]

I've only rarely had this reaction to a movie before: at the time I'm watching it, I can't wait for it to be over, and days later as it mellows in my head, I realize it was a pretty good movie. Beau Geste is a classic war film, and it's the type of movie that could have been nominated for Best Picture at the Oscars, but it happened to be released during a highly competitive year. Here at Hot Toasty Rag, it was nominated for both Best Picture and Best Director, William Wellman.

Three brothers, Gary Cooper, Ray Milland, and Robert Preston, are close to their aunt, Heather Thatcher. Heather's entire means of support comes from a massive blue sapphire, but when money is tight and she has to make arrangements to sell the family heirloom, the brothers make a move to protect her that has drastic consequences. Someone steals the sapphire, and the other brothers chase after him. All three wind up in the French Foreign Legion, and under the mercy of tough commander Brian Donlevy.

Besides Heather, and a couple of romantic scenes between Susan Hayward and Ray Milland, there are no other women in the movie. This is a macho, brotherly love movie about soldiers and the bonds of friendship being thicker than blood. Brian is the typical tough sergeant we've come to know and love in the movies, but he's incredible smart, shrewd, and a great soldier. Even though he does tend to be heavy handed in his punishments, the audience can't help but admire his war strategy.

One absolutely darling bonus to the movie is a scene early on showing the household growing up as children together. Fourteen-year-old Donald O'Connor plays young Gary Cooper! He's such a doll, you'll wish a more likable counterpart was cast as his grown-up self. I never find Gary very likable, and since he's the title character and responsible for the entire mess of the movie, I couldn't help but wish he'd had better decision-making skills. If someone like Errol Flynn had been cast as Beau Geste, I probably wouldn't mind what he does. Errol's charming, magnetic, and seems like he has good intentions, which is how Beau Geste's character was supposed to be.

If you like war movies that shy away from blood and guts, since it was made in 1939, you'll probably want to rent Beau Geste. It's a classic, and easily confused with Gunga Din, Four Feathers, and Under Two Flags, but there's an enormously eerie scene in the beginning of the film that you'll never forget. What is so bone-chilling, you wonder? You'll have to watch it to find out.

The Softest and Goofiest Film Ever Made About the Foreign Legion

[nafps · 4/10 · 5 March 2022]

Seriously? The film spends half an hour showing spoiled English schoolboys playing as sailors and soldiers. Then the softest picture of Legion life and training imaginable. Even Laurel and Hardy showed the Legion as rougher than this film.

Far from being "rousing" or an adventure, I found it pretty dull since most of the film has no action, no war, no fighting. And Cooper has the least believable English accent ever.

Only Brian Donlevy's performance as the crazed sergeant deserves any praise.

Solid Hit

[gbheron · 9/10 · 7 March 1999]

How different adventure movies from in the 1930s are from their counterparts today. Honor, loyalty, bravery, sacrifice...what concepts! Beau Geste has them all in spades.

A very interesting story, this movie is as much a mystery as adventure story. It spans 15 years, following three adopted brothers from their childhood in an English manor house to their membership in the French Foreign Legion and their stationing at a fort in the remote reaches of the Sahara.

If you are tired of the paperthin, hole-ridden plots of today's action movies that rely on CGI and special effects instead of story, then this movie is for you!

Great Adventure - Dated Geopolitics

[theowinthrop · 10/10 · 2 March 2006]

The film gets high kudos for being well directed, well acted, and well produced. It is one of the great films of 1939 that remains entertaining nearly seventy years later. But like that other classic GONE WITH THE WIND the racism in the background is amazing.

Percival Wren's novels are not readily available today, although back in 1971 I was amazed to see them on the shelf of my high school library. Wren, growing up in the late 19th Century, was growing up in an age of hyper - nationalism, and imperialism. So when he writes, the negative stereotypes of third world types (and of peoples of other European countries) come out. In this case, the Arabs are the evil villains. That the French are invading their land is not dealt with. The odd thing is that the author was British, and he could (if he wanted to) have made the French less likable, but that did not happen. To Wren, British character was the top of the line, and French not far behind it. But Arab was at the bottom (in some of his books Jews do not come out too well either, but that is not apparent in this film).

He's lifted some of the plot line from Wilkie Collins' THE MOONSTONE, as the plot is about the theft of a very valuable jewel, and how the "Geste" brothers (Gary Cooper, Ray Milland, and Robert Preston) leave England in disgrace and join the French Foreign Legion to make amend for their apparent theft of the jewel, leaving Heather Thatcher (Lady Isobel - their guardian) and Susan Hayward (Isobel - Ray Milland's sweetheart) and James Stephenson (Major Henri De Beaujolais - their friend since childhood) shocked. Only their old childhood nemesis, G.P.Huntley (Augustus "Sir Mordred") is glad to see the thieves go.

Question might arise - why join the French Foreign Legion? Well, if they joined the British army or navy, after confessing the theft, they could have been brought back for trial. They could have crossed the Atlantic and joined the American cavalry out west (there are cases like that), but they choose the Foreign Legion as Major De Beaujolais has always told them stories about it.

So they go to North Africa and sign up. It is a harsh life as a mercenary, in one of the all-time hardest fighting units in military history. The Foreign Legion is usually associated with fighting the Riffs and Tuaregs of North Africa (particularly with books or films like this). They also fought in Mexico (in the 1860s) to prop up Emperor Maximilian, in Southeast Asia (Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam) in the 19th and 20th Centuries, and are still in use today.

But here they are used for policing purposes: they are to put down revolts by the natives who won't give up their rights to rule themselves. They are actually fighting the grandfathers of the men who reclaimed Morocco, Algeria, and Tunisia in the 20th Century.

Cooper, Milland, and Preston soon meet the men they fight alongside with: Broderick Crawford, Albert Dekker, and J. Carroll Naish. This is one film with a great cast of character actors. As was pointed out on another comment it is the character actors who make this film live. Naish as the hyena-like Razomov, who makes himself too useful to the villain of the piece (the unscrupulous Sgt. Markov - Brian Donleavy) gave one of the best performances in his career. Same with Donleavy, who is a real bastard but also a great fighter. Watch as Donleavy keeps figuring out ways to fool the enemy such as propping up dead bodies on the roof of the fort, or having the men laugh to suggest there are more men in the fort than they think. Yet for all of the clever tricks, it's a lucky shot killing the head of the attacking forces that ends the siege.

If this film were made today, we would get to know the personalities of the Arabs. It would be a more complex tale. But the complexities of the story are enough as is. Why do men willingly go into danger to prove themselves? Why do they act in negative ways, surprising and hurting those who love them? And what are the secrets that we carry with us that we try never to reveal. That is at the heart of BEAU GESTE and it's characters, and of the Foreign Legion it glorified.

A solid adventure tale told in big block figures perhaps but still fun

[bob the moo · 1 September 2006]

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'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 legion as well as the Arabs at the gate.

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 just as well 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 "bad" 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.

The cast are a mixed bunch and it is telling that the material doesn'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'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 Jacket as one of the finest sergeants on screen.

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.

You'll Like It. I Promise You.

[rmax304823 · 7/10 · 14 June 2015]

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Though Gary Cooper and the rest of the adult cast are fine in Beau Geste, it was mainly my interest in Donald O'Connor that finally got me to see this

[tavm · 10/10 · 13 June 2015]

Having heard about this movie for the last 30 years, I finally got around to watching this on DVD that I borrowed from the library. The main reason I'm watching this now is because I've been on a hook to watch various of Donald O'Connor's movies in chronological order, what I can find of them anyway. So when I found out he's in this one as Gary Cooper's character's younger self, I knew I had to watch this one pronto! Anyway, he appears with his co-star from Tom Sawyer, Detective-Billy Cook. With them are two kid stars from 1938's The Adventures of Tom Sawyer (made by Selznick, not Paramount which made the TSD movie as well as the one I'm now reviewing)-David Holt and Ann Gillis. Their scenes were fun to watch which extended when we first watch some of them as adults when portrayed by Gary Cooper, Ray Milland, Robert Preston, and Susan Hayward-before she became a leading star herself. By the time those men-who are brothers in the film-join the Foreign Legion, there's some great drama concerning them and their encounter with their sadistic sergeant played perfectly by Brian Donlevy. There's more but I think I'll just stop there and just say I highly recommend this version of Beau Geste.

Brian Donlevy is the best performance in the movie

[kevvportela · 7/10 · 11 May 2021]

The theft of an expensive jewel involves three brothers that forces them to join the foreign legion (a military branch), where they experience an attempted mutiny against the evil sergeant who has them in command and a battle with their war enemies at the same time.

Adapted from the work of the same name by P. C. Wren. Directed by the multifaceted William A. Wellman, he provides exquisite shots and plans in this desert and battlefield. The best of the director is not capable, but I think that the passing of the years has not helped it either. It made me a good movie, a bit confusing both its beginning and end but I have to say that the combat scene that happens in the fort overshadowed me and it was like time freezing (and I don't mean in a bad way). Desperation grows and hopes that they will get out of there alive. The appeal of the jewel is important to give certain messages of honesty, loyalty and brotherhood but it did not seem as clear as it seems to be.

A cast with good actors but a bit flat performances on the brothers. I want to put some blame on the script on the superficiality of characters like Robert Preston who barely appears and not long ago. Unlike Gary Cooper who is always present with a classy and vain performance but nothing that we have not seen from him. Ray Milland was the best of the three, and the significance of his character helped him a lot as a bridge to various things in the film.

But the real GREAT ACTOR of the film is Brian Donlevy, with his cruel, ruthless, cold and even cynical sergeant in a certain point of view (Nominated for 'Best Supporting Actor' for this role).

Heroes

[HarlequeenStudio · 10/10 · 26 March 2018]

What I like about this film is its uneven pacing in terms of character introduction, as well as the genre. It opens with a fortress full of dead soldiers (what a sight!), continues with idyllic childhood scenes that look like out of The Chronicles of Narnia, then there's a hint of screwball and we're back to the fortress. I must admit for the first 45 minutes I was trying to decide which one is more handsome: Gary Cooper or Ray Milland, but then I gave up and perhaps coincidentally the drama became more compelling. It's a film about heroism without superheroes and a good reminder that heroes do exist on this planet and they happen to be soldiers who kill other soldiers, not otherworldly creatures. So I'll stick with Classic Hollywood since I want to see films for grown-ups.

Anglo-Saxon Attitudes

[telegonus · 7/10 · 16 August 2002]

Anglo-Saxon manhood was pretty largely celebrated in the Hollywood of the thirties and forties, which makes sense. The audiences for movies, both in the U.S. and abroad, tended to be either Anglo-Saxon themselves or to have similar attitudes and concerns. Brittania still ruled the waves in those days, and whatever the ethnic composition of moviegoers there was the prevailing attitude that not only was "white" right, but that Anglo white was the best kind of all.

Beau Geste is not about Empire, or at least not the British one, but it has undercurrents. Adapted from a popular novel, it is a combination mystery story and action picture that begins with the theft of a valuable jewel back in England, and winds up in the French Foreign Legion in North Africa, where the three Geste brothers have retreated. We know that one of them stole the jewel. The question is, which one? Meanwhile, there's action aplenty, as Arabs attack the fort and the multi-ethnic military unit that must defend it. Nearly everyone who isn't Anglo is either a coward, a traitor, a swine, a murderer, a sadist or a thief. Only the Gestes, it seems, have dignity and values.

Chauvinism is one thing, but Beau Geste just doesn't play fair. Most of the movies set in colonial outposts of the British Empire were jingoistic and arguably racist, yet within their narrow limits they showed both sides of the issue. To put it another way, while they were basically pro-Empire it was understood and communicated that this was not the only attitude there was, or even that it was the correct one. It was the attitude the film-makers chose. Gunga Din is a good example of this, with the loyal Gunga at one end of the spectrum, the evil Guru at the other. Many films of this type allowed for a little local color (so to speak), and gave off the general feeling that these native blokes weren't such bad fellows after all once you take into account their "heathen ways". Such were the times.

Beau Geste plays the Anglo-Saxon card more often and with greater vigor than most, which is odd, since it isn't strictly speaking about either Empire or empires and is merely a lively adventure story, well told. While one wouldn't call the Gestes moral prigs, they do carry themselves a certain way. Looking down on others would be bad form, so they don't do it, or don't talk about it anyway. But they do look down on others. The others are, alas, worth looking down on, and thus the deck is stacked.

Maybe this was in the book. I don't know. As someone with some roots that go back to Great Britain I must say that even I find these attitudes annoying, and I tend to go easy on the Brits. In other more overtly pro-British films from this period the Anglo business is more soft-pedaled, as if a mere by-product or symptom of being numero uno in much of what we now call the Third World. Here its in its fully glory, Viking funeral and all.

Shorn of its attitudes, Beau Geste is a decent movie. William Wellman was a good man for this kind of story, and the opening scenes are marvelous. Gary Cooper has the lead, and his appeal has thus far eluded me. He was fine in cowboy parts but this British gentleman role was beyond him. Robert Preston is likewise an unlikely choice for a Brit, but Ray Milland was the real deal. Brian Donlevy barks commands with demonic energy and makes the most of his role as the despicable Sergeant Markoff. The movie's pacing is a little draggy, and it seems older than it is. Fort Zinderneuf is a splendid creation, as imposing as it name, which is also fittingly exotic since it houses so damn many of those foreign chaps.

from the magic year of 1939

[blanche-2 · 8/10 · 28 April 2011]

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.

Classic Rouser - Beau Geste

[arthur_tafero · 7/10 · 1 April 2022]

This adventure film starts out as a whodunnit (and a pretty good one), about the theft of a valuable piece of jewelry. The real heft of the film is the will of the three brothers against the heavy, SGT Markoff. The Sahara is the setting and the Arab revolt (well-deserved) is of secondary importance, as far as 1930s Hollywood producers were concerned. Like the old Westerns, where we rooted for the cowboys to kill the indians, we used to root for the Foreign Legion to kill the Arabs. In the 21st century, we root for the Indians to kill the cowboys, and for the Arabs to kill the colonialists. Things change. Ray Milland gives a standout performance.

disappointing

[HelloTexas11 · 4/10 · 17 February 2009]

I almost always love seeing classic old movies I've never seen before, like all the Hitchcock films I've watched for the first time in the last year. Even films that aren't exactly my type, like 'Now, Voyager,' have their interests which I find enjoyable. But I must say I think I've finally stumbled across a cinema classic that I found boring, confusing, and just plain goofy- 'Beau Geste.' What was I expecting? Well, an exciting drama having to do with the French Foreign Legion, I suppose. As I read the cast members, my interest increased. Gary Cooper, Ray Milland, and Robert Preston are the three brothers whose lives are chronicled. A very young Susan Hayward plays Milland's love interest (she has almost nothing to do except play piano and look pretty.) Broderick Crawford is not immediately recognizable to those only familiar with his much later 'Highway Patrol' series. And Charles Barton of all people plays one of the soldiers. (Who? you ask. Charles Barton, the principal director of the Abbott & Costello films.) 'Beau Geste' certainly starts off strikingly enough. A Foreign Legion detachment arrives to reinforce one of its forts in the Sahara Desert. There they find the entire company dead from an attack by Arabs, yet their corpses are propped up at their posts to give the impression of the base still being defended. It is a grisly and spooky scene and, as it turns out, actually the movie's ending, as the rest is a flashback leading up to it. We meet the Geste brothers, Beau, John, and Digby, as children, with their constant companion, Isobel. Then we see them as young adults, though frankly the brothers don't seem to have grown up much. As I said, 'goofy' is good way to describe them. There is some intrigue over a family jewel, a huge sapphire, that ultimately turns out to be a red herring of sorts. The brothers all join the Foreign Legion; Beau is ultimately killed, then Digby, leaving John to return home and (we assume) marry Isobel. Along the way they have to deal with a sadistic sergeant, Markoff (Brian Donlevy) and a weaselly fellow soldier (J. Carroll Naish), both of whom suspect Beau has the sapphire and conspire to steal it from him. At one point, Markoff appears ready to execute almost the entire company for mutiny when, luckily, the Arabs attack. I couldn't help wondering why nobody killed Markoff when they got their rifles back. There is much silly banter back and forth between the brothers, a lot of venomous spouting-off from Markoff, and the occasional exciting battle scene. But in the end, it really doesn't add up to much and the film peters out to a brief final scene that seems more of a shrug than a climax. 'Beau Geste' is definitely no 'grand gesture.'