Beau Geste

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.

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.

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.

... which is the kind that takes place somewhere exotic with lots of sand and has hordes of attacking natives. And you never know exactly WHY the natives are attacking so ferociously. But I digress. So I sat down to watch this one not expecting much, but since a 30s Paramount is so rarely shown on TCM, I thought I'd give it a whirl. I'm really glad that I did.

The film opens on a regiment of the French foreign legion coming to the fort that they are to relieve from attack, but they arrive and find not a soul alive. There is a note confessing guilt for a long-ago crime in the hand of one of the dead men, and then, when the regiment is reassembled outside the fort planning their next move, a massive fire breaks out inside. This got me wanting to know how we got to this point.

So the film now doubles back to 15 years before, when the Geste boys - Beau, John, and Digby are growing up on the Brandon estate with Patricia Brandon as a kind of foster mom. One night, after the boys are grown, the theft of an expensive jewel occurs, and the Geste brothers all write notes claiming responsibility, thinking that one of the others is guilty. They all join the French Foreign Legion to escape the reach of the law, and all three end up in the same place with each still wondering if one of the other two committed the crime back in England.

From that point forward, the story shifts to be about surviving the cruelty of one particular officer - Markoff (Brian Donlevy) and each brother trying to remain true to the other brothers while dealing with the fact that both Sergeant Markoff and their fellow legionnaires are not honorable people. Also, Markoff learns about the jewel and thinks that one of the brothers have it in their belongings.

The largest part of the film takes place inside one fort during one battle in which the fort is under relentless attack by a large band of Tuareg, but it's not boring. Donlevy as Markoff makes this part of the film, partly because he seems to enjoy sending soldiers to their death, and partly because of what he does with them after they've died.

If you like a good romance, that is not this film. It is all about comradery. The cast is truly remarkable with many later Academy Award winners -Gary Cooper, Ray Milland, Robert Preston, and Susan Hayward. There's also some great character actors such as J. Carroll Naish, Albert Dekker, and Harold Huber. Brian Donlevy never won an Academy Award, but he's deliciously evil as the sadistic Markoff. Also look for Broderick Crawford just starting out. And only in America could Donald O'Connor ( Beau Geste as a child) grow up to be Gary Cooper (adult Beau Geste).

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.