Beau Geste (1939)

Beau Geste
Directed by William Wellman
Written by Robert Carson based on a novel by Percival Christopher Wren
1939/USA
Paramount Pictures
First viewing/Netflix rental

Foreword: “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.” Arabian proverb

I just loved this mystery/adventure.

Beau (Gary Cooper), Digby (Robert Preston), and John (Ray Milland) Geste are English orphaned brothers living with their kindly Aunt Patricia and their obnoxious cousin Augustus.  We meet them as children led by eldest brother Beau and playing at games of derring-do.  Aunt Patricia introduces them to an officer in the French Foreign Legion and they decide that is what they want to be when they grow up.  We find out that Patricia’s absent husband has been going through the family fortune and the largest remaining asset is the huge and immensely valuable “Blue Water” sapphire.

The next time we see them they are adults and as close as ever.  John has fallen in love with his cousin Isobel (the very young Susan Hayward).    Patricia learns that her husband is coming home to sell the sapphire.  The brothers ask to see it for one last time.  While she is displaying it, all the lights go out and the stone vanishes.  A little later Beau confesses to his brothers that he stole it and sets out to join the Foreign Legion.  Shortly thereafter, Digby says Beau confessed to spare him and sets out after him.  The brothers are not to be separated and John soon follows despite his love for Isobel.

The Foreign Legion proves to be much less romantic than the boys imagined.  They are all assigned to training under the sadistic Sargeant Markoff (Brian Donleavy) whose idea of “breaking” a man to be a soldier includes anything up to killing him.  Then a man overhears the brothers discussing the Blue Water Diamond and is convinced Beau has it in his possession. He tells Markoff who begins to plot to get it from him.  The first part of the plan includes separating Beau and John from Digby and putting them under Markoff’s command at a desert fortress.  The rest of the movie includes a mutiny by the Legionnaires and an attack on the fort by the Tauregs.  I won’t give anything else away.

The whole movie captured my imagination from the intriguing mystery behind the jewel theft to the exotic desert scenes to the stirring battle.  The acting is all first-rate but I though Brian Donleavy was the standout.  He makes an unforgettable villain.  It was also fun to spot a familiar face playing Beau Geste as a child.  I had to wait for the credits to verify that this was Donald O’Connor!  William A. Wellman certainly knows how to direct action. Recommended.

Beau Geste was nominated for Academy Awards in the categories of Best Supporting Actor (Donlevy) and Best Art Direction.

Trailer