646f9e108c 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. 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. 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. 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 &quot;Blue Water&quot; 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 &quot;Blue Water&quot;. 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.<br/><br/>&quot;Beau Geste&quot; 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.<br/><br/>Title (Brazil): &quot;Beau Geste&quot;
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