GamerTab That was an excellent one.

Taraparain Tells a fascinating and unsettling true story, and does so well, without pretending to have all the answers.

Gurlyndrobb While it doesn't offer any answers, it both thrills and makes you think.

Hadrina The movie's neither hopeful in contrived ways, nor hopeless in different contrived ways. Somehow it manages to be wonderful

5th Shock And show it to them, start when they are toddlers, they get more than we know. Adventure, loyalty, blood, family. And the power of one's word.

Robert J. Maxwell 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.

lmbelt Last night, upon receiving a mail order, borderline watchable DVD, I played the silent version of Beau Geste starring Ronald Colman. The 1939 version is not a scene-by-scene remake, but it is darn close. Where there are notable differences they are for the better. But I heartily recommend the 1926 film to those who love the Cooper-Milland-Donleavy version and are willing to pay for a crappy transfer. (Why there are so many great movies that have never been released in a cleaned-up DVD version beats me).I'll blame shelling out for a sub-par, silent version on my dad. I was blessed to have a father who loved movies. Dad's gone now. But his encouragement and never-ending desire to turn me on to the films he loved as a kid lives on in me. So many great movies together on the couch in the era of four channel television.Some of dad's favorites, "The Thief of Bagdad," "Trail of the Lonesome Pine," "Gunga Din," and "Lives of a Bengal Lancer" to name a few, are now my own. As for "Beau Geste," I've lost count of how many times I have watched it. I seem to recall my first viewing. The set of foreign legion toy soldiers that followed. My pal next door had a sand box. Soon we were building our own Fort Zinderneuf and waging mock battles.Sappy, huh. Well that's okay. It's hard to embrace old movies without a little sap. But there's more to it than just nostalgia. As a child, I loved this movie for the adventure, the action, and what may be the most drop-dead eerie beginning in film history. Fifty years later, the love between brothers (I have three), between an adoptive parent and her children,and between lovers separated by time, distance, and moral dilemma are new reasons I will be screening the 1939 version this evening (not to mention one of the most odious screen villains).There will be several times when I "well up." The opening quote from Kayam (or the Koran) is a slam dunk. The first viking funeral not so much, though it use to tear me up as a child. The death of Beau. The second death second funeral, and the reading of his letter.If you've made it this far without an insulin shot, and are under the age of forty, I challenge you to come up with films made since 1980 that you feel will have this kind of hold on you when you're sixty. If you're having trouble thinking of any, I suggest you investigate some of the classics of the '30's and '40's. Hell, even a silent flick or two. How else are you going to pass the lasting beauty of film down to your children? Some closing observations in comparing the silent version and first remake of "Beau Geste:" (1) Wow what a difference a soundtrack makes! I'm talking orchestration not dialogue, the silent DVD version I now own having a typical, and possibly original, score. I can hear that awesomely spooky and provocative music from the '39 film and I have yet to put the DVD in! Then again, think of your favorite films, then try to identify one with a score you don't find incredible! 2) Watching Ronald Colman act, I started to believe I was actually hearing him! Kinda like a foreign language film where halfway in you think you now know the language. That remarkable "Prisoner of Zenda" voice spoke to me. But had I not known Colman, would his performance have seemed so powerful? I'll never know.(3) Victor McLaglen plays one of the American legionnaires. Small role notwithstanding, I kept seeing him as one of the sergeants in "Gunga Din." Same mischievous grin and infectious laughter you could only imagine. Same happy-go-lucky Irishman though younger and thinner.

st-shot Gary Cooper, Ray Milland and Robert Preston are brothers who run off and join the foreign legion in order to preserve the honor of the family name in this classic romantic adventure. P.C. Wren's novel about honor, courage and Viking funerals gets its best treatment (there have been three)under the knowledgeable direction of William Wellman the performances of the the leads and an effective supporting cast.After a family scandal involving a stolen gem surfaces the brothers Geste make themselves scarce by entering the French Foreign Legion. Two of the brothers end up at Fort Zinderneuf, a besieged desert outpost run by a martinet sergeant. When the third brother arrives the rumor that one holds the precious gem gets back to Sgt.Markoff who makes plans to extract it from them. Meanwhile inside the walls he sadistically drives his men while marauding Arab Taurogs pose a huge threat outside the walls. The troops mutiny but must quickly turn to defending Zinderneuf when the Taurogs lay siege to Zinderneuf.With two plots driving the story Beau Geste moves along at a steady suspenseful pace after it's rather slow nebulous opening that nevertheless sets the stage for the rousing action and drama ahead. As the title character Gary Cooper might be a tad old to play the youthful idealist but he makes up for it in nobility and courage while remaining stoically conflicted by what Markoff is and represents. Brian Donlevy's Markoff is one of film history's great villains. Both corrupt and courageous he may lust after the gem but it is tenacity and leadership that saves the fort from being overrun. J.Carrol Naish as the craven Rasinoff also registers in a supporting role.The Fort Zinderneuf setting amid the blowing dunes of the desert makes for a dramatic atmosphere that Wellman and his cameraman utilize to full effect. Alfred Newman also adds accent to the dessert's mood and mystery with a score that partners perfectly to the isolation as well as the action and bonding of the brothers.Nearly half a century ago as a child I was mesmerized by this film. While that may no longer be the case, it still stands on its own as an excellent adventure film that can be enjoyed by children of all ages.