Beau Geste

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.

On a day white with the intolerable desert sun, a battalion of the French Foreign Legion advanced across the Sahara

to the relief of Fort Zinderneuf, whose messengers, riding with all speed, had brought word of a massed Arab attack.

Strange!...no lookout on the tower... no sign from those men on the walls...

One answering shot!

Go tell your Commandant that Major de Beaujolais is here, with his battalion.

Has the Foreign Legion no manners? Take that pipe out of your mouth - and step smartly!

Forgive me, my friend... I didn't know.

There is a man at every embrasure. And every man is dead!

Scale that wall and open the gates!

Let me go, sir!

What can have happened to him? Fifteen minutes... and the gates not yet opened.

Careful - Major! It's a trap of the Arabs!

A French bayonet - the Commandant murdered by one of his own men!

To the Chief of Scotland Yard and all those to whom it may concern.

I confess that I alone stole the great sapphire known as the "Blue Water" from Lady Patricia Brandon.

Trumpeter!

TRUMPETER!

Mes enfants, strange things have happened here - what, it is our duty to discover!

Is there a man among you - like my missing trumpeter -willing to enter the fort with me?

Gee, Buddy... I sure would like to see a ghost!

First, we will honor the fallen who were not allowed to fall - the dead forbidden to die -

A moment ago the Commandant and another soldier were lying here - dead -

Outside, the troop stirred restlessly under the spell of nameless fears.

We'll camp in the oasis tonight - and occupy the fort in the morning.

Sergeant, take your men forward and cover for a possible Arab attack - and send the two Americans to me.

You have proved yourselves brave men... do you think you can get through the Arab lines alone?

Major, you don't need to worry about a couple of good Elks in a little parade o' Mystic Shriners!

Return to Tokotu, and order the battalion of Senegalese to join me here at once.

WHAT MYSTERIOUS POWER MOVES HERE?

DEAD MEN STAND TO ARMS!

A LIVING BUGLER VANISHES!

THE FALLEN ARE SPIRITED AWAY!

THEN - A FORTRESS DISAPPEARS IN FIRE!

These happenings - strange and terrible - are but a part of the story of three brothers,

whose love for each other proved stronger than their fear of death.

I'm shot!

I'm sick.

We are now about to perform a naval surgical operation without esthetics.

I shall not yell, Captain!

Private John Geste, you are hereby cited for bravery under fire, and given the title - STOUT FELLA!

I, Michael Geste, now pronounce you worthy of the highest honor - a Viking's funeral!

This is the body of the Viking Earl, John Geste!

A dog at his feet!...a Viking must have a dog at his feet!

Trumpeter Digby, sound taps!

That's what I call a funeral!

Digby, you must promise that if I die first, you'll give me a Viking's funeral.

I say, Beau... suppose I die first... will you give me one?

Lady Patricia Brandon entertained that day the Rajah Ram Singh, visiting Brandon Abbas to view its famous sapphire, Blue Water.

Your Highness, this is my husband's niece, Isobel -

- and my nephews - Michael, whom we call Beau - and Digby and John.

Children, this is the old friend of whom you have heard me speak so often -

Captain Henri de Beaujolais, of the French Foreign Legion.

I wonder how much you'd give for it, sir?

A fortune, my child - if money could buy it!

I'll give you one like that, Isobel - when we're married!

Tell us about the Legion, Captain. And fighting the Arabs!

The Legion is the great refuge for men who want to go where they'll never be found... it is the exile of the self-condemned -

- and fiercest of all the Arabs are the veiled Touaregs!

Well, Henri, I'm keeping my promise to my dead sister... I've brought up her boys - and I shall see them educated.

Since we have lived apart, my husband has taken every penny that comes from the estate.

Can't I help you, Patricia? Once I hoped for the right -

Henri dear, the problem is mine alone - and I shall find a way!

But, Your Highness, I consent only because I see no other way out of my difficulties.

For years Lady Brandon fought out her problems... alone... until the boys had grown intosplendid manhood.

What do you say to a game of bridge, Digby?

How about you, Beau?

It was worth while, wasn't it?

Please bring in the Blue Water.

A cable from Uncle Hector.

It is absolutely necessary to sell the stone. Have it appraised by an expert immediately. - Hector.

That means, Beau, I don't take my degree at Oxford.

Are you playing a joke, John?

Someone in this room has taken the Blue Water...

I will give the one who played the stupid trick a chance to put it back.

Isobel, will you put out the lights.

If the sapphire is not returned by morning, I shall be more sorry than I can say - to know that one of you is a common thief!

For the benefit of Aunt Pat there is no longer any need to worry about the sapphire. I am the criminal... but

give up trying to get me! In the meantime, be good and try to think fondly of your evil brother. - Beau.

When Digby found that Beau had gone, to shield him, he packed up and left too. Look at the note Dig left for me!

Dear John, Do not think ill of my gesture! Beau never stole anything in his life.

He's just trying to protect me. Farewell. Your beloved brother, -Digby.

They're both trying to protect me, Isobel. Tell Aunt Pat I stole it!

Marseilles - port to that exile of the self-condemned where lives broken by love - sin - failure - embark for the unquestioning solitude of the Sahara.

The Canteen... where the Legion first becomes a reality to the new recruit... here, among adventurers

from every nation, he meets for the first time his comrades of the next five years.

One drink of whiskey costs a legionnaire one hundred days' pay ...Better stick to plain red wine!

No, English - John Smith.

An' this here little runt is Buddy!

My name is Boldini - I'm re-enlisting in the Legion...

I might give you a little useful information in exchange for -

All together now! The Marching Song of the Legion!

Then to Sidi-bel-Abbes, under the burning African sky, for military assignment and final drill -

- derelicts-adventurers-fugitives - ready to sacrifice themselves at a penny a day for sheer love of fight-scamps-and heroes!

English gentlemen, eh?

How would you like to have a hand like that?

Look at it!

Just a little joke of mine - we'll be the best of friends.

The dog!

Back again, eh? None of your dirty tricks this time.

Enter the third robber!

So I'm not the only one who remembered 'the exile of the self-condemned'!

Jewel thief! Fleeing from justice too, are you?

Got the jewel with you, Dig?

Beau's keeping it for me.

He tried to steal my belt.

There's just one law here - a man cannot steal from a comrade. And if he does - that's the punishment.

Stealing from whom?

I'll break up this Anglo-American clique.

Corporal, send those three to Major de Beaujolais' battalion at Tokotu.