Thatcher's station is threatened by a lack of income, and all that keeps her from homelessness is a ginormous jewel. When it is about to be sold, it is stolen, and the only possible culprits are the members of the makeshift family. Cooper leaves a note stating that he took the jewel and will never return.
Because it is a movie, Preston and Milland correctly guess that Cooper is only trying to save Thatcher's reputation, and that he has enlisted in the French Foreign Legion. Preston and Milland also sign up, but have the bad luck of serving under sadistic sergeant Brian Donlevy. The soldiers mutiny, but before they can be punished, their desert fort is attacked by Arabs.
How others will see it. Beau Geste was a box office success, and was well received by critics. It picked up two Oscar nominations, including a Best Supporting Actor nod for Donlevy's over-the-top sergeant.
At imdb.com, the user ratings are very high, especially for women over 45. This independent-minded demographic may have an odd attraction for alpha-male Donlevy, and the presence of hunks Cooper, Milland, and Preston doesn't hurt. Older viewers are familiar with much of the cast, even those in supporting actors such as J. Carrol Naish as a fawning thief and Broderick Crawford as a legionnaire.
But, perhaps, viewers enjoy this film most for its myth of selfless masculinity. The three brothers are each willing to sacrifice himself if it will help the other two, or their adoptive mother Thatcher. Plus, they will honor the commitment to France they undertook when they enlisted.
How I felt about it. Men aren't really like that, of course. Most are first and foremost motivated by helping themselves. They aren't as blatant about it as Naish or Markoff, but the thought of "What's in it for me?" is always swirling about.
Thus, it is inconceivable that Cooper would steal the faux jewel and join the French Foreign Legion, where he will toil, suffer, and quite possibly die. It is also inconceivable that Milland and Preston would join Cooper. Such things only happen in the movies. Yes, there were the five real-life Sullivan brothers, but that happened during the draft and patriotic fervor of post-Pearl Harbor America.
There is a way, though, that the three brothers could have helped out their financially troubled adoptive mother. They could have gotten jobs, right there in England, before matters reached the point where the jewel had to be sold. Such a plot is admittedly less cinematic than an Alamo-style last stand, but then again, no good movie has ever been based on the Alamo.
Even as long ago as 1939, movie studios knew that confrontation was dramatic. Thus, Cooper is in outspoken opposition to Albert Dekker's conspiracy to mutiny. In real life, Cooper would never risk his skin when the numbers are so blatantly against him. He would pretend to be complicit in the mutiny, then report it to Donlevy when the opportunity arises. See also the attempted mutilation of Naish after he is caught stealing.
Such subtlety is considered by director Wellman to be beyond the comprehension of audiences, who could not tolerate Cooper as a mutineer, even as a strategy to remain faithful to the French flag. The irony is that the surviving brothers desert the legion, shoot at their own troops, murder their commanding officer, and even burn down the fort, so that Cooper can have a "Viking funeral." Hardly model behavior for soldiers.
We briefly mention the unlikelihood of Milland and Donlevy as the last survivors of the Beduin battle, and the further unlikely scenario of Preston being first to scale the fort. We also believe that Donlevy could have picked a better time to demand the jewel than when he needs Cooper to put down a mutiny.
We also question the military strategy of the Arabs. They rush the fort, get slaughtered, then retreat, only to attack again shortly later. It seems that their goal is to die in the greatest number possible. Also, what happens to the bodies of the fallen Arabs?