Beau Geste (1939), produced and directed by William A. Wellman.
We open with the Mystery of Fort Zinderneuf. A relief column of the French Foreign Legion arrives to find no enemies in sight and the walls manned by dead men. Apparently no survivors. But: shots are fired from within! The bugler goes in as a scout. When he does not return the commander goes in, finds no sign of the scout. Then two bodies laid out vanish when his back is turned. Finally as they are leaving the fort catches fire.
Is this place haunted?
Flashback 15 years to a manor house in England when the three Geste brothers were children. We have a lengthy childhood setup (they meet their future Legion commander) and more as they are young adults. When a fabulous sapphire goes missing, the brothers vanish one by one, meeting up in the Foreign Legion in North Africa.
Then to Fort Zinderneuf, a siege against overwhelming odds as all the soldiers are picked off one by one. After each assault the brothers look for each other and exchange smiles, as long as they last...
Notes:
The young people are all American actors; we just ignore that. Also their ages.
In the book Beau and Digby (Gary Cooper and Robert Preston) are identical twins.
Susan Hayward is a love interest for young John (Ray Milland).
Brian Donlevy is utterly convincing as the cruel iron-man Sergeant. Nominated for an Academy Award for the role.
J. Carrol Naish is the company weasel.
Broderick Crawford is one of two American cowboys in the Legion. Hank and Buddy reappear in later novels.
Donald O'Connor, age 14, is young Beau.
For unknown reasons one exciting assault segment was filmed but cut: scaling ladders and hand-to-hand combat. No one has been able to find the footage. That's unfortunate.
In the book the mystery of the missing sapphire is not solved until the last page. I suspect film viewers will have a good idea long before that.
Filmed near Yuma AZ, the same location as the silent pre-code Beau Geste (1926) with Ronald Colman. That is said to be a fine production but is awaiting a quality restoration.
Foreign Legion films used to be a busy genre. See List of films featuring the French Foreign Legion.
I've reviewed Legionnaire (1998) with Jean-Claude Van Damme.
Score by Alfred Newman. Theodor Sparkuhl and Archie Stout share the cinematography credit. Edith Head costumes.
Available on Blu-ray from Kino. Image quality is adequate, grainy with some print damage, mostly vertical striping. Frank Thompson and the director's son William Wellman Jr provide a relaxed, conversational commentary track.