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'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 legion as well as the Arabs at the gate.
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 just as well 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 "bad" 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.
The cast are a mixed bunch and it is telling that the material doesn'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'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 Jacket as one of the finest sergeants on screen.
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.
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 just as well 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 "bad" 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.
The cast are a mixed bunch and it is telling that the material doesn'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'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 Jacket as one of the finest sergeants on screen.
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.