Beau Geste, the best selling 1924 adventure novel by Percival Christopher Wren, has provided venerable screenplay fodder for successive generations of Hollywood filmmakers. First adapted in a silent version in 1926 with Ronald Colman in the title role, the property was most memorably executed by director William Wellman in 1939. Gary Cooper starred as Michael "Beau" Geste, one of three noble brothers who join the French Foreign Legion after being wrongly implicated in a jewel theft. An Academy Award nomination went to Brian Donlevy for his role as a villainous sergeant. A forgettable third version appeared in 1966.

Further Reading:

Wren, Percival Christopher. Beau Geste (Gateway Movie Classics). Washington, D.C., Regnery Publishing, 1991.