Description:
Beau Geste tells the story of a stolen sapphire and three brothers, who consequently join the Foreign Legion. Michael "Beau" Geste, as his nickname suggests, represents honor and bravery in the midst of deceit and treachery.
In this action-packed adventure, much of the plot is set in French North Africa where the Geste brothers have to contend with both a mutiny in their ranks and the attacks of the Touaregs.
The novel has given rise to many films, most notably the 1939 version starring Gary Cooper and Ray Milland and a stage production with Laurence Olivier in the title role.
Brief description:
Percival Christopher Wren (1875-1941) was an English author of thirty-three novels and short stories of adventure fiction, mostly written about colonial soldiers in Africa. He is best know for Beau Geste, written in 1924 about the French Foreign Legion, which was adapted for the screen several times. He was born in Deptford, England. After graduating with an MA from Oxford, he traveled the world for five years before joining the British Cavalry. From there it is believed that he joined the French Foreign Legion, though he kept his membership secret. He worked for ten years in India for the Bombay government before retiring to England to concentrate on his literary career. The success of Beau Geste led to his publication of a series of Foreign Legion novels.
Review Quotes:
"Rupert Degas's performance...delivers. The three Geste brothers are to some extent aspects of a single personality, and they have similar voices here, but everyone else is persuasively distinguished by tone and accent. Even when the story slows down, Degas keeps the pace up and carries us along. The best-known film version is fairly faithful to he original story but leaves out much of the detail of life in the French Foreign Legion and the desert."
-- "AudioFile"