The famous and chilling opening scene of this film shows a column coming upon a desert fortress manned entirely by dead men. One of the corpses, a sergeant, was apparently bayonetted by one of his soldiers. A flashback unraveling the mystery tells of the three Geste brothers, their confession of a jewel theft to save a lady's honor, their enlistment in the Foreign Legion, and their encounter with the sadistic Sgt. Markoff at Fort Zinderneuf, a lonely desert outpost in the Sahara. This excellent adaptation of the Percival Christopher Wren classic novel stars Gary Cooper as Beau Geste; the energetic Robert Preston and suave Ray Milland complement his role in rounding off the fraternal trio.