The 1939 version of Beau Geste with Gary Cooper et al was a formative film in my youth and it will air on TCM Thursday August 28th at noon eastern, OR you can watch it any time here: https://archive.org/details/beau-geste-1939

The 1939 version is the second movie adaptation of this story from British novelist P.C. Wren. The first version from 1926 is silent, so I do not expect a modern audience to put up with it despite the NYT claiming the first superior to the second their review of the second’s release from 1939:

On the whole, it is perhaps an unfortunate thing for Beau Geste the Second that Beau Geste the First was so distinguished, for Mr. Wellman’s film seems dominated by the tremendous shadow of its predecessor. But it would be a mistake on that account to assume that the current generation will not find the current “Beau” a stirring piece of cinema, worth more than all the combined photostatic copies which followed the first and alas! preceded the second.

Forget that! The passing years have proven that the 1939 version is just as much a classic as its predecessor.

This action/adventure film is something of an adult fairy tale, but one suitable for most grade school children. There are some very upsetting scenes, that may scare the youngsters, but it will also fire them up against the villany. It is packed with archetypal characters of a Lady in Distress, Chivalrous Knights (though not literally), Evil Overlords, Brotherhood, and unfortuantely, Foreign Heathens (which the modern audience will recognize as particularly insulting because the colonizers are the invaders – but just go with that ‘Brits are the Best’ presumption until after the story concludes). I can’t recommend it enough.