Otter is a total Foreign Legion junkie, no kidding, and is always looking for good movies and books on the subject. And this one is a pip! A TV miniseries made by the BBC in the 1980s, it runs to eight half-hour episodes, and is not only faithful to the book (even though cuts are made, they are judiciously and intelligently made) but also has EXCELLENT period and military detail.

The actors are good, the script is full of charm and humor (Wren was an extremely amusing writer), and this series really does justice to a great story. Oh, and two of my favorite Wren characters, Hank and Buddy, the Americans, are in this as well, and they are just a treat to watch.

And the plot points are very well done. The Gestes and the girls are good as kids, and Michael overhearing the transaction between his aunt and the Maharajah for the Blue Water is very believeable. All the conniving about the English jewel thieves in the Legion, and the ending, which is shown from two points of view, one at the beginning of the series when you don't know who Digby, Beaujolais or LeJaune are, and the other when, of course, the viewer Knows All, is extremely good.

(Or at least you think you do. You don't REALLY know what happens until you read the third book in the trilogy, Beau Ideal. The second (Beau Sabreur) is about Henri de Beaujolais, and, while even better than Beau Geste, and my favorite of Wren's books, has nothing to do with the theft of the jewel.)

This is way better than the 1939 movie, Cooper, Milland and Serious Honey Robert Preston notwithstanding. Partly because it's four hours long, partly because they took the trouble to really make it accurate, and partly due to excellent scriptwriting.

The down side? it's only available from England, which means that you not only have to get it from Amazon.co.uk but if you don't have an all regions* dvd player, you won't be able to watch it.

But you could come on over and join us on the couch. We'd love to see it again.

*DVDs are coded to different world regions:

1. United States of America, Canada
2. Europe, including France, Greece, Turkey, Egypt, Arabia, Japan and South Africa
3. Korea, Thailand, Vietnam, Borneo and Indonesia
4. Australia and New Zealand, Mexico, the Caribbean, and South America
5. India, Africa, Russia and former USSR countries
6. Peoples Republic of China
7. Unused
8. Airlines/Cruise Ships
9. Uncoded

   If you live in the US, the dvd players you buy are set to play region 1 dvds only. If you try to play a dvd of another region, it won't work. You can buy players that have been reprogrammed to play all regions (we have one of those, they're not expensive) or you can sometimes buy 'region free' dvds. But unless you know one of those two conditions exist, you can only play dvds from your region on your dvd player.

   Most computers will play dvds of all regions...but will only switch regions a certain number of times. Every time you put a different kind of dvd in, it's one switch. When you run out, your computer will only show dvds from the last region you played, when you used up your last switch.