The Four Feathers (1939)

The Four Feathers
Directed by Zoltan Korda
Written by A.E.W. Mason; screenplay by R. C. Sherriff
1939/UK
London Film Productions
First viewing/Streaming on Hulu Plus

[box] Harry Faversham: I am a coward, Doctor. If I’d been anything but a soldier I might have lived my whole life and concealed it. But to be a soldier and a coward is to be an impostor, a menace to the men whose lives are in your hands.[/box]

I was never able to suspend my disbelief, but as pure spectacle this film is great.

Harry Faversham (John Clements) is the last in a long line of military officers.  His father despairs of the boy and asks his friend General Burroughs (C.  Aubrey Smith) to buck him up over dinner.  But Burroughs’ war stories terrify the boy.

Ten years later, Harry is himself an officer and engaged to Burroughs’ daughter Ethne.  Fellow-officer John Durrance (Ralph Richardson) carries a torch for her.   Then Harry’s regiment is called up to the Sudan to avenge General Gordon’s defeat and death. Harry fears that he will turn tail under fire and resigns his commission.  Three of his comrades, including John, and Ethne send Harry white feathers condemning him for cowardice.

Almost immediately, Harry vows to redeem himself.  He sets off for Egypt where he convinces a doctor to brand his forehead so that he will be mistaken for a member of a tribe which brands traitors and cuts off their tongues.  The blue-eyed Harry disguises himself as an Arab and nobody notices he has a tongue for the rest of the film. Conveniently, Harry manages to find all of his detractors and heroically rescue them from various situations.  He also takes an enemy arsenal single-handed and even finds a Union Jack to raise there.

I couldn’t stop rolling my eyes but I have to admit the story makes a ripping action adventure.  The scenes in Sudan are astonishing for the time – really for any time. How the filmmakers managed to capture this all on location with hundreds and hundreds of local extras and clunky Technicolor cameras is beyond me.  The attacks by the “dervishes” and “fuzzy-wuzzies” are terrifying.  I imagine a “making-of” documentary would be an adventure film in itself.  Ralph Richardson is, as per normal, excellent and does well as a blind man.

The Four Feathers was nominated for an Academy Award for its Color Cinematography by Georges Périnal and Osmond Borradaile.  It was also nominated for the Palme d’or at the very first Cannes Film Festival and for the Mussolini Cup at Venice.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hyyDByrFZ3U

Trailer