THE FOUR FEATHERS Movie Review
1939 Zoltan Korda
Younger moviegoers tend to think of anything that's more than a few years ago as somehow dated and slow, not really on a par with today's entertainment. They're wrong. They've simply become accustomed to cookie-cutter vehicles for overpaid stars in replaceable plots. A glance at something as maniacally original as this adventure ought to change their minds.
A.E.W. Mason's novel has been adapted to the screen several times, but this lavish production is by far the best. It was released in 1939, Hollywood's “golden” year, and stands up well against its contemporaries, Gone with the Wind, Stagecoach, The Wizard of Oz, Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, and Beau Geste. The film's blithe racist tendencies are off-putting, but in that regard, it's simply a product of its times. The story of heroism begins with Dervishes ripping down the Union Jack over Khartoum, 1898. Back in England, four young upper-class friends are members of the Royal North Surrey Regiment. Harry Faversham (John Clements) and John Durance (Ralph Richardson) are competing for the hand of the lovely Ethne Burroughs (June Duprez), and she has chosen Harry. When the Regiment is assigned to the Sudan, Harry's doubts about his chosen career rise to the surface. He's in the Army because that's what generations of men in his family have done. For various reasons, he's unsure about that course for himself and so he resigns his commission. Everyone who knows him is scandalized.
Durrance, Ethne's brother Peter (Donald Gray), and their pal Arthur Willoughby (Jack Allen) send Harry three white feathers, thereby branding him a coward and telling him that they want nothing to do with him. Ethne adds the fourth feather. After that comes one of the most astonishing and indescribable plot twists in the history of the movies. For those who don't known what's coming, it's real jaw-dropper. Of course, it will not be revealed here.
The rest of the film revolves around a military campaign in Africa against “The Khalifa's Army of Dervishes and Fuzzy Wuzzies on the Nile,” as one supertitle puts it. The battle scenes, pitting Africans on horses and camels against British infantry, are dramatically staged. Director Zoltan Korda takes pains to see that the various positions and movements of the forces are clearly drawn. He was assisted by Capt. Donald Anderson, technical and military advisor, and second unit director Geoffrey Boothby. Despite the sweeping scope of those “big” moments, they lack the attention to individual engagements that add a human element.
That human element comes in other areas. June Duprez, for example, has a very slight lisp, so slight that it's unnoticeable in most scenes. It is, unfortunately, revealed at her most dramatic moment fairly late in the film, when she says, “You think I behaved bwutally to him, doctor? I did behave bwutally! I failed to help him when he was so tewibbly in need of help!” It's a completely charming moment. Most of the dramatic heavy lifting, though, falls on John Clements and Ralph Richardson. They manage to make pre-posterous situations and events seem credible, and they make us believe the characters.
The film was photographed in the original “three-color” Technicolor process, and so the tape is still unusually—some might say unnaturally—vivid. Reds and blacks seem almost three-dimensional. The desert scenes are bright and lush, while some of the day-for-night scenes (recognizable for their strong shadows) have an unusual look. The film was shot by Jack Cardiff, one of the finest Technicolor cameramen of his day.
Compared to other “exotic” adventure films of the late 1930s, The Four Feathers is more polished and serious, and it was certainly one of the most expensive. Its combination of exotic locales with troubled British military men is an obvious influence on the films of David Lean that would follow. Its mad plotting, though, still stands on its own.
Cast: John Clements (Harry Faversham), Ralph Richardson (Capt. John Durrance), Sir C. Aubrey Smith (Gen. Burroughs), June Duprez (Ethne Burroughs), Donald Gray (Lt. Peter Burroughs), Jack Allen (Lt. Arthur Willoughby), Allan Jeayes (Gen. Faversham), Frederick Culley (Dr. Sutton), Hal Walters (Joe), Henry Oscar (Dr. Harraz), John Laurie (Mahdi), Clive Baxter (young Harry Faversham), Robert Rendel (Colonel), Derek Elphinstone (Lt. Parker), Norman Pierce (Sgt. Brown), Amid Taftazani (Karaga Pasha), Archibald Batty (Adjudant), Hay Petrie (Mahdi Interpreter), Alexander Knox; Written by: R.C. Sherriff, Lajos Biro, Arthur Wimperis; Cinematography by: Osmond H. Borradaile, Georges Perinal, Jack Cardiff; Music by: Miklos Rozsa; Technical Advisor: Capt. Donald Anderson. Producer: Alexander Korda, United Artists. British. Awards: Nominations: Academy Awards '39: Best Color Cinematography. Running Time: 99 minutes. Format: VHS, Beta, LV.