The Four Feathers (1939 film)
The Four Feathers | |
---|---|
A.E.W. Mason | |
Produced by | Alexander Korda |
Starring | John Clements June Duprez Ralph Richardson |
Cinematography | Georges Perinal |
Edited by | Henry Cornelius |
Music by | Miklós Rózsa |
Color process | Technicolor |
Production company | |
Distributed by | United Artists |
Release dates |
|
Running time | 130 minutes |
Country | United Kingdom |
Language | English |
Budget | $1 million[1] |
The Four Feathers is a 1939 British
Plot
In 1895, the Royal North Surrey Regiment is called to active service to join the army of Sir
Harry confides in an old mentor and former surgeon in his father's regiment, Dr. Sutton, that he now realises he did act out of cowardice and must attempt to redeem himself. He departs for Egypt. There, he disguises himself as a despised mute Sangali native, with the help of Dr. Harraz, to hide his lack of knowledge of the local languages.
During the army's advance, Durrance is ordered to take his company into the desert to lure the Khalifa's army away from the
Six months later, the blind Durrance has returned to England. Out of pity, Ethne agrees to marry him. At dinner with Ethne, her father, and Dr. Sutton, Durrance relates the tale of his miraculous rescue. He pulls out a keepsake letter from Ethne, the only thing he had in his wallet during the "robbery". A white feather and his card drop out, revealing to the others that his rescuer was Faversham. Nobody has the heart to tell him.
Burroughs and Willoughby are thrown into a dungeon in Omdurman with other enemies of the Khalifa. Still playing the addled Sangali, Faversham surreptitiously gives them hope of escape and passes them a file, but arouses the suspicions of the guards. He is flogged and imprisoned with the others. He reveals his identity to his friends and organizes an escape during Kitchener's attack. Faversham leads the other prisoners in overpowering their guards and seizing the Khalifa's arsenal, which they hold until the arrival of Kitchener's forces.
Durrance learns of Faversham's deeds from a newspaper account and realises who saved him. He dictates a letter to Ethne, releasing her from their engagement on the false pretext of going to Germany for a prolonged course of treatment to restore his eyesight. Later, Harry attends a dinner with his friends and Ethne. Ethne asks him what act of bravery will make her take back her feather. Faversham interrupts General Burroughs, Ethne's father, in the midst of his favourite war story about the Battle of Balaclava and corrects his embellishments (Faversham's father was there too); the general complains that he will never be able to tell that story again.
Cast
- John Clements as Harry Faversham
- Ralph Richardson as Captain John Durrance
- C. Aubrey Smith as General Burroughs
- June Duprez as Ethne Burroughs
- Allan Jeayes as General Faversham
- Jack Allen as Lieutenant Thomas Willoughby
- Donald Gray as Peter Burroughs
- Frederick Culley as Dr Sutton
- Clive Baxter as Young Harry Faversham
- Robert Rendel as Colonel
- Archibald Batty as Adjutant
- Derek Elphinstone as Lieutenant Parker
- Hal Walters as Joe
- Norman Pierce as Sergeant Brown
- Henry Oscar as Dr. Harraz
- John Laurie as the Khalifa Abdullah
- Amid Taftazani as Karaga Pasha
Production
It was mostly filmed on location in the Sudan in Technicolor.[2]
Forty soldiers of the 1st Battalion, the East Surrey Regiment, were used in period uniforms for scenes in which they withstood the Dervish advance en masse.[3]
Reception
This version is widely considered the best of all the numerous film adaptations of the novel.[4][5][6] Critic Michael Sragow praises the "film's gritty magic", calling it "next to Lawrence of Arabia (1962), the most harrowingly beautiful of all desert spectaculars."[4] "They [the film crew] and the cast all do their jobs so well that the action becomes poetic."[4] The Time Out review cites its "superb Technicolor camerawork ... and solid performances all round."[6] It has a 100% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes, based on 10 reviews, and with an average rating of 7.9/10.[7]
It was one of the most popular films of the year in Britain.[8]
Nominations
The film was nominated for the
Home media
It is available on DVD and Blu-ray from the
See also
- Khartoum, a 1966 film dealing with the events leading up to General Gordon's death.
References
- ^ "War Scar Palaver". Variety. 28 September 1938. p. 63.
- ^ "The Four Feathers". Turner Classic Movies. Retrieved 15 October 2022.
- ISBN 0-85052-114-9.
- ^ a b c Michael Sragow (11 October 2011). "The Four Feathers: Breaking the British Square". The Criterion Collection. Retrieved 5 September 2013.
- ^ Dennis Schwartz (5 August 2019). "Four Feathers, The". Retrieved 15 October 2022.
- ^ Time Out. Retrieved 5 September 2013.
- ^ "The Four Feathers (1939)". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved 5 September 2013.
- ^ Harper, Sue (1994). Picturing the past : the rise and fall of the British costume film. BFI Publishing. p. 28.
External links
- The Four Feathers at IMDb
- The Four Feathers at the TCM Movie Database
- The Four Feathers at AllMovie
- The Four Feathers at the American Film Institute Catalog
- Extended movie review at BFI Screenonline
- The Four Feathers: Breaking the British Square an essay by Criterion Collection