Le quattro piume

In my 71 years I still hold "The Four Feathers" as my all time favorite movie. The acting is outstanding and the photography is beautifully done. You'll never see anything like this again if you live to be 200. It's too bad that this was released in 1939 when so many block busters were released by Hollywood.

A British army officer is forced to redeem himself after being branded a coward by his Army buddies and the woman he loves. Improbably, he decides to go off to the war in the Sudan to rescue his fallen comrades. That is the gist of this story--but it makes a powerful, absorbing British film in excellent early Technicolor.

June Duprez is the scornful woman, pretty as a picture in the only feminine role. Uncharismatic British actor John Clements is only adequate as the man who receives the "four feathers" and must redeem himself--but Ralph Richardson has the most memorable scenes as the sun-struck soldier who loses his helmet under the blazing sun and is blinded. Many gripping scenes as the hero undertakes a long journey to the Sudan.

Handsome Alexander Korda production rightfully deserves its ranking as a screen classic of 1939, but I have to say it's not without its faults as far as the structure of the story goes.

First of all, too much time is spent on hundreds of extras in battle scenes that become repetitious after awhile and interrupt the flow of the story and what is happening with our hero. Furthermore, the actor chosen for the "stiff upper lip" role of Haversham is John Clements, and much of his performance is too stiff to come alive. A more appealing and charismatic actor from that era would have sufficed and made the story stronger. Thirdly, there's a hint of incredibility in the tale of a man who would go to such extremes to regain his honor and go on a mission in which he would be reunited with the very men who scorned him. A bit much in the realm of credibility, but it does make a good story.

Summing up: Good adventure tale in which C. Aubrey Smith has one of his most memorable character roles as a stuffy "Colonel Blimp" type of career soldier recounting his favorite war tales.

The 1939 version of Four Feathers deserves to be better known. It's one of those action classics like The Scarlet Pimpernel or Mutiny on the Bounty whose conflicts are as relevant to one era as another. In this case they revolve around different forms of courage and honor. A man from a prominent military family is snubbed as a coward by his fellow officers and even his fiancée when he refuses to participate in Britain's Sudanese campaign of the 1890s which he believes is imperial folly. He gradually regrets his decision and decides to make amends by secretly traveling to the Sudan to help his regiment as a spy behind enemy lines. To get away with this ruse he takes drastic steps to disguise himself as a local tribesman.

The Technicolor photography is eye-poppingly rich, at the same level as three other 1939 color classics—namely, Gone with the Wind, The Wizard of Oz and Drums Along the Mohawk. Particularly effective are the transitions from the browns and yellows of North African military outposts, with their punctuations by the red, white and blue of the Union Jack, to the deep greens of rural England. To top it off, much of the film was actually shot in the Sudan with what seems like thousands of native extras. By looks alone, sometimes it's hard to believe that this production predates the Second World War. It might have been a huge hit if it had had a Cary Grant or a Clark Cable or an Errol Flynn in the lead. As things go, John Clements is as good as can be, if not exactly bursting with charisma. Ralph Richardson gives a bravura performance as Clement's fellow officer, though he is saddled with a sequence that strains credulity beyond the breaking point. Let's just say that it takes a physically fit man longer than 30 seconds of direct exposure to the desert sun before he suffers total disorientation and unconsciousness. And if the sun can do that much damage so swiftly, then surely the flesh of the unconscious man's face, exposed for hours, would be cooked to a cinder.

C. Aubrey Smith plays his usual crusty old Brit, this time as a bombastic Crimean War veteran who complains that men are no longer men and war is no longer war. His repetitious boasting wears thin after a while. June Duprez barely registers as the female love interest.

This is one of the best from the now happily recovered & preserved great Korda collection(for some years blocked by much litigation)when the huge Denham Studios were on a roll,having arisen from the embers of an earlier fire. Under the sheer dedication of the hungarian Kordas, they simply couldn't fail until in the middle of what must be their most popular hit, The Thief of Baghdad,they were forced to move to the US by the outbreak of WW2. Each brother has left much to posterity. Alex, the entrepreneur was subsequently knighted for his contribution to British films. In a fascinating but poignant BBC documentary of the 70s,on the great studio's rise & fall, Elizabeth Bergner {another European import) referred to him as "a prankster". This vividly technicolored remake is splendid adventure, its Sudan locations compare well with those of Lawrence of Arabia and as in "Thief" the object of my attention had to be the beautiful, husky young June Duprez.

As in Stanley Baker's "ZULU" these giant black warriors are fearsomely portrayed with the scenes inside the primitive prison where the "dumb" spy Harry Faversham eventually finds himself are quite grim. And as another reviewer has commented, crusty Sir Aubrey as ever is the perfect & amusing retired tactician at the start & finish. A glare from under those bushy eyebrows was always enough! Great entertainment.

I have seen both the 1936 and 2005 versions of this film. Of the 2, the 1939 version is far preferable as it is a film about bravery, cowardice, duty, and devotion rather that a psycho-politico voyage about retribution, consequences, and punishment. The 1939 film is nonapologetic and does not need to be, as it is an exploration of one man's duty to friends and not a political statement.

I believe that the main reason this film is not given more credit is that it happened to be made in the watershed year of 1939, a year of legendary films, filmmakers, and stars. (Think "Gone with the Wind" and "The Wizard of Oz", among others.) The action scenes are as good as you can get. The technical direction is well done and the cinematography excellent. While the camaraderie is, at times, a little forced, it is probably fairly accurate.

The travails of the protagonist are straightforward and unimpeded by the burdens of political overtones or ethereal punishments for current retrospections on political transgressions and apologetic political correctness. I'll forego the 5.1 surround sound for the far better entertainment factor of the real "Four Featers" made in 1939