Overlooked Movies: The Four Feathers (1939)

There have been several film versions of The Four Feathers, and while I'd seen (and enjoyed) the 2002 version with Heath Ledger in the lead, I'd never seen this one.  I'm glad I caught up with it because it's a dilly.  When people say, "They don't make 'em like that anymore," they might well be talking about it.  It was filmed on location in the Sudan, and the Technicolor photography of the desert is spectacular.  The movie is from a distant time, and it was about a time even more distant than that, the last years of the 19th century, when the military and colonialism were viewed differently from now, and it's all about stiff upper lips and honor and duty and courage.  It works very well.

Jack Clements is Harry Faversham, brought up to be a soldier.  But never having bought into the idea of the glories of dying for his country, he resigns his commission the night before his deployment to Egypt to fight the rebels at Khartoum.  Each of his three best friends sends him a white feather, signifying their belief that he's a coward.  His fiancée, Ethne Burrows (Jane Duprez), refuses to give him a white feather, so he plucks one from her fan and leaves her house after her father (C. Aubrey Smith), a very military fellow ("Sure, war is great now, but it was even greater when I was fighting") refuses to speak to him.

Harry decides that he's indeed a coward, so he goes to Egypt to prove himself.  Disguised as an Arab tribesman, he [SPOILER ALERT] proves very heroic, indeed, and manages to save all three of his friends from almost certain death and free Khartoum in the bargain [END OF SPOILER ALERT].

Keen-eyed readers might note that in the poster above, Ralph Richardson gets top billing.  That might be because as one of Harry's friends, he has the showiest role in the film.  I won't give it away, but the movie's worth seeing just for portrayal of a noble guy.  Check it out.