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The Four Feathers
The Four Feathers
	original 1939 movie poster
Directed by	Zoltan Korda
Written by	R. C. Sherriff; Lajos Bíró; Arthur Wimperis
Based on	The Four Feathers; 1902 novel; by 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	London Films
Distributed by	United Artists
Release dates	20 April 1939 (UK); 4 August 1939 (U.S.);
Running time	130 minutes
Country	United Kingdom
Language	English
Budget	£216,275 or $1 million or $300,000; £225,000 (UK)
Box office	$1 million (rentals US)

The Four Feathers is a 1939 British Technicolor adventure film directed by Zoltan Korda, starring John Clements, Ralph Richardson, June Duprez, and C. Aubrey Smith. Set during the reign of Queen Victoria, it tells the story of a man accused of cowardice and his efforts to redeem his name. It is widely regarded as the best of the numerous film adaptations of the 1902 novel of the same name by A.E.W. Mason.

Plot

In 1895, the Royal North Surrey Regiment is called to active service to join the army of Sir Herbert Kitchener in the Mahdist War against the forces of the Khalifa. Forced into an army career by family tradition and fearful he might prove a coward in battle, Lieutenant Harry Faversham resigns his commission on the eve of its departure. As a result, his three friends and fellow officers, Captain John Durrance and Lieutenants Burroughs and Willoughby, show their contempt by each sending him a white feather—signifying cowardice—attached to a calling card. When his fiancée, Ethne Burroughs, says nothing in his defence, he bitterly demands a fourth from her. She refuses, but he plucks one from her fan.

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.

Faversham (left) guiding the blind Durrance through the desert to safety

During the army's advance, Durrance is ordered to take his company into the desert to lure the Khalifa's army away from the Nile so that Kitchener's army can sail past. Durrance is blinded by sunstroke, but hides it from his men. When the company is overrun, he is left for dead, while Burroughs and Willoughby are captured. Faversham takes the delirious Durrance across the desert and down the Nile to the vicinity of a British fort. As he is putting something into Durrance's wallet, Faversham is spotted and mistaken for a robber. He is placed in a convict gang, but escapes.

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 fake 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.^[5]

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.^[6]

Reception

Box office

The film earned £225,000 in the UK and $801,564 in the US and Canada.^[7]

Critical

This version is widely considered the best of all the numerous film adaptations of the novel.^[8]^[9]^[10] 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."^[8] "They [the film crew] and the cast all do their jobs so well that the action becomes poetic."^[8] The Time Out review cites its "superb Technicolor camerawork ... and solid performances all round."^[10] It has a 100% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes, based on 10 reviews, and with an average rating of 7.9/10.^[11]

It was one of the most popular films of the year in Britain.^[12]

Nominations

The film was nominated for the Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival and the Mussolini Cup at the Venice Film Festival.

Home media

It is available on DVD and Blu-ray from the Criterion Collection. It is also available on HBO Max.

References

^ Chapman, Llewella. "'The highest salary ever paid to a human being': Creating a Database of Film Costs from the Bank of England". Journal of British cinema and television, 2022-10. Vol. 19, no. 4. Edinburgh University Press. p. 470-494 at 487.
^ "War Scar Palaver". Variety. 28 September 1938. p. 63.
^ ^a ^b "Steur, for Goldwyn, denies any action because of UA bonus split". Variety. 27 September 1939. p. 4. Retrieved 9 August 2024.
^ James Chapman ‘The Billings verdict’: Kine Weekly and the British Box Office, 1936–62' Journal of British Cinema and Television, Volume 20 Issue 2, Page 200-238, p 205
^ "The Four Feathers". Turner Classic Movies. Retrieved 15 October 2022.
^ Michael Langley. (1972). The East Surrey Regiment. Cooper. p. 80. Published Leo Cooper, London. 1972. ISBN 0-85052-114-9.
^ Chapman, Llewella. "'The highest salary ever paid to a human being': Creating a Database of Film Costs from the Bank of England". Journal of British cinema and television, 2022-10. Vol. 19, no. 4. Edinburgh University Press. p. 470-494 at 489.
^ ^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.
^ ^a ^b "The Four Feathers". 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.