The Four Feathers (1939 film)
Encyclopedia
The Four Feathers is a 1939
adventure film
directed by Zoltan Korda
, starring John Clements
, Ralph Richardson
, June Duprez
, C. Aubrey Smith. Set in the 1890s during the reign of Queen Victoria, it tells the story of a man accused of cowardice. It is one of a number of adaptations of the 1902 novel of the same name
by A.E.W. Mason. The movie was mostly filmed in the Sudan
in Technicolor
. The Welsh Guards were used in period uniforms for scenes in which they withstood the Dervish advance en masse. The troops had loaded rifles just in case the Dervish actors took their attack too seriously.
It was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Cinematography
.
against the forces of The Khalifa
(John Laurie
). Forced into an army career by family tradition, Lieutenant Harry Faversham (John Clements
) resigns his commission on the eve of its departure. As a result, his three friends and fellow officers, Captain John Durrance (Ralph Richardson
) and Lieutenants Burroughs (Donald Gray
) and Willoughby (Jack Allen
), show their contempt of his perceived cowardice by each sending him a white feather
attached to a calling card
. When his fiancée, Ethne Burroughs (June Duprez
), 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 (Frederick Culley), that he is indeed a coward and must make amends. He departs for Egypt. There, he adopts the disguise of a despised mute Sangali native, with the help of Dr. Harraz (Henry Oscar
), to hide his lack of knowledge of the language.
During the army's advance, Durrance is ordered to take his company through the desert to lure the Khalifa's army away from Omdurman
. Durrance is blinded by sunstroke before he can lead the company to safety and it is overrun and wiped out. He is left for dead on the battlefield, and Burroughs and Willoughby are captured. However, the disguised Faversham takes the delirious Durrance across the desert and down the Nile
to the vicinity of a British fort. As he puts Durrance's white feather into a letter that Durrance kept with him, Harry is mistaken for a robber. Faversham is placed in a convict gang, but escapes to continue his quest. Six months later, the sightless Durrance has returned to England to learn to cope with permanent blindness. Out of pity, Ethne pledges to marry and care for him. At dinner with Ethne, her father, and Dr. Sutton, as Durrance relates the tale of his miraculous rescue, the white feather drops out of his letter, revealing to the others that his rescuer was Harry Faversham. Nobody has the heart to tell Durrance.
Burroughs and Willoughby are abused and kept in a dungeon in Omdurman with other enemies of the Khalifa. Playing the addled Sangali, Faversham surreptitiously gives them hope of escape and passes a file to unlock their chains, but arouses the suspicions of the guards. He is flogged as a spy and imprisoned with the others. He reveals his identity to his friends and organizes an escape as a last chance to survive the coming attack of Kitchener's army
. The prisoners overpower their guards and use their weapons to seize and hold the Khalifa's arsenal.
Durrance learns of Faversham's deeds from a newspaper account read to him by Dr. Sutton, and dictates a letter to Ethne to break their engagement on the false pretext of a prolonged course of treatment in Germany to restore his eyesight...and includes congratulations to Faversham. Some time later Harry, in mufti, attends a dinner with his friends and Ethne, where General Burroughs (C. Aubrey Smith), Ethne's father, acknowledges that Harry has forced all to take back their feathers—except Ethne. He playfully makes make her take back her white feather by interrupting Gen. Burroughs in the midst of his favourite war story about the Battle of Balaclava
to correct his embellishments; the irritated general complains that he will never be able to tell that story again.
1939 in film
The year 1939 in motion pictures can be justified as being called the most outstanding one ever, when it comes to the high quality and high attendance at the large set of the best films that premiered in the year .- Events :Motion picture historians and film often rate...
adventure film
Adventure film
Adventure films are a genre of film.Unlike pure, low-budget action films they often use their action scenes preferably to display and explore exotic locations in an energetic way....
directed by Zoltan Korda
Zoltán Korda
Zoltan Korda was a Hungarian-born motion picture screenwriter, director and producer.Born Zoltán Kellner, Kellner Zoltán in Hungarian name order, of Jewish heritage in Pusztatúrpásztó, Túrkeve in Hungary , he was the middle brother of filmmakers Alexander and Vincent Korda.Zoltan Korda went to...
, starring John Clements
John Clements
Sir John Selby Clements, CBE was an English actor and producer who worked in theatre, television and film.Clements attended St Paul's School and St John's College, Cambridge University then worked with Nigel Playfair and afterwards spent a few years in Ben Greet's Shakespearean Company. He made...
, Ralph Richardson
Ralph Richardson
Sir Ralph David Richardson was an English actor, one of a group of theatrical knights of the mid-20th century who, though more closely associated with the stage, also appeared in several classic films....
, June Duprez
June Duprez
June Duprez was an English film actress.The daughter of American vaudeville performer Fred Duprez, she was born in Teddington, Middlesex, England, during an air raid in the final months of World War I....
, C. Aubrey Smith. Set in the 1890s during the reign of Queen Victoria, it tells the story of a man accused of cowardice. It is one of a number of adaptations of the 1902 novel of the same name
The Four Feathers
The Four Feathers is a 1902 adventure novel by British writer A.E.W. Mason that has inspired many films of the same title.-Plot summary:...
by A.E.W. Mason. The movie was mostly filmed in the Sudan
Sudan
Sudan , officially the Republic of the Sudan , is a country in North Africa, sometimes considered part of the Middle East politically. It is bordered by Egypt to the north, the Red Sea to the northeast, Eritrea and Ethiopia to the east, South Sudan to the south, the Central African Republic to the...
in Technicolor
Technicolor
Technicolor is a color motion picture process invented in 1916 and improved over several decades.It was the second major process, after Britain's Kinemacolor, and the most widely used color process in Hollywood from 1922 to 1952...
. The Welsh Guards were used in period uniforms for scenes in which they withstood the Dervish advance en masse. The troops had loaded rifles just in case the Dervish actors took their attack too seriously.
It was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Cinematography
Academy Award for Best Cinematography
The Academy Award for Best Cinematography is an Academy Award awarded each year to a cinematographer for work in one particular motion picture.-History:...
.
Plot
In 1895, the North Surrey Regiment of the British Army is called to active service to join the army of Sir Herbert Kitchener in the Mahdist WarMahdist War
The Mahdist War was a colonial war of the late 19th century. It was fought between the Mahdist Sudanese and the Egyptian and later British forces. It has also been called the Anglo-Sudan War or the Sudanese Mahdist Revolt. The British have called their part in the conflict the Sudan Campaign...
against the forces of The Khalifa
Abdallahi ibn Muhammad
Abdullah Ibn-Mohammed or Abdullah al-Taaisha, also known as "The Khalifa" was a Sudanese Ansar General and ruler.-Early years:Abdullah was born into the Ta'aisha Baqqara tribe in Darfur around 1846 and was trained and educated as a preacher and holy man.He became a follower of Mohammed Ahmed "the...
(John Laurie
John Laurie
John Paton Laurie was a British actor born in Dumfries, Scotland. Although he is now probably most recognised for his role as Private James Frazer in the sitcom Dad's Army , he appeared in hundreds of feature films, including films by Alfred Hitchcock, Michael Powell and Laurence Olivier...
). Forced into an army career by family tradition, Lieutenant Harry Faversham (John Clements
John Clements
Sir John Selby Clements, CBE was an English actor and producer who worked in theatre, television and film.Clements attended St Paul's School and St John's College, Cambridge University then worked with Nigel Playfair and afterwards spent a few years in Ben Greet's Shakespearean Company. He made...
) resigns his commission on the eve of its departure. As a result, his three friends and fellow officers, Captain John Durrance (Ralph Richardson
Ralph Richardson
Sir Ralph David Richardson was an English actor, one of a group of theatrical knights of the mid-20th century who, though more closely associated with the stage, also appeared in several classic films....
) and Lieutenants Burroughs (Donald Gray
Donald Gray
Donald Gray was a South African actor, probably best remembered for providing the voices to Colonel White, Captain Black and the Mysterons in the TV series Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons and for being the reason that Donald Marshall Gray changed his name to Charles Gray when he became an actor...
) and Willoughby (Jack Allen
Jack Allen (actor)
Jack Allen was a British film, theatre and television actor.He made his stage debut in 1931 at The Liverpool Playhouse, appearing in The Swan and had a long theatrical career which lasted until 1980, when he appeared at The Old Vic in a production of The Merchant of Venice.He made his film debut...
), show their contempt of his perceived cowardice by each sending him a white feather
White feather
A white feather has been a traditional symbol of cowardice, used and recognised especially within the British Army and in countries associated with the British Empire since the 18th century...
attached to a calling card
Visiting card
A visiting card, also known as a calling card, is a small paper card with one's name printed on it. They first appeared in China in the 15th century, and in Europe in the 17th century...
. When his fiancée, Ethne Burroughs (June Duprez
June Duprez
June Duprez was an English film actress.The daughter of American vaudeville performer Fred Duprez, she was born in Teddington, Middlesex, England, during an air raid in the final months of World War I....
), 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 (Frederick Culley), that he is indeed a coward and must make amends. He departs for Egypt. There, he adopts the disguise of a despised mute Sangali native, with the help of Dr. Harraz (Henry Oscar
Henry Oscar
Henry Oscar was an English stage and film actor.Born as Henry Wale, he changed his name and began acting in 1911 and appeared in a wide range of films, including Alfred Hitchcock's The Man Who Knew Too Much , Fire Over England , The Four Feathers , Hatter's Castle ,...
), to hide his lack of knowledge of the language.
During the army's advance, Durrance is ordered to take his company through the desert to lure the Khalifa's army away from Omdurman
Omdurman
Omdurman is the second largest city in Sudan and Khartoum State, lying on the western banks of the River Nile, opposite the capital, Khartoum. Omdurman has a population of 2,395,159 and is the national centre of commerce...
. Durrance is blinded by sunstroke before he can lead the company to safety and it is overrun and wiped out. He is left for dead on the battlefield, and Burroughs and Willoughby are captured. However, the disguised Faversham takes the delirious Durrance across the desert and down the Nile
Nile
The Nile is a major north-flowing river in North Africa, generally regarded as the longest river in the world. It is long. It runs through the ten countries of Sudan, South Sudan, Burundi, Rwanda, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Tanzania, Kenya, Ethiopia, Uganda and Egypt.The Nile has two major...
to the vicinity of a British fort. As he puts Durrance's white feather into a letter that Durrance kept with him, Harry is mistaken for a robber. Faversham is placed in a convict gang, but escapes to continue his quest. Six months later, the sightless Durrance has returned to England to learn to cope with permanent blindness. Out of pity, Ethne pledges to marry and care for him. At dinner with Ethne, her father, and Dr. Sutton, as Durrance relates the tale of his miraculous rescue, the white feather drops out of his letter, revealing to the others that his rescuer was Harry Faversham. Nobody has the heart to tell Durrance.
Burroughs and Willoughby are abused and kept in a dungeon in Omdurman with other enemies of the Khalifa. Playing the addled Sangali, Faversham surreptitiously gives them hope of escape and passes a file to unlock their chains, but arouses the suspicions of the guards. He is flogged as a spy and imprisoned with the others. He reveals his identity to his friends and organizes an escape as a last chance to survive the coming attack of Kitchener's army
Battle of Omdurman
At the Battle of Omdurman , an army commanded by the British Gen. Sir Herbert Kitchener defeated the army of Abdullah al-Taashi, the successor to the self-proclaimed Mahdi Muhammad Ahmad...
. The prisoners overpower their guards and use their weapons to seize and hold the Khalifa's arsenal.
Durrance learns of Faversham's deeds from a newspaper account read to him by Dr. Sutton, and dictates a letter to Ethne to break their engagement on the false pretext of a prolonged course of treatment in Germany to restore his eyesight...and includes congratulations to Faversham. Some time later Harry, in mufti, attends a dinner with his friends and Ethne, where General Burroughs (C. Aubrey Smith), Ethne's father, acknowledges that Harry has forced all to take back their feathers—except Ethne. He playfully makes make her take back her white feather by interrupting Gen. Burroughs in the midst of his favourite war story about the Battle of Balaclava
Battle of Balaclava
The Battle of Balaclava, fought on 25 October 1854 during the Crimean War, was part of the Anglo-French-Turkish campaign to capture the port and fortress of Sevastopol, Russia's principal naval base on the Black Sea...
to correct his embellishments; the irritated general complains that he will never be able to tell that story again.
Cast
- John ClementsJohn ClementsSir John Selby Clements, CBE was an English actor and producer who worked in theatre, television and film.Clements attended St Paul's School and St John's College, Cambridge University then worked with Nigel Playfair and afterwards spent a few years in Ben Greet's Shakespearean Company. He made...
as Harry Faversham - Ralph RichardsonRalph RichardsonSir Ralph David Richardson was an English actor, one of a group of theatrical knights of the mid-20th century who, though more closely associated with the stage, also appeared in several classic films....
as Captain John Durrance - C. Aubrey Smith as General Burroughs
- June DuprezJune DuprezJune Duprez was an English film actress.The daughter of American vaudeville performer Fred Duprez, she was born in Teddington, Middlesex, England, during an air raid in the final months of World War I....
as Ethne Burroughs - Allan JeayesAllan JeayesAllan Jeayes was a British stage and movie actor.He starred as Howard Joyce in the original 1927 Broadway production of The Letter and played Sir Lawrence Wargarve in the 1943 London production of And Then There Were None.Jeayes made his film debut in the 1918 Nelson as Sir William Hamilton...
as General Faversham - Jack AllenJack Allen (actor)Jack Allen was a British film, theatre and television actor.He made his stage debut in 1931 at The Liverpool Playhouse, appearing in The Swan and had a long theatrical career which lasted until 1980, when he appeared at The Old Vic in a production of The Merchant of Venice.He made his film debut...
as Lieutenant Willoughby - Donald GrayDonald GrayDonald Gray was a South African actor, probably best remembered for providing the voices to Colonel White, Captain Black and the Mysterons in the TV series Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons and for being the reason that Donald Marshall Gray changed his name to Charles Gray when he became an actor...
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 OscarHenry OscarHenry Oscar was an English stage and film actor.Born as Henry Wale, he changed his name and began acting in 1911 and appeared in a wide range of films, including Alfred Hitchcock's The Man Who Knew Too Much , Fire Over England , The Four Feathers , Hatter's Castle ,...
as Dr. Harraz - John LaurieJohn LaurieJohn Paton Laurie was a British actor born in Dumfries, Scotland. Although he is now probably most recognised for his role as Private James Frazer in the sitcom Dad's Army , he appeared in hundreds of feature films, including films by Alfred Hitchcock, Michael Powell and Laurence Olivier...
as The Khalifa
See also
- KhartoumKhartoum (film)Khartoum is a 1966 film written by Robert Ardrey and directed by Basil Dearden. It stars Charlton Heston as General Gordon and Laurence Olivier as the Mahdi and is based on Gordon's defence of the Sudanese city of Khartoum from the forces of the Mahdist army during the Siege of Khartoum.Khartoum...
, a 19661966 in filmThe year 1966 in film involved some significant events.-Events:Animation legend Walter Disney, well known for his creation of Mickey Mouse, died in 15 December 1966 of acute circulatory collapse following a diagnosis of, and surgery for, lung cancer...
film dealing with the events leading up to General Gordon's death.
External links
- Extended movie review at BFIBritish Film InstituteThe British Film Institute is a charitable organisation established by Royal Charter to:-Cinemas:The BFI runs the BFI Southbank and IMAX theatre, both located on the south bank of the River Thames in London...
ScreenonlineScreenonlineScreenonline is a Web site devoted to the history of British film and television, and to social history as revealed by film and television. The project has been developed by the British Film Institute and funded by a £1.2 million grant from the National Lottery New Opportunities Fund.Reviews...