The Four Feathers (1929)

"The Four Feathers" is the oft filmed story of bravery and cowardice set in the 1860s in England and the Sudan in Africa. This version is significant as Paramount's last silent movie although it does have a synchronized music score together with sound effects.Four aspiring young officers, Harry Faversham (Richard Arlen), William Trench (William Powell), Jack Durrance (Clive Brook) and Castleton (Theodore Van Eltz) dream of glory on the battlefield for Queen and country. Faversham has doubts about whether or not he can live up to the family history of great soldiers. He is also about to marry Ethne Eustace (Fay Wray), the daughter of a Colonel.One evening, a message is delivered to Harry warning of an upcoming war. He tries to hide the message from the others but Trench accidentally finds it. Meanwhile fearing the upcoming war, Harry resigns his commission. The three friends brand Harry as a coward and each present him with a white feather signifying cowardice. Ethne, coming from a military background, also brands him a coward and presents him with a feather of her own.....hence the four feathers of the title.The last straw for Harry is when he visits his dying father General Faversham (George Fawcett) who has learned of Harry's actions. The old man dies believing his son to be a coward. Harry angered, vows to return each of the four feathers to their presenter.In disgrace, Harry flees to the Sudan where the aforementioned war is being waged. He wanders aimlessly about until he hears of a battle where Trench has been captured. Harry with the help of a young boy, Ali (Harold Hightower) and his monkey, sneaks into the prison where Trench is being held but is captured in the attempt.Later, the prisoners are brought to a slave market where the slave trader (Noah Beery) negotiates for the two white men (Harry and Trench). Harry with the help of Ali manages to free himself. The slave trader catches them and slays the young boy before being over powered by Harry. Harry and Trench escape and Harry returns Trench's feather to him.Harry learns of Durrance's valiant attempt to defend his isolated fort against hordes of attackers while wounded. He then slips through enemy lines in an effort to reach the fort and.............................Long time Paramount star Richard Arlen makes a dashing hero although it is a mystery to me as to how he manages to sneak into the prison and the fort respectively. A lot of people don't realize that William Powell had a productive career in silent before his Thin Man days. He turns in an excellent performance here as the second lead. Fay Wray has little to do as the love interest. Noah Beery, nasty as ever, gets the hisses for his slaying of the young boy.Is it me or does this film invoke memories of "Beau Geste" (1926)? Both have a prologue featuring the main characters as children, both feature the hero fleeing in disgrace, both have an isolated fort and both have large numbers of enemies attacking said forts from a desert. Just asking.

The popular A.E.W. Mason novel, the British version of The Red Badge Of Courage, got its third screen version from Paramount in 1929. Technology was winning a race with Paramount that year. Had The Four Feathers been done a bit later it would have included sound and we would have heard such folks in the cast as Richard Arlen, William Powell, Clive Brook, and Fay Wray make their talkie debuts. Sound Effects were added on however post production.Richard Arlen is our protagonist Harry Fevasham in this version. He's been brought up in a military family and it and England expects every Fevasham to do his duty. But Harry even as a juvenile questions whether he has the right stuff. When his regiment is called to the Sudan he resigns his commission. Four of his fellow officers send him the anonymous white feather and brand him a coward. His fiancé turns from him, his family disowns him.What to do but go to the Sudan and in your own way fight for the British Empire. Fevasham's adventures, incognito at first, make up the rest of the novel and this film.This version can hardly be compared to the one that Alexander Korda made for the British cinema in 1939. It has the one unforgettable advantage of being filmed in the Sudan at the actual battle sites at Khartoum and Omdurman. This one has some nice location shooting in California's Imperial Valley and earnest performances from the cast.Good thing this one was preserved. See how it stacks up against the many others filmed.

Paramount's final all-silent movie (with a synchronized music score and a few sound effects) was The Four Feathers (1929). Far more faithful to the Empire-at-all-costs spirit of the novel than later versions, the mood here is far less romantic (in both senses of that word). In fact, although Fay Wray plays the heroine, her role is really quite small (and she is unattractively photographed to boot). William Powell has a larger role to play, although his character is overshadowed by Richard Arlen who makes a reasonably convincing stab at the Sun-Never-Sets hero (and as his role is completely silent, his accent never shatters this illusion). Watch for a natural-born actor, Harold Hightower, in his only movie role as the boy with the monkey. Directors Schoedsack and Cooper (of King Kong fame) contribute some really thrilling, shot-on-exotic-locations, all-action sequences, including an eye-numbing hippo stampede that seems to go on forever yet never runs out of puff.

Merian C. Cooper and Ernest B. Schoedsack's first feature film that integrated their naturalist outdoor adventure style with Hollywood production values. Following GRASS (1925) and CHANG (1927), THE FOUR FEATHERS (1929) was one (1) of the last films in the transition from the Silent Era to Sound. It featured sound effects and a synchronized musical score. Paramount provided the stars, RICHARD ARLEN, CLIVE BROOK, WILLIAM POWELL, FAY WRAY and the technical skill to illustrate the story. This guaranteed its success at the box office when other such transitional-est films failed.A.E.W. MASONs' THE FOUR FEATHERS had been filmed at least two (2) times before, 1915 and 1921. It would be adapted directly again in 1939, 1955 (STORM OVER THE NILE), 1977 (T.V.), 2002 as well as used as a basis for other films. Each adaptation contains variations from the novel too suit the then current producers motives. The version considered the best is 1939 that places emphasis on SACRIFICE, OMDURMAN and EMPIRE, we rate it TEN (10)**********STARS, IMDb.COOPER/SCHOEDSACK put special emphasis on the natural aspects of filming in Africa including a stampede of Hippopotamuses as well as other elements native to the area. The cast does a first class job interpreting the screen play showing the sophistication of the late silent era. No mugging or obvious pantomime for the camera to get the point across. Film is well done and worth seeing compressing the salient features of the original novel. A novel that should be read first prior to seeing any of the versions. This would be the last COOPER/SCHOEDSACK production that would feature a emphasis on their original naturalist style. After this their pictures would reflect more and more being studio bound. This was a absolute necessity though. Their fantastic concepts could not be done any other way.