White Feather (1955)

White Feather is out of Panoramic Productions, it's directed by Robert D. Webb and stars Robert Wagner, Debra Paget, John Lund, Eduard Franz & Jeffrey Hunter. It's adapted from a John Prebble story by Delmer Daves & Leo Townsend. It was filmed in Durango, Mexico, with Lucien Ballard on cinematography duties (CinemaScope/Technicolor) and Hugo Friedhofer provides the score. Plot centres around the peace mission from the US cavalry to the Cheyenne Indians in Wyoming during the 1870s, but problems arose because a few of the Cheyenne refused to leave their hunting grounds.One of the few 1950s Westerns to show sympathy towards the Indian plight, White Feather is a well intentioned and well executed movie. It suffers a little from familiarity with Broken Arrow (1950), where Delmer Daves had directed James Stewart and Debra Paget thru a similar script to the one that's now in front of Wagner and Paget; and lets face it-Wagner is no Jimmy Stewart- and Robert Webb is no Delmer Daves-but there's more than enough good here to lift it above many other liberal Westerns.Away from the endearing and emotive story (and it is as the Cheyenne are forced out of Wyoming by the Federals), the film also boasts high points for the Western fan to gorge upon. It's gorgeously shot in CinemaScope by Ballard, a first class lens-man in the genre, and Friedhofer's score is pulsating, evocative and in tune with the tone of the tale. Also of note is that these Native Americans aren't caricatures or pantomime Indians. They may be being played by white actors (Hunter & Franz do especially good work), but they feel real and come out as the human beings they were. In fact the whole movie looks convincing.There's some missteps along the way; such as Wagner over acting and having a voice that's sounds out of place in the Wild West, while the romantic angle (Paget is so beautiful here who could not fall in love with her?) does at times threaten to clog up the narrative. But these things don't hurt the film. On the flip side there's the smooth pacing of the piece, it's only when the tense and exciting climax has arrived that you realise how well the slow burn first half was handled. And Webb may well be a second unit director in all but name here, but his construction of the scenes with hundreds of extras is top notch work.A fine and under seen Western that is based on actual events and doesn't over egg its pudding. 7/10

This movie is one of those weird "remake" movies they used to do ala "Rio Bravo"/"El Dorado", or "Support Your Local Sheriff/Support Your Local Gunfighter". In this case, "White Feather" is a loose remake of 1950's "Broken Arrow". Delmer Daves, who directed BA, wrote this screenplay and Debra Paget reprises her role as the most European looking Indian maiden of all time.Here's what I liked:This movie had a big budget and it shows in the recreation of the Indian villages. I have never seen such large representations of tribal villages. They are almost small cities. Unfortunately, they also seem phony and sterile.For once a Western leading man is having romantic relationships with women his own age!Positive Indian point of view theme is OK.That's it for positives.Hard to know where to start for negatives:As mentioned, a blatant remake of "Broken Arrow".Robert Wagner gives one of the worst leading man performances I've seen in a Western. And that hair style. Looks like he just walked off the set of "Jailhouse Rock". I finally understand why they had to use old guys like Wayne, Stewart, Randolph Scott, Gary Cooper etc. for leading men in the '50's. None of the young guys could act!!There's no heavy. This drains almost all the dramatic tension out of the story.All the other acting jobs are terrible. I didn't buy Jeffery Hunter for a second as an Indian warrior. It was hard to buy any of the Indians because they were all played by obviously Causcasian actors.Very little attempt at comic relief.Fundamental relationships of friendship between Little Dog and Josh and especially Appearing Day and Josh seemed awkward and implausible.Not one decent supporting acting job to salvage this mess.

This is one of a number of 1950s Westerns which attempted to redress the balance by painting a fairly sympathetic view of the American Indian; even so, to spice up proceedings, we get a couple of rebels (second lead Jeffrey Hunter among them) opposing the impending peace treaty offered by the white man. Incidentally, though inspired by a factual incident, the film's plot line basically mingles elements from two contemporary examples of the genre – BROKEN ARROW (1950; whose director, Delmer Daves, contributed to the script of this one) and ARROWHEAD (1953). With this in mind, the film doesn't really bring anything new to the table – but, made with consummate Hollywood professionalism, the result is undeniably entertaining nonetheless.Casting is adequate, too: apart from the afore-mentioned Hunter (though not exactly convincing as a redskin), we get Robert Wagner as an all-too-young Government agent hero who mediates between the two parties, Debra Paget (in a virtual reprise of her BROKEN ARROW role and who eventually defies her people by eloping with Wagner), John Lund as the experienced Cavalry officer in charge, Eduard Franz as Hunter's dignified chieftain father, Hugh O'Brian (as with Peter Graves in the same director's BENEATH THE 12-MILE REEF [1953], a viewing of which preceded this one, he's the heroine's brash but unloved intended), Virginia Leith as a more mature secondary love interest for Wagner, and Emile Meyer as her racist storekeeper father. By the way, I've just taped the first cinematic adaptation of Ira Levin's thrller A KISS BEFORE DYING (1956) off Cable TV – which I noticed shares a remarkable number of cast and crew members with the title under review (not least its hunky stars)! Being a largely outdoor film and in order to supply the appropriate grandeur, Lucien Ballard's widescreen photography is rather frustratingly limited to long or medium shots – which, when screened on a normal-sized TV set, unfortunately leads to a certain detachment on the viewer's part; by the way, in the accompanying poster gallery on the DVD, the fact that patrons would be watching a "Cinemascope" production was deemed a bigger draw than even the stars involved! The film culminates with an unusual sort of showdown as Hunter and O'Brian face an entire cavalry unit (apparently an Indian battle custom which explains the film's title) – however, the duo's come-uppance sees the personal intervention of Franz, who's not pleased with their 'brave' gesture; this is then followed by a lengthy (and, I'd even say, unwarranted) scene in which Wagner meticulously prepares Hunter for burial.The Fox DVD includes quite a nice assortment of extras: these include a reproduction of the original pressbook (filled with amusingly irrelevant ballyhoo), a reasonably comprehensive photo gallery, and a number of trailers for the studio's other catalog entries in the genre (among them the desirable Victor Mature vehicle FURY AT FURNACE CREEK [1948] – surprisingly narrated and carrying the personal endorsement of none other than Gregory Peck! – and latterday black-and-white potboiler CONVICT STAGE [1965], which I'd never heard of myself and can't fathom why it was even deemed worthy of a DVD release).

From the era of wide screen CinemaScope comes this fine western about dealing with the Cheyenne Indians in Wyoming in 1870.The film benefits from having a good script that keeps things tense, good acting, and excellent cinematography (which was far superior 50 years ago compared to today's movies).There's no sense retelling the plot, but female viewers ought to love Robert Wagner in this role, as well as Jeffrey Hunter (showing lots of tan skin) in his Indian makeup. Speaking of skin, the lovely and usually clothed neck to toe Debra Paget gets to show some neck, shoulders and back -- however briefly.But the main thing is the tense story. Without much gunfire the film provides almost no opportunity for a snack bar break. Please take the other low ratings with a grain of salt. Liberals and their intrusive and annoying PC mantra will no doubt be annoyed by the frequent use of the word "Indian" as well as having whites cast as Indians. Oh the shame! This despite the positive view of Indians reflected in the film; herein they even have a healthy sense of humor. Humor, that's just not liberal. At least nobody smokes a cigarette.