Four Feathers - 1939

     This film produced, written and directed by the three Korda Brothers has much in common with events of today.  It involved the result of an Islamic Group in the then called Anglo-Egyptian Sudan.  This was a revolt that had initiated in 1885 in Khartoum the then Capital and still Capital of Sudan.  The difference then was that it was state controlled by the British and Egyptians in a joint endeavor.  The British forces at that time including had been defeated and it's General Gordan killed in the encounter with forces led by  a Somali leader named Mohammed Abdullah Hassan who then ended up controlling all this southern area of the Sudan and neighboring Somaliland.  Do you see the  resemblance to activities today centered in Easter Syria and Western Iraq in an area just east of the Red Sea and being led by an Islamist group that calls itself  ISIS?

      Four Feathers deals with the situation by detailing the lives of a particular British military company Dispatched to the Sudan in 1898.  The company is led by a Captain John Durrance a role played by Ralph Richardson.  It also features three lieutenants all close friends of Durrance.  One of these is Harry Fabersham played by John Clements.  Fabersham has a hidden problem which he has carried from childhood of fear of military combat.  He has no need to address this emotional reality until Durrance's Company is ordered to the Sudan to do battle with the Sudanese/Somali's.  This result's in his quitting his company a situation treated by his three military companions as despicable and cowardly and which causes them to send him three white feathers in envelopes attached to their calling cards.

     There is a fourth feather as the title indicates.  Fabersham provides that one himself as representative of feelings of his fiance Ethne Burroughs played by June Duprez.  In reality Ethne doesn't really feel this way but life is complicated for her in that Durance also loves her and is aware of the fact that she loves Fabersham.

     The story is best viewed by seeing the film.  It does discuss and show the war and shows the participation of the principals.  Howver, the film iself, despite the fictional story is one of fantastic beautiful color, great photographic views of the area and depiction of the forms of battle described by the camera.  Important is a description of the battle form of the square utilizd by the British at this time.  Members of the battle group are formed to a square facing all four directions at once.  In this case it is a British Company.  My experience in the U.S. army back in the middle 40's would see this as a group of 200 soldiers separated into four platoons of 50 men each.  In the British tradition the square considered each side as containing soldiers some kneeling and others standing, aith all facing outward with rifles cocked and aimed.  This was viewed as an impenetrable force.  However, in Four Feathers the shear number of the opposing Dervishes both on foot, and riding horses and camels was just to large to successfully resist the attack.  The result are available for you if you see the film.

     Later on we view the final battle in all its intensity with the mass of the Islamic forces attacking outside Omdurman.  The result are overwhelming.  At the same time within the fortress maintained by the Dervish forces an escape by British and other prisoners is engineered.  The latter of course is a Filmic depiction not ncessarily reality.  Ultimately, in real life, the battle was a colossel victory for the British and resulted by the Somali's ceding control back to the Anglo-Egyptians.

     The film is a true spectacular.  The leading players Clements, Richardson and Duprez seem to bautifully fit their roles.  Richardson plays exceedingly well in a few other films and most particularly in "Things to To Come," "Anna Karenina" and "Breaking the Sound Bearier."  Duprez is also excellent n the "Thief of Baghdad" made a few years earlier and in particullar in Cary Grant's dark out of character film for him, "None But The Lonely Heart."  If possible to view any or all five of the films listed above you may be treated to an unusually satisfying film pleasure.

     One last comment, that concerning June Duprez.  I enjoyed her more than average in my younger days particularly in None But the Lonely Heart.  She had an interesting and unusual background.  Her father was an English Stage performer back in the teens and early 20's.  He was an American by birth however.  June, was born in 1918.  The thing about her is that there is no information availbable on her mother.  It is generally agreed that like Merle Oberon her mother was Ceylonese.  There is a certain exotic look about her somewhat typical of those born outside of traditional similar cultural backgrounds.

I suspect you'll be able to find the 1939 version of Four Feathers and some of the other films described above if you search the internet or your other favorite sites for films.