THE FOUR FEATHERS (1929) Richard Arlen,Fay Wray & Clive Brook | Adventure | B&W | Classic Film

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The Four Feathers is a 1929 American sound war film directed by Merian C. Cooper and starring William Powell, Richard Arlen, Clive Brook and Fay Wray.This was the third of numerous film versions of the 1902 novel The Four Feathers written by A. E. W. Mason. While the film has no audible dialog, it was released with a synchronized musical score with sound effects using both the sound-on-disc and sound-on-film process. The 1929 version of The Four Feathers premiered at the Criterion Theatre in New York City on June 12, 1929.

Synopsis

As children, Harry promises to marry Ethne, both the offspring of English Army officers, but she consents only if he will dress as a soldier. When Harry is still a child, his father tells him stories about the Crimean War, including one where a runaway soldier is spurred into suicide by Harry's father, who sent him a white feather to show his disapproval of cowardice.

As a young man, Harry joins the Royal West Kent Regiment and is engaged to Ethne. His best friends are Durrance, Trench, and Castleton. Harry receives a telegram that their regiment is being deployed to the Soudan Expedition, and he resigns from the army. His friends and Ethne find out why Harry resigned and give him four white feathers. Harry's father also disapproves, and before he dies, he gives his son a pistol and tells him to shoot himself. Harry decides to act courageously in front of his friends in order to get them to take back their feathers, and travels to Sudan.

In the Sudan, Trench has been captured by the enemy. Harry saves him, and Trench takes back the white feather. Harry stops a mutiny and saves Castelton from an ambush. Ethne and Harry get back together.

Cast & Crew

Theodore von Elzt in The Four Feathers
Richard Arlen as Lt. Harry Feversham
Philippe De Lacy as Harry, age 10
Fay Wray as Ethne Eustace
Clive Brook as Lt. Jack Durrance
William Powell as Capt. William Trench
Theodore von Eltz as Lt. Castleton
Noah Beery Sr. as Slave Trader
E. J. Ratcliffe as Col. Eustace
George Fawcett as Col. Feversham
Noble Johnson as Ahmed
Zack Williams as Idris

Directed by: Norman Walker
Written by: Arline Lord, Alma Reville, Garnett Weston
Starring: Alexander D'Arcy, Marguerite Allan, Randle Ayrton, Cecil Barry
Cinematography: Claude Friese-Greene
Production Company: British International Pictures
Distributed by: Pathé Pictures
Release Dates: May 1929, July 1930 (sound version)
Running Time: 62 minutes
Country: United Kingdom
Languages: Sound (Synchronized) English Intertitles