The Four Feathers **** (1929, Richard Arlen, Fay Wray, Clive Brook, William Powell) – Classic Movie Review 10,071

The Four Feathers (1929) is Paramount Pictures’s final all-silent movie, though with a synchronised score (by William F Peters) and a few sound effects.

This silent film with added synchronised sound but no dialogue is the second film version of A E W Mason’s ripping yarn of a British officer, Lieutenant Harry Faversham (Arlen), wrongly sent the white feathers of cowardice by his buddies and wife Ethne Eustace (Fay Wray) before his demonstration of bravery in Sudan redeems his reputation.

There are three credited directors. Lothar Mendes worked in the Paramount studio, while the future King Kong team of Merian C Cooper and Ernest B Schoedsack came from documentary film-making to direct the thrillingly impressive African location shots of fire and stampede.

It is obviously creaky as an entertainment, but the going is easy as it is fast moving and short running (at 82 minutes). It is also still a visual treat, with Arlen, Clive Brook and William Powell striking presences, and the movie is well worth a look by silent movie buffs and patient audiences, and keeps its status as an important piece of cinema history.

It also stars Clive Brook as Lieutenant Jack Durrance, William Powell as Captain William Trench, George Fawcett as Colonel Faversham, Theodore von Eltz as Lieutenant Castleton, Noah Beery Sr as Slave Trader, and Noble Johnson as Ahmed.

The Four Feathers runs 82 minutes, is made and released by Paramount, is written by Howard Estabrook (screenplay), Hope Loring (adaptation) and Julian Johnson (titles), and is shot in black and white by Robert Kurrle, Merian C Cooper and Ernest B Schoedsack, is produced by Jesse L Lasky, Adolph Zukor, B.P. Schulberg and David O Selznick and is scored by William F Peters.

It is already the third version of Mason’s ripping yarn after 1915 and 1921 films.

It was remade as Zoltan Korda’s Technicolor 1939 British version The Four Feathers, then as Storm over the Nile in 1955 and as The Four Feathers in 1976 and as The Four Feathers in 2002 with Heath Ledger – yes as recently as 2002 so the piece can’t be so dated after all.

© Derek Winnert 2020 Classic Movie Review 10,071

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