The Four Feathers

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The Four Feathers is a 1902 adventure novel by British writer A.E.W. Mason that has inspired many films of the same title.

Plot summary

It tells the story of British officer, Harry Faversham, who resigns his commission from his regiment just prior to the Battle of Omdurman, in the Sudan, in the late 1890s. He does this for his own personal reasons, rather than cowardice. However, he is faced with censure from three of his comrades for cowardice (signified by the delivery of three feathers to him) and the loss of the support of his fiancée, Ethne, who presents him with the fourth feather. He questions his own true motives, and resolves to redeem himself in combat, travelling on his own to the Sudan.

Film, TV, and theatrical adaptations

This novel's story has been filmed several times with all films retaining for the most part the same storyline (i.e. young Faversham disgracing himself by quitting the army followed by his redemption of manhood by rescuing his army comrades in the Sudanese desert), the same enemy forces (i.e. the Islamic rebels of The Mahdi), and the same geographic setting (i.e. England followed by the Sudan). The various film versions differ in the precise historical context. For example, the celebrated 1939 cinematic version takes place (as in the original novel) during the 1898 Battle of Omdurman when British soldiers wore khaki uniforms, while the more recent 2002 version (departing from the original novel) takes place during the 1885 Battle of Abu Klea when the British still wore red uniforms. The many versions also differ in the racial ethnicity of the local Sudanese guide who assists young Faversham in his desert adventure. For instance, this local guide is an Arab man in the 1977 version while he is a Black man in the 2002 version.

The various film versions are as follows:

Year	Title	Country	Director	Notes
1915	Four Feathers (1915 film)		J. Searle Dawley	Black-and-white, silent
1921	The Four Feathers (1921 film)		René Plaissetty	Roger Livesey appeared in a minor role. Black-and-white, silent.
1929	The Four Feathers (1929 film)		Merian C. Cooper, Lothar Mendes, Ernest B. Schoedsack	Richard Arlen, Fay Wray, Clive Brook.
1939	The Four Feathers (1939 film)		Zoltan Korda	Starring Ralph Richardson, John Clements, C. Aubrey Smith, June Duprez. Considered by many to have been the best of the film versions, this was lavishly filmed in colour on many of the real African locations.
1955	Storm Over the Nile		Terence Young, Zoltan Korda	Starring Anthony Steel, James Robertson Justice, Ian Carmichael, Ronald Lewis, Michael Hordern. A low-budget color remake, using much of the location footage shot for the 1939 version of The Four Feathers, and exactly the same script - one of the few instances in which this was done.
1977	The Four Feathers (1977 film)		Don Sharp	Starring Robert Powell, Simon Ward, Beau Bridges, and Jane Seymour. Completely remade for a new generation, the classic tale retains its imperial stiff upper lip and Boys Own style of adventure heroics.
2002	The Four Feathers (2002 film)		Shekhar Kapur	Starring Heath Ledger, Wes Bentley, and Kate Hudson. Made by an anti-imperialist Indian director, this newest film version takes a somewhat revisionist stance on the original novel's themes of masculinity and empire. Unlike previous versions, this version centres its big battle scene on the 1885 Battle of Abu Klea (thirteen years before Omdurman), when British soldiers were still wearing red uniforms in the desert (although actually they already wore kakhi) and the famous British square formation was supposedly broken for the first time. Odly, in this film the British loose the battle of Abu Klea while in reality they won.

External links

• Four Feathers (1915) at the Internet Movie Database
• The Four Feathers (1921) at the Internet Movie Database
• The Four Feathers (1929) at the Internet Movie Database
• Storm Over the Nile (1955) at the Internet Movie Database

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