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By
NICK ZEGARAC
Zoltan Korda's "The Four
Feathers" (1939) is an action/adventure yarn set
against the searing backdrop of desolate desert
sands. Like Gunga Din or Beau Geste this story is
an affixed morality play steeped in romantic
idealism; all about the importance and need for
British colonization and camaraderie amongst
gallant young men. It stars John Clements as Harry
Faversham -- an inquisitive young man who, after
partaking in his military duty to Queen and
country, resigns his commission to marry Ethne
Burroughs (June Duprez). The move brands Harry a
coward and he is given white feathers by his
one-time boyhood friends to mark the occasion.
Shortly thereafter the garrison in Egypt, lead by
John Durrance (Ralph Richardson) is ambushed by
rebel forces. But when Harry learns of their
defeat he seizes upon the opportunity to disguise
himself as an Arab and launch into a memorable
rescue. Buttressed by breathtaking battle
sequences and the sublime use of Technicolor, The
Four Feathers was the sort of 'yoiks, tally-ho'
spectacle that completely enthralled upon its
initial release. However, perhaps in part because
of its lack of Hollywood star power (it was, after
all, a British film), and, again in part because
our contemporary reflective slant on Imperial
colonization has changed so much, the film today
has not aged well. In retrospect it seems stoic
and cloistered and less engaging than either Gunga
Din or Beau Geste.
The transfer from MGM/UA home video is a
disappointment. Mis-registration of the original
Technicolor camera negative (due to shrinkage)
results in an often quite soft and slightly out of
focus image quality. While close ups and medium
shots appear reasonably sharp, long shots tend to
appear blurry. Severe fading in spots of the
original negative add to an already muddy, poorly
contrasted print. Age-related artifacts are
persistent throughout. Also, certain DVD players
will detect a 'combing' issue. This is where the
video data has not been encoded properly from film
base to digital format, resulting in annoying
black lines appearing around any portion of the
video frame in which movement is taking place. On
this disc, there are two instances of 'combing'
that my Toshiba player detected, but that my Sony
did not. The audio on this disc is mono and barely
worth mentioning. There are NO extras. |
