Rent The Four Feathers (1939)

Colourful adventure. - The Four Feathers review by Steve

This spectacular historical epic from AEW Mason's popular Victorian novel arguably trumps golden age Hollywood on its own terms. This is among the great action adventures of the thirties. The attitudes to the empire and class are dated, and probably misguided, but purely as an example of cinematic storytelling, it is a masterpiece.

John Clements plays a young officer from an aristocratic family with a tradition in the British military. He brings shame upon the ancestral name when he resigns his commission just as his unit leaves to join Kitchener's army in Sudan. Three of his comrades send him the white feather of cowardice. The deepest cut is when his beloved fiancée (June Duprez) does the same.

 So the maligned civilian travels to Africa to heroically save his friends in the war against the Dervishes. Much of this now provokes memories of Ripping Yarns, and is unintentionally comical, especially when Ralph Richardson, suddenly entirely blind in the desert from sunstroke, still leads the charge against the anti-British uprising.

Yet, it will take a hard heart not to be roused by all this ill-advised bravery and sacrifice. The action was actually shot in Sudan in splendid Technicolor. There's a huge, elaborate production with a fine score. Clements and Duprez lack personality, but the cast is spirited. This premiered the day after Britain declared war on Germany. Its impact must have been immense.