Rotten Tomatoes
Cancel Movies Tv shows RT App News Showtimes

The Four Feathers

Play trailer Poster for The Four Feathers 1939 1h 55m Adventure Play Trailer Watchlist
Watchlist Tomatometer Popcornmeter
91% Tomatometer 11 Reviews 85% Popcornmeter 2,500+ Ratings
When English soldier Harry Faversham (John Clements) attempts to leave military service just before an expedition to the Sudan, he is presented with feathers, symbolic of his cowardice, by other officers, including his friend Captain John Durrance (Ralph Richardson). In an attempt to restore his honor, Faversham goes undercover as a mute native, and has a chance at redemption when he rescues the blinded Durrance from the heat of battle. Will his act of courage result in forgiveness?
Watch on Fandango at Home Stream Now

Where to Watch

The Four Feathers

Critics Reviews

View More
Otis Ferguson The New Republic 05/07/2024
All being done in color, this was more difficult than is usually the case; and more the pity that anything so handsome should be thrown away on such naive hokum. Go to Full Review
Cinelandia Staff Cinelandia 09/01/2022
Four Feathers is a success, difficult to overcome. [Full review in Spanish] Go to Full Review
MFB Critics Monthly Film Bulletin 01/22/2018
It is all magnificently staged and produced, and the Egyptian scenes are beautifully photographed, but the film is much too long and is in need of some ruthless cutting to tighten up patches that definitely drag. Go to Full Review
Dennis Schwartz Dennis Schwartz Movie Reviews 11/03/2011
B
The rousing yarn is a classic British imperialist adventure story. Go to Full Review
Rob Vaux Flipside Movie Emporium 12/09/2005
4/5
Exceptionally well-made swashbuckling, though its ethos is appalingly outdated. Go to Full Review
Emanuel Levy EmanuelLevy.Com 06/19/2005
4/5
Read all reviews

Audience Reviews

View More
Christopher B @Ikari777 08/19/2022 "The Four Feathers" has been brought to the silver screen several times during both the silent and talkie era. Zoltan Korda captures the desert strikingly similar to "Lawrence of Arabia" and that in and of itself says a lot! The technicolor is gorgeous and the colors, especially the British uniforms, really pop and create a striking contrast to the scenery. While the film clocks in at 115 minutes, this is truly an epic worthy of its commercial and critical success! John Clements gives a realistic and solid performance as Harry Faversham the coward turned hero at the heart of the film. There are so many talented cast and crew and it really shows and qualifies as a beautiful and poetic Classic! See more 02/23/2021 I love this film of heroism and redemption of one man; an exciting adventure film of sacrifice and the love of honor. See more david f @dfulmer 10/05/2020 This is billed as a classic anglophilic epic, and while it mostly is, as a movie it is not quite up to the high standards set by Hollywood the same year - 1939. See more 02/09/2019 The film has a wildly implausible plot and a painfully dated pro-imperialist mindset. If you can get past those two major obstacles it's pretty well-made, with good location footage and action scenes, and Richardson's performance is impressive. Celebrating the British Empire's conquests doesn't really do it for me as entertainment, though. See more 04/19/2018 Definitely the best version of this epic story. A visually impressive, sweeping epic that is impressive for the time period. The acting and pacing are not the best but when given consideration for the times this is a very impressive film. See more 03/10/2017 The premise and entire plot of this movie worked perfectly for me. I was almost brought to tears three different times while watching The Four Feathers because I was so connected to the main character. I totally identified with his struggle early on in the film, and admired his selfless turn as the film went on. The battle scenes were ambitious to say the least. Considering this is back in the day when these large scale army scenes are all real people it's quite a sight to see. However some of the shot selection wasn't great because it kind of showed off the empty spots on the battlefield. And the actual fighting was a tad lackluster considering the length of some of the battle scenes. The makeup and hair was bad. This is back in the day when it made more sense to throw some dark makeup and a cheesy mustache on a white guy rather than casting an actual Middle Eastern actor. The beard on the main character might have been the closest to looking authentic, which was good because he's on screen a lot. The other problem with The Four Feathers was the cast. Several of these actors delivered poor performances. I was surprised at the bad line delivery and kept thinking how this could be better with a few upgrades in the cast. It wasn't across the board, and even the weaker ones had moments that worked. There were even times when I thought "Maybe it's just the script making this dialogue seem so clunky." Despite all this, the emotional journey that the story took me on covers a multitude of sins. I recognize its flaws, but they didn't make the experience unbearable. If anything the imperfections just frustrated me because I feel like it could have been a favorite film with some tweaks. I never thought The Four Feathers was terrible and I would like to watch it again, or even check out the remake. I'll probably even recommend it to others. See more Read all reviews
The Four Feathers

My Rating

Read More Read Less POST RATING WRITE A REVIEW EDIT REVIEW
Dark Journey % 41% Dark Journey Watchlist Gunga Din 89% 74% Gunga Din Watchlist Breaking the Sound Barrier 80% 60% Breaking the Sound Barrier Watchlist Strange Cargo 75% 60% Strange Cargo Watchlist The Sea Hawk 94% 87% The Sea Hawk Watchlist Discover more movies and TV shows. View More

Movie Info

Synopsis When English soldier Harry Faversham (John Clements) attempts to leave military service just before an expedition to the Sudan, he is presented with feathers, symbolic of his cowardice, by other officers, including his friend Captain John Durrance (Ralph Richardson). In an attempt to restore his honor, Faversham goes undercover as a mute native, and has a chance at redemption when he rescues the blinded Durrance from the heat of battle. Will his act of courage result in forgiveness?
Director
Zoltan Korda
Producer
Alexander Korda
Screenwriter
R.C. Sherriff
Production Co
London Film Production
Genre
Adventure
Original Language
English
Release Date (Streaming)
Mar 23, 2017
Runtime
1h 55m
Most Popular at Home Now