This week’s pick is yet another African adventure. Zoltan Korda (Sahara) directs the 1939 version of The Four Feathers based on the novel by A.E.W. Mason, which is one of the greatest redemption stories set during the Sudanese campaign to reclaim the region ten years after the death of General Gordon and the siege of Khartoum.
Both Zoltan and his brother Alexander (the Ridley and Tony Scott of their day) direct with amazing precision and deliver a fantastic period piece. The cast are John Clements (Harry Faversham), Ralph Richardson (Capt. John Durrance), June Duprez (Ethne Burroughs), Donald Gray (Lt. Peter Burroughs), Jack Allen (Lt. Willoughby), Frederick Culley (Dr. Sutton), and C. Aubrey Smith (General Burroughs).
The story begins in 1895 where after ten years, a British expeditionary force is sent to reclaim the Sudan and to avenge the death of General Charles Gordon who was killed by a Muslim army which is now led by the Kalifa (John Laurie). Lt. Harry Faversham (Clements) comes from a long line of military men in his family and joined the Surrey Regiment which has been chosen to lead the expedition along with General Sir Herbert Kitchener’s Anglo-Egyptian army.
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