This 1939 British version of the story stars John Clements as Harry Faversham a young Englishman whose family has a centuries old tradition of military service but who himself fears the reality of war.\u00a0 He is engaged to Ethne Burroughs daughter of retired General Burroughs and sister to Peter Burroughs his best friend and comrade in the Royal North Surrey Regiment of the British Army.\u00a0 Ralph Richardson plays Captain John Durrance, Faversham\u2019s rival for Ethne\u2019s love and the main cast is rounded out by Jack Allen as Lieutenant Willoughby.<\/p>\n
As the marriage approaches the British Army is about to send an expedition from Egypt to Sudan to reconquer Khartoum ten years after the Mahdi had captured it from General Gordon.\u00a0 The Royal North Surrey Regiment is called up for service but Faversham resigns his commission to avoid fighting.\u00a0 His three friends send him a package that consists of a box with three white feathers attached to cards with each of their names.\u00a0 When he arrives at Ethne\u2019s home her father will not even speak to him and because of Ethne\u2019s sorrowful reaction to his actions he takes a white feather from her fan and tells her he will add it as her contribution to his collection of white feathers.<\/p>\n
Now feeling himself to be the coward that his friends have declared him he visits his father\u2019s old friend Dr Sutton and works through his feelings with this mentor and decides that he must restore his honor by going to Sudan and proving himself.\u00a0 But of course, he\u2019s no longer in the British Army so he goes to Egypt and recruits the help of an Egyptian friend of Dr. Sutton who disguises him as a native.\u00a0 But to hide his lack of knowledge of Arabic he is branded on the forehead to appear as one of the mute Sangali tribe.\u00a0 In this guise he travels to Sudan and joins the work gang that is helping to transport the British Army under Kitchener to Khartoum.\u00a0 And he is just in time to save Captain John Durrance from death when his company is surrounded by the Mahdi\u2019s army during a diversionary action that the British planned to allow the bulk of their army to escape a battle at the enemy\u2019s stronghold.<\/p>\n
Durrance has suffered a heat stroke and is now blind.\u00a0 When his position is being overrun Faversham is able to save his life although both of them are wounded and left for dead by the Mahdi\u2019s men.\u00a0 Burroughs and Willoughby are captured and taken back to Khartoum for imprisonment or worse.<\/p>\n
Faversham continues the impersonation of a mute while he transports Durrance across the desert back to the British territory and medical help.\u00a0 Before escaping from the British Faversham manages to place the feather that Durrance gave him back in Durrance\u2019s wallet.<\/p>\n
Now Faversham travels to Khartoum and manages to give his two friends a file that they can use to saw through their shackles in prison.\u00a0 He ends up being discovered as an Englishman by the Mahdi and tortured for information.\u00a0 He is thrown into the prison with his friends.\u00a0 He reveals himself to his friends and tells them his plan.\u00a0 If the Mahdi is beaten by Kitchener in battle, he is likely to retreat back to Khartoum and kill his prisoners before the British can take the town and free them.\u00a0 So, Faversham\u2019s plan is to use the file to free as many of the prisoners as possible and wait until the Mahdi\u2019s army sets out for battle then overwhelm the few guards and take possession of the arsenal building that will provide them with the weapons and walls they need to survive until the British take the town.<\/p>\n
Things work as Faversham expects until the British army follows the Mahdi\u2019s army and begins bombarding the arsenal.\u00a0 To save themselves from being blown to bits they manage to find an old British flag from the former regime and raise it over the arsenal just in time to save their lives.<\/p>\n
Returning to England with his comrades Faversham finds himself forgiven his former cowardice and indeed a hero.\u00a0 But most importantly his fianc\u00e9e revives her plan to marry him.<\/p>\n
The movie has several things going for it.\u00a0 It was filmed on location in the places depicted in the story.\u00a0 The cinematography is impressive and the production was able to enlist British soldiers in period costumes to film the battle scenes.\u00a0 Large forces of men on camels and horses also adds drama to these scenes.\u00a0 The story is highly improbable but the action is enjoyable and the characters are interesting.\u00a0 One standout is C. Aubrey Smith\u2019s portrayal of General Burroughs.\u00a0 In several scenes Burrough\u2019s laments the present-day army\u2019s lack of toughness.\u00a0 In each case he uses food found on a banquet table to reenact the Crimean War, Battle of Balaclava.\u00a0 By the end of the movie, to the relief of the audience, Faversham is in a position to finally shut up his prospective father-in-law by correcting his mistaken narrative of how Burroughs\u2019s actually began the famous charge.\u00a0 I like these old tales from the British Empire.\u00a0 They are filled with adventure and the ethos of the time.\u00a0 Highly recommended for fans of high adventure.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
This 1939 British version of the story stars John Clements as Harry Faversham a young Englishman whose family has a centuries old tradition of military<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mi_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[239,238,237],"tags":[3166,749,3180,747,43,1440,38,1355],"class_list":["post-15188","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-movie-reviews","category-classic-movie-reviews","category-reviews","tag-british-cinema","tag-british-empire","tag-c-aubrey-smith","tag-england","tag-movie-review","tag-ralph-richardson","tag-review","tag-reviews"],"yoast_head":"\n