This characteristically elaborate production from the people who later gave us 'King Kong' plainly took so long to make it was overtaken by the introduction of sound and wound up as Paramount's last silent feature, thus necessitating a Movietone soundtrack. No matter, it still gives Alexander Korda's definitive 1939 Technicolor super-production a run for its money as rip-roaring macho entertainment.There are a number of plot differences between this version and its successors which I'll put down to it probably being closer to A.E.W.Mason's 1902 novel, but it still gets most of the best-remembered moments into a trim 81 minutes. Cameraman Robert Kurrle keeps it looking good throughout, while the spectacular location work (including extraordinary footage of monkeys and hippopotami plunging into a river) is all one would expect of the team who gave us 'Grass' and 'Chang', with rousing battle scenes against a spectacular desert backdrop that easily bear comparison with Korda's version.George Fawcett is a forbidding Col. Feversham (sic), Fay Wray makes an appealing heroine, but like Clive Brook and Noah Beery Sr. (playing a slave trader) doesn't get much screen time, while William Powell as in most of his silent roles looks rather incongruous without a martini glass in his hand. Most of the weight of the film falls up on the broad shoulders of brilliantined Richard Arlen, who isn't terribly convincing as the scion of a long line of old military duffers, but is certainly adept at the derring do.

"The Four Feathers" is the oft filmed story of bravery and cowardice set in the 1860s in England and the Sudan in Africa. This version is significant as Paramount's last silent movie although it does have a synchronized music score together with sound effects.Four aspiring young officers, Harry Faversham (Richard Arlen), William Trench (William Powell), Jack Durrance (Clive Brook) and Castleton (Theodore Van Eltz) dream of glory on the battlefield for Queen and country. Faversham has doubts about whether or not he can live up to the family history of great soldiers. He is also about to marry Ethne Eustace (Fay Wray), the daughter of a Colonel.One evening, a message is delivered to Harry warning of an upcoming war. He tries to hide the message from the others but Trench accidentally finds it. Meanwhile fearing the upcoming war, Harry resigns his commission. The three friends brand Harry as a coward and each present him with a white feather signifying cowardice. Ethne, coming from a military background, also brands him a coward and presents him with a feather of her own.....hence the four feathers of the title.The last straw for Harry is when he visits his dying father General Faversham (George Fawcett) who has learned of Harry's actions. The old man dies believing his son to be a coward. Harry angered, vows to return each of the four feathers to their presenter.In disgrace, Harry flees to the Sudan where the aforementioned war is being waged. He wanders aimlessly about until he hears of a battle where Trench has been captured. Harry with the help of a young boy, Ali (Harold Hightower) and his monkey, sneaks into the prison where Trench is being held but is captured in the attempt.Later, the prisoners are brought to a slave market where the slave trader (Noah Beery) negotiates for the two white men (Harry and Trench). Harry with the help of Ali manages to free himself. The slave trader catches them and slays the young boy before being over powered by Harry. Harry and Trench escape and Harry returns Trench's feather to him.Harry learns of Durrance's valiant attempt to defend his isolated fort against hordes of attackers while wounded. He then slips through enemy lines in an effort to reach the fort and.............................Long time Paramount star Richard Arlen makes a dashing hero although it is a mystery to me as to how he manages to sneak into the prison and the fort respectively. A lot of people don't realize that William Powell had a productive career in silent before his Thin Man days. He turns in an excellent performance here as the second lead. Fay Wray has little to do as the love interest. Noah Beery, nasty as ever, gets the hisses for his slaying of the young boy.Is it me or does this film invoke memories of "Beau Geste" (1926)? Both have a prologue featuring the main characters as children, both feature the hero fleeing in disgrace, both have an isolated fort and both have large numbers of enemies attacking said forts from a desert. Just asking.

I liked this version better than the 1939 British version but it is still very hard to swallow. The novel is famous and so are the film versions, but I thought that "The Four Feathers" is the height of escapist entertainment. Not for a minute did I buy the premise of a dishonored soldier redeeming himself by such preposterous acts of heroism and gallantry. In any case, this one is more exciting and absorbing than the later version in that the battle scenes and location shots were staged better, and the actors were more suited to their roles. I especially mean casting Richard Arlen as Harry Faversham. He was better by far than John Clements, who even at the end of the film still seemed like a weakling, whereas Arlen never did. He seemed more conflicted than cowardly. This '29 version has affirmed my belief that remakes are inferior to originals - even if this was twice filmed previously.

Paramount's final all-silent movie (with a synchronized music score and a few sound effects) was The Four Feathers (1929). Far more faithful to the Empire-at-all-costs spirit of the novel than later versions, the mood here is far less romantic (in both senses of that word). In fact, although Fay Wray plays the heroine, her role is really quite small (and she is unattractively photographed to boot). William Powell has a larger role to play, although his character is overshadowed by Richard Arlen who makes a reasonably convincing stab at the Sun-Never-Sets hero (and as his role is completely silent, his accent never shatters this illusion). Watch for a natural-born actor, Harold Hightower, in his only movie role as the boy with the monkey. Directors Schoedsack and Cooper (of King Kong fame) contribute some really thrilling, shot-on-exotic-locations, all-action sequences, including an eye-numbing hippo stampede that seems to go on forever yet never runs out of puff.