"THE FOUR FEATHERS"

Press, Volume LXXV, Issue 22894, 15 December 1939, Page 16

"THE FOUR FEATHERS"

“The Four Feathers,’’ Alexander Korda’s technicolour film about the Kitchener campaign in the Sudan, begins a second week at the State to-day. Exterior scenes of the film were actually filmed in the Sudan and stories are told of strange incidents there. Since every mark of the desert sands was photographed by the camera lens, the film-makers had to keep the desert absolutely clear. Just before a shot was ready for the camera, a group of floor boys were sent out with rugs to sweep the camel tracks and other marks off the sands. They covered a distance of half a mile. Then, when everything looked as if it were in readiness for the camera, an old man on a donkey would amble in from nowhere and trek across the horizon. The company decided after a series of such mishaps that even though a camera in the wilds of Egypt is supposed to be as scarce as a top hat, all of the Sudanese were extremely cam-era-conscious excepting the women, who were conspicuous by their absence. “The Four Feathers,” filmed from the novel by A. E. W. Mason, was trans-

Second Week at State

ferred to the screen from the script written by R. C. Sherriff. Playing the leading roles in this United Artists release are Ralph Richardson, June Duprez, John Clements, and C. Aubrey Smith. The story concerns Harry Faversham, a young officer of an English regiment, who resigns his commission on the eve of his regiment’s sailing for active service in the Sudan. He thereupon receives four feathers taunting him with the cowardice his friencs believe him to feel. His task is to prove himself no coward and have the feathers withdrawn with the slur on his name. This he does in a series of very stirring scenes done in highly truthful technicolour.

Madeleine Carroll intrigued Hollywood a few days ago when she paid a secret visit to Washington. D.C. She has partially explained her visit. She called on the British Ambassador to offer her services to England at any time and in any capacity. It is believed she will withdraw her divorce suit against Captain Philip Astley.