White Feather (1955)

Very Cool!!!

Memorable, crazy movie

This is a coming of age storyline that you've seen in one form or another for decades. It takes a truly unique voice to make yet another one worth watching.

It is a whirlwind of delight --- attractive actors, stunning couture, spectacular sets and outrageous parties. It's a feast for the eyes. But what really makes this dramedy work is the acting.

If you can forgive the obvious--the white actors playing natives and the "Me want cookies" delivery of lines by the Indians--you've got a movie so good that you may find yourself doing what I did as Robert Wagner (about as handsome a young man as a gal could ever hope for) tries to control his emotions as he tries to care for the lifeless body of Jeffrey Hunter. It's as loving a moment in a western as you may ever see, and as tragic--nearly as painful to watch as John Wayne getting the door closed on him at the end of The Searchers. I watched this scene and let out an audible "awwww." My daughter heard me and thought I was talking to myself.Wagner, who starts the movie as a lightweight actor in over his head, gains stature in a quiet and unobtrusive manner. You grow to like him, not through heroics but from calm intelligence. Wagner underplays his Josh Tanner; you respect his grit and compassion, even as you wonder how a guy could be that boyish. I was just looking for a good, old-fashioned western when I taped White Feather off Fox Movies a few months ago. What I got was a heart- felt, eye-brimmingly sad, and astonishingly beautiful (to look at) film about the last days of the Plains Indians as a group of free peoples. Made in 1954, White Feather was clearly designed to compete with the mind-suck of television by offering a very wide screen image. Director Robert Webb and his cinematographer take time to make you suck in air from the exotic Durango, Mexico locations (standing in for Wyoming). As the many nations head toward their shared misery of their reservation ghettos, they pass by the viewer, so close you can see the agonized stoicism of the womens' faces. The wide angle captures the bigness of the diaspora in reverse. The cinematography adds to the near-epic story by making us witness a tragedy writ large. White Feather is sparingly violent, literate, and superbly acted film, and I strongly recommend it to anyone who wants something more than a Saturday Matinée shootemup.

White Feather is out of Panoramic Productions, it's directed by Robert D. Webb and stars Robert Wagner, Debra Paget, John Lund, Eduard Franz & Jeffrey Hunter. It's adapted from a John Prebble story by Delmer Daves & Leo Townsend. It was filmed in Durango, Mexico, with Lucien Ballard on cinematography duties (CinemaScope/Technicolor) and Hugo Friedhofer provides the score. Plot centres around the peace mission from the US cavalry to the Cheyenne Indians in Wyoming during the 1870s, but problems arose because a few of the Cheyenne refused to leave their hunting grounds.One of the few 1950s Westerns to show sympathy towards the Indian plight, White Feather is a well intentioned and well executed movie. It suffers a little from familiarity with Broken Arrow (1950), where Delmer Daves had directed James Stewart and Debra Paget thru a similar script to the one that's now in front of Wagner and Paget; and lets face it-Wagner is no Jimmy Stewart- and Robert Webb is no Delmer Daves-but there's more than enough good here to lift it above many other liberal Westerns.Away from the endearing and emotive story (and it is as the Cheyenne are forced out of Wyoming by the Federals), the film also boasts high points for the Western fan to gorge upon. It's gorgeously shot in CinemaScope by Ballard, a first class lens-man in the genre, and Friedhofer's score is pulsating, evocative and in tune with the tone of the tale. Also of note is that these Native Americans aren't caricatures or pantomime Indians. They may be being played by white actors (Hunter & Franz do especially good work), but they feel real and come out as the human beings they were. In fact the whole movie looks convincing.There's some missteps along the way; such as Wagner over acting and having a voice that's sounds out of place in the Wild West, while the romantic angle (Paget is so beautiful here who could not fall in love with her?) does at times threaten to clog up the narrative. But these things don't hurt the film. On the flip side there's the smooth pacing of the piece, it's only when the tense and exciting climax has arrived that you realise how well the slow burn first half was handled. And Webb may well be a second unit director in all but name here, but his construction of the scenes with hundreds of extras is top notch work.A fine and under seen Western that is based on actual events and doesn't over egg its pudding. 7/10

In 1877 Wyoming, a government worker helps the United States Calvary in their quest to move the Cheyenne Indian tribe from the north-end of the state to the south; the Indian Chief--concerned about being on the losing end of an impending battle--agrees, but two young warriors oppose the move. Dusty western with a passive, sensitive side. The performances are variable, with Robert Wagner looking constipated (as usual), but Jeffrey Hunter doing a surprisingly forceful job as mercurial Little Dog (Hunter's scene amiably tossing knives with Wagner has a spirit that the rest of the film lacks); elsewhere, Debra Paget plays a lovestruck squaw (she's the palest-skinned Cheyenne ever to grace the screen!) and John Lund is a block of wood as a Colonel. The events depicted are allegedly based on fact, though one guesses this tenuous screenplay by Delmer Daves (of all people) and Leo Townsend runs far smoother than actual history might suggest. The "white feather" is the Indian's challenge to the white man, but it seems to me the horses involved get a far rougher treatment than either. ** from ****

"White Feather" was one of the first westerns to make good use of the wide screen Cinemascope panorama. Director Robert D. Webb uses all of the screen, filling it with bright vibrant color and plenty of action.The story centers around the efforts of the US Army in 1877 to negotiate treaties with the Indian Tribes to relocate them following the Indian wars which included Little Big Horn a year earlier. All have agreed except for the Cheyenne.Into all of this rides surveyor Josh Tanner (Robert Wagner) who is supposed to map out a site for a future town. There's gold in them thar hills, you see. Along the way, he finds the body of a miner. He reports to Colonel Lindsay (John Lund) and learns of the problems in getting the Cheyenne to agree to move. Tanner finds a room at Magruder's Store. He meets Ann Magruder (Virginia Leith) an an attraction forms. Tanner is told to stay away from her by her bigoted father (Emile Meyer).When riding with Ann, Tanner meets two young Cheyenne warriors, Little Dog (Jeffrey Hunter) and American Horse (Hugh O'Brian). Tanner earns the Indian's respect and is invited to their camp. There Tanner meets Little Dog's sister, Appearing Day (Debra Paget) and a romance develops. American Dog's father the Grand Chief Broken Hand (Eduard Franz) returns to the village and announces that the Cheyenne will sign the treaty and move south with the other tribes.Little Dog and American Horse defy the chief and decide to remain on their land and fight the Army alone. Meanwhile, Appearing Day, who had been promised to American Horse leaves the village and goes to be with Tanner. American Dog attacks Tanner but is subdued and jailed. Little Dog breaks him out killing two soldiers in the act. As the fort's entire compliment and the Cheyenne watch, Little Dog and American Horse launch their attack and.......................................The acting is uniformly good. The boyish Wagner carries off the lead role well, although he never manages to conduct that survey. Hunter and O'Brian are excellent as the two renegade Cheyenne. Lund has little to do as the Cavalry Colonel. Franz makes an authoritative Chief who puts the welfare of his own people above all else, including that of his family.Also in the cast are Noah Beery Jr. as Lt. Ferguson, Milburn Stone as the Indian Commissioner and Iron Eyes Cody as a Cheyenne Chief.You have to see this one in the wide screen format.