White Feather [DVD]

In an effort to peacefully co-exist with white settlers, a Cheyenne tribe agrees to resettle, sacrificing valued Wyoming hunting grounds to make way for gold prospecting. Led by Colonel Lindsay (John Lund), the tribe's resettlement journey is also guided by a rugged land surveyor, Josh Tanner (Wagner) and his Cheyenne tribemen friends, Little Dog (Jeffrey Hunter) and American Horse (Hugh O'Brien). But an attraction between Little Dog's fiancee (Debra Paget) and Tanner threatens to ruin the resettlement plans, and the tribe sends an arrow with a single white feather, a symbol of their intention to wage war!
Excellent western with beautiful photography, acting and direction leading to sad end. Watch it in Widescreen.
Watch and ENJOY. (Suki, ENGLAND, UK)

Largely overlooked by many fans, or dismissed as an inferior imitation of Broken Arrow (1950), White Feather is a characteristic widescreen 1950s' western still worth investigating. Robert Wagner plays Josh Tanner, a surveyor on contract to check out real estate prospects out west likely after an imminent peace treaty with a number of Indian tribes. As he arrives an unexpected bond is forged between him and proud Cheyenne warrior Little Dog (Jeffrey Hunter). Soon Tanner's relationship with the Indian tribe deepens as he meets Appearing Day (Deborah Paget) the daughter of the Cheyenne chief, all the while tensions surrounding the changes brought by the treaty signing grow.

"What you are about to see actually happened," claims central character Tanner at the start of the film (his narrator's voice only appearing again at the close, rounding out events), attempting to inject some historical verisimilitude into proceedings. Whether the accuracy of events is real or not, White Feather met the regular casting expectations of its time as all of the principal Native American parts are played by white actors. This is not necessarily a major distraction once one accustoms and, to do him justice, Jeffrey Hunter brings suitable restraint to the pivotal role of Little Dog. His father Chief Broken Hand, portrayed by Eduard Franz, is similarly successful.

It's important as White Feather is a film all about the dignity of the Native American - an example of a group of westerns which viewed the Indians in a more sympathetic light through the 1950s, particularly the aforementioned Broken Arrow, Devil's Doorway (1950), The Indian Fighter (1955), and so on. Even John Ford tried to make amends for earlier representations of the native as 'savage' in Cheyenne Autumn (1964). It's been Hollywood's process of reclaiming the native as a subject of respect and regard that has continued right down to the present, through Dances With Wolves (1990), onto the western-inspired Avatar.

The latter features an alien tribe due to be ejected as their holy tree is growing above a valuable mineral site. In White Feather the Indians similarly have to move on so that gold can be abstracted. The native is seen often as a tragic figure, but one representing a proud and honourable heritage likely to be threatened or pass away. White Feather feels sympathy for them in precisely articulated terms, as the Indians "haven't got a chance really... they must be all alone," later seen displaced as a people, heading towards a 'promised land' - "I wonder how long they can live on a promise?"

Comparisons with Broken Arrow have been always been to the present film's disadvantage and, for the most part, I would agree, even though a detailed comparison would be out of place here. Delmer Daves (co-writer of White Feather) certainly directed the earlier movie to greater effect, although the present 1955 production benefits greatly from the cinematography of the great Lucien Ballard, who later went on to work with Peckinpah. (Director Robert Webb, incidentally, made an excellent western, The Proud Ones, shortly after this one.)

Wagner's somewhat distant, disengaged manner, which brought dividends in A Kiss Before Dying of just a year later, is less effective. Even the Indian maiden Appearing Day's character is largely a reprise, cast with the same actress even, of the Soneseeharay part in Daves' earlier piece. In fact some of the weakest scenes in the film lay around her character. Her sexual gaucheness is unconvincing, and she is given too few moments to properly secure the heart of outsider Tanner. Forward yet coy, she lacks the frankness and hedonistic dimension of the similar relationship in The Indian Fighter, despite laying naked under a fur pelt on a bean sack in the store room at one point, awaiting Tanner's surprised discovery - a mildly surprising moment for such a time.

But, away from such slight embarrassments, there are things to admire in White Feather that have dated better, not least the excellent treaty signing scene. Here Chief Broken Hand, realising that the "time of killing is over," has agreed with several other tribes to finally settle for peace and then leave his lands, ending his proud struggle against the encroaching whites. There is a particular poignance to the moment just before he appends his mark to the key document. The chief's face is proud and childlike at the same time as he looks towards Tanner and those gathered who witness his subjection: a brave warrior for once lost and alone in his familiar prairie home.

Of course, this is just as much an opportunity for potential reconciliation as defeat for the Indian nation, especially once the antipathy of Little Dog towards any settlement is removed. More to this, actors Hunter and Wagner look reasonably similar when on screen, no doubt ensuring a box-office friendly doubling-up of romantic interest for contemporary female audiences. But as they appear frequently together, the one impulsive, the other calm, 'educated' and 'savage', red man, white man and so on, there's a feeling too that, they just represent opposite sides to the same coin. And when, at the close of the film, we learn that Little Dog's sister goes on to marry Tanner and gives him a child who enters an American military academy, there's a sense that the coming together, started by the peace treaty we have just seen, is complete.

White Feather's budget must have been reasonably substantial for its widescreen is frequently filled with many extras, notably in the moments towards the end when, De Mille-like, the Cheyenne leave their homeland as a nation exodus. Together with fine location work and a solid-looking Fort Laramie outdoor set, it all adds considerably to the viewing pleasure. Lucien Ballard's cinematography is splendid, done full justice in the widescreen release (although the transfer is a little soft and I had to adjust my TV settings to get the best of it). Sadly, the region 2 release is bare of any extras, not even a trailer, let alone the things which grace the region 1 version. But for those who enjoy 1950s' genre pictures, the recommendation should still be strong enough.

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