Screened Thursday, September 12th, Los Angeles, for the British Academy of Film and Television--at the Writers’ Guild Theater. Q&A afterwards with director Shekhar Kapur and actor Heath Ledger.

This latest version of THE FOUR FEATHERS (the first one was made in the 30’s with Ronald Coleman and C. Aubrey Smith) is directed by Indian Shekhar Kapur, who also helmed the excellent ELIZABETH with Cate Blanchett. It starts off promisingly with a Rugby Football match played by army officer cadets. As I was a wing three-quarter for the Eton Rugger XV for three years in the 60’s, the game is close to my heart, and seldom portrayed on the screen!

The film is uneven thereafter, with excellent battle scenes directed by Vic Armstrong, the “David Lean” of second unit directors, and strong performances by Ledger, Bentley and Sheen, including very believable British accents. Djimon Hounsou, the African male model turned actor who made his debut for Steven Spielberg in AMISTAD and then played one of the leading roles in GLADIATOR alongside Russell Crowe, has developed into an excellent film actor. He portrays the sympathetic role of Abou Fatma, a local native who befriends Harry Feversham (Heath Ledger) and helps save his life from the Dervishes. He is clad the whole film in gray, dust-like body make-up and gives a moving supporting performance.

The one glaring piece of miscasting is Kate Hudson as Ethne. There are many well-trained young English actresses who would have done far more with the role, been more at ease in the period costumes, and added far stronger support. Like Hilary Swank in THE AFFAIR OF THE NECKLACE (also woefully miscast), she should stick to modern roles. This is also why Robert de Niro and Al Pacino don’t do historical pieces, the exception being Pacino’s ill-fated REVOLUTION. Unfortunately, the “suits” who run the studios are so addicted to seducing the dreaded 18-25 year old audience in the U.S. that they will often package hot young American actors into roles that are entirely wrong for them! Naturally, a director wants to stay on good terms with the studio so, against his better casting judgment, he will often go along with their wishes.

The other main problem lies in the script, which is spotty at best. The original thrust of the novel and earlier films was that Harry Feversham (Heath Ledger) declined to go to war out of misguided patriotism. In this version, he refuses to go because he had just married Ethne and wants to stay with her. She despises him as a coward--hence his being given the “Four White Feathers” of cowardice--and begins a torrid romance by mail with his best friend Durrance (Wes Bentley), who is then blinded in battle and returns home to marry her as Harry is presumed dead. Harry, to avoid being considered a coward for the rest of his life, goes undercover with the Dervishes to try and save his friends, and almost gets killed. When he finally returns to find his beloved Ethne married to his best friend, the ending of the film descends into a soapy melodrama.

All the battle and action sequences are magnificently staged. In fact, the whole film is beautifully photographed by Robert Richardson, who also shoots all of Oliver Stone’s movies. The costumes by Ruth Myers are lush and authentic, as is the production design by Allan Cameron.

Basically, THE FOUR FEATHERS is two films joined together, one exciting (the action sequences are terrific), the other tedious and clichéd (the romantic story is convoluted). As Shekhar Kapur, the director, said in his Q & A after the screening, “I only had three months to shoot this, whereas David Lean had two years to shoot LAWRENCE OF ARABIA.”

We all felt like saying, “We knew David Lean. He was a friend of ours, and you are no David Lean”--not yet anyway!