White Feather (1955)
Country: US
Technical: Technicolor/2.55:1 102m
Director: Robert Webb
Cast: Robert Wagner, John Lund, Jeffrey Hunter, Debra Paget, Noah Beery Jr.
Synopsis:
A surveyor arrives in Cheyenne country as the state troops prepare to sign a peace treaty with the other tribes in the vicinity. He makes friends with the chief's son, falls in love with his daughter, and helps avert a bloodbath.
Review:
A sweet-natured Western, in which nary a shot is fired in anger nor a scalp claimed. Its liberal heart is so firmly in its place that the cavalry commander is an enlightened moderate, chief Broken Hand a model of dignity, and the only repellent character an Indian-hating storekeeper (Emile Meyer). The framing narration is a little creaky and the colour has not survived well, but there is a magnificent fort set and some splendid widescreen compositions of trooping cavalry and displaced Indians. In addition, it is unusual to have an interracial love affair in a Hollywood film that does not end tragically, even if she is played by a white woman. One other point of interest is the character of the storekeeper's daughter (Virginia Leith), raped and left unwanted in her shame, a state of affairs perpetuated by her spiteful father. Introduced as a potential playmate for Wagner, she is not given a second look after the arrival of Paget, but remains steadfast and present to the end, whereupon she is not even granted a farewell medium close-up!
Country: US
Technical: Technicolor/2.55:1 102m
Director: Robert Webb
Cast: Robert Wagner, John Lund, Jeffrey Hunter, Debra Paget, Noah Beery Jr.
Synopsis:
A surveyor arrives in Cheyenne country as the state troops prepare to sign a peace treaty with the other tribes in the vicinity. He makes friends with the chief's son, falls in love with his daughter, and helps avert a bloodbath.
Review:
A sweet-natured Western, in which nary a shot is fired in anger nor a scalp claimed. Its liberal heart is so firmly in its place that the cavalry commander is an enlightened moderate, chief Broken Hand a model of dignity, and the only repellent character an Indian-hating storekeeper (Emile Meyer). The framing narration is a little creaky and the colour has not survived well, but there is a magnificent fort set and some splendid widescreen compositions of trooping cavalry and displaced Indians. In addition, it is unusual to have an interracial love affair in a Hollywood film that does not end tragically, even if she is played by a white woman. One other point of interest is the character of the storekeeper's daughter (Virginia Leith), raped and left unwanted in her shame, a state of affairs perpetuated by her spiteful father. Introduced as a potential playmate for Wagner, she is not given a second look after the arrival of Paget, but remains steadfast and present to the end, whereupon she is not even granted a farewell medium close-up!
Country: US
Technical: Technicolor/2.55:1 102m
Director: Robert Webb
Cast: Robert Wagner, John Lund, Jeffrey Hunter, Debra Paget, Noah Beery Jr.
Synopsis:
A surveyor arrives in Cheyenne country as the state troops prepare to sign a peace treaty with the other tribes in the vicinity. He makes friends with the chief's son, falls in love with his daughter, and helps avert a bloodbath.
Review:
A sweet-natured Western, in which nary a shot is fired in anger nor a scalp claimed. Its liberal heart is so firmly in its place that the cavalry commander is an enlightened moderate, chief Broken Hand a model of dignity, and the only repellent character an Indian-hating storekeeper (Emile Meyer). The framing narration is a little creaky and the colour has not survived well, but there is a magnificent fort set and some splendid widescreen compositions of trooping cavalry and displaced Indians. In addition, it is unusual to have an interracial love affair in a Hollywood film that does not end tragically, even if she is played by a white woman. One other point of interest is the character of the storekeeper's daughter (Virginia Leith), raped and left unwanted in her shame, a state of affairs perpetuated by her spiteful father. Introduced as a potential playmate for Wagner, she is not given a second look after the arrival of Paget, but remains steadfast and present to the end, whereupon she is not even granted a farewell medium close-up!