White Feather (1955)

The story of the peace mission from the US cavalry to the Cheyenne Indians in Wyoming during the 1870s. The mission is threatened when a civilian surveyor befriends the chief's son and ... See full summary »

Director:

Robert D. Webb

Writers:

Delmer Daves (screenplay), Leo Townsend (screenplay),

Stars:

Robert Wagner, John Lund, Debra Paget

Cast

Complete credited cast:
Robert Wagner	...	Josh Tanner
John Lund	...	Col. Lindsay
Debra Paget	...	Appearing Day
Jeffrey Hunter	...	Little Dog
Eduard Franz	...	Chief Broken Hand
Noah Beery Jr.	...	Lt. Ferguson (as Noah Beery)
Virginia Leith	...	Ann Magruder
Emile Meyer	...	Magruder
Hugh O'Brian	...	American Horse
Milburn Stone	...	Commissioner Trenton

Storyline

The story of the peace mission from the US cavalry to the Cheyenne Indians in Wyoming during the 1870s. The mission is threatened when a civilian surveyor befriends the chief's son and falls for the chief's daughter.

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Plot Keywords:

surveyor | u.s. cavalry | wyoming | cavalry | cheyenne indian | 

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Genres:

History | Western

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Certificate:

Approved

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

16 February 1955 (USA)

Also Known As:

Die weiße Feder

Filming Locations:

Durango, Mexico

Company Credits

Production Co:

Panoramic Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

102 min

Sound Mix:

4-Track Stereo (Western Electric Recording)

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.55 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

First American movie filmed (in 1954) in Durango City, Mexico, because art director Jack Martin Smith liked the soundstages in the city and found the surrounding landscapes to be just what he was looking for.

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Goofs

When Appearing Day shows Josh Tanner how the Cheyenne were practicing for war, a camera shot shows several horses entering the fray. You can see that at least one of the horses has metal horseshoes, which would not have been the case in those days.

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Connections

Referenced in Chappaqua (1966)

User Reviews

A fine addition to the liberal Western collection.

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