Le Scaramouche,

"...I would recommend Korda's Four Feathers along with the book. Do skip the most recent production. It was silly, sanctimonious and heavily departed from the spirit of the book..."

I tend to agree about the modern version of 'Four Feathers', it was pure tripe - The Director tried to rewrite matters to suit his own politica agenda.
I would suggest that the best film version is the 1939(?) Alexander Korda version of the film (made with the assistance of men of the East Surrey Regiment, then in Egypt, as the 'North Surrey Regiment'). Zoltan Korda produced a scene-for-scene reshoot, which wasn't quite up to the same standard and the versions went downhill from there (Watch for the THREE DIFFERENT Kitcheners in "Storm over the Nile" - yet another re-make), the 1979(?) Bridges/Powell/Seymore version of the film was pretty dire too.
The 2004 version was the first remake NOT to try to use footage from the Alexander Korda version.


greg stephens,

"...Kipling took a lot of stick from the left(and rightly) for his imperialist attitudes. But his "first class fighting man" remark about the Fuzzy Wuzzies, and his "You're a better man than I am, Gunga Din" sing out down the years a lot louder than many a good multi-culti liberal..."

I think a more suitable comment might come from the opening lines of "The Ballad of East and West"

"..Oh, East is East, and West is West, and never the twain shall meet,
   Till Earth and Sky stand presently at God's great Judgment Seat;
   But there is neither East nor West, Border, nor Breed, nor Birth,
   When two strong men stand face to face,
   tho' they come from the ends of the earth!..."

Regards

Walrus