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Very disappointing...

good back-story, and good acting

Excellent adaptation.

I cannot think of one single thing that I would change about this film. The acting is incomparable, the directing deft, and the writing poignantly brilliant.

The opening narration states that the events in the picture really happened, but I'll take that with a few grains of salt. One thing I can attest to is that I would never have recognized any of the actors portraying the principal characters here. Robert Wagner at twenty five years old looked impossibly young and he'd already appeared in a dozen films. When the opening credits rolled I saw the names of Jeffrey Hunter and Hugh O'Brian, but when the story got going I forgot about that and it never occurred to me they had the roles of Little Dog and American Horse. I would have lost a bet on O'Brian ever playing an Indian in a picture. I'll just have to go back and check it out once again.The story throws a bit of a curve ball at the viewer with respect to Josh Tanner's (Wagner) romantic prospects. What looks like a relationship developing between him and Ann Magruder (Virginia Leith) is suddenly turned upside down when Cheyenne squaw Appearing Day (Debra Paget) comes on the scene. I thought she was quite attractive but that whole business about being worth two hundred ponies seemed like a bit of a stretch to me. Fortunately, her father Broken Hand (Eduard Franz) didn't hold Tanner to it.It turns out that the title of the picture refers to a Cheyenne challenge against honoring the treaty Broken Hand has signed with the Cavalry. Little Dog and American Horse take up the fight but it's a short lived one as they are both dispatched summarily, 'Horse' by his own Chief Broken Hand who saw fit to watch his son die fighting the white man. The picture closes stating that Tanner and Appearing Day married, with Broken Hand living long enough to witness their grown son attend the military academy at West Point. I tried looking it up, but I think a few more grains of salt were sprinkled on this tale as it ended.

I am not that bothered by historical facts when all I need is a good Western to relax with. And this fits the bill perfectly. If I wanted historical accuracy I would go over to the History Channel and then I Would have to think and not be able to relax.Perfect scenery, magnificently depicted Indian camp, great horse riding, good acting all round, even the self critical Mr Lund was perfect for his role.Westerns of today just do not have the old magic.Just as an incidental rider: when as a boy in the Saturday matinée Our gang would always cheer the Calvary, now I have grown up the Indians have my cheers and sympathy. What was done to them will forever be a massive blot on the history of the USA.

This movie is one of those weird "remake" movies they used to do ala "Rio Bravo"/"El Dorado", or "Support Your Local Sheriff/Support Your Local Gunfighter". In this case, "White Feather" is a loose remake of 1950's "Broken Arrow". Delmer Daves, who directed BA, wrote this screenplay and Debra Paget reprises her role as the most European looking Indian maiden of all time.Here's what I liked:This movie had a big budget and it shows in the recreation of the Indian villages. I have never seen such large representations of tribal villages. They are almost small cities. Unfortunately, they also seem phony and sterile.For once a Western leading man is having romantic relationships with women his own age!Positive Indian point of view theme is OK.That's it for positives.Hard to know where to start for negatives:As mentioned, a blatant remake of "Broken Arrow".Robert Wagner gives one of the worst leading man performances I've seen in a Western. And that hair style. Looks like he just walked off the set of "Jailhouse Rock". I finally understand why they had to use old guys like Wayne, Stewart, Randolph Scott, Gary Cooper etc. for leading men in the '50's. None of the young guys could act!!There's no heavy. This drains almost all the dramatic tension out of the story.All the other acting jobs are terrible. I didn't buy Jeffery Hunter for a second as an Indian warrior. It was hard to buy any of the Indians because they were all played by obviously Causcasian actors.Very little attempt at comic relief.Fundamental relationships of friendship between Little Dog and Josh and especially Appearing Day and Josh seemed awkward and implausible.Not one decent supporting acting job to salvage this mess.

From the era of wide screen CinemaScope comes this fine western about dealing with the Cheyenne Indians in Wyoming in 1870.The film benefits from having a good script that keeps things tense, good acting, and excellent cinematography (which was far superior 50 years ago compared to today's movies).There's no sense retelling the plot, but female viewers ought to love Robert Wagner in this role, as well as Jeffrey Hunter (showing lots of tan skin) in his Indian makeup. Speaking of skin, the lovely and usually clothed neck to toe Debra Paget gets to show some neck, shoulders and back -- however briefly.But the main thing is the tense story. Without much gunfire the film provides almost no opportunity for a snack bar break. Please take the other low ratings with a grain of salt. Liberals and their intrusive and annoying PC mantra will no doubt be annoyed by the frequent use of the word "Indian" as well as having whites cast as Indians. Oh the shame! This despite the positive view of Indians reflected in the film; herein they even have a healthy sense of humor. Humor, that's just not liberal. At least nobody smokes a cigarette.