White Feather (1955)

Plot:

White Feather follows 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.

White Feather (1955) Review:

First American movie filmed in 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. To "show the white feather" is considered, in many places, to show cowardice. In others is a sign of high respect and, in still others, it serves the same purpose as a white flag of truce.

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. 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.