Khartoum | | Cast : | Charlton Heston, Laurence Olivier | | Director : | Eliot Elisofon, Basil Dearden | | Studio : | MGM/UA Video | | Format : | Color, Closed-captioned, Widescreen | | Released Date : | June 15, 1966 | | DVD Released Date : | May 07, 2002 | | Language : | English (Dubbed), French (Subtitled), English (Subtitled), Spanish (Subtitled), Spanish (Dubbed), English (Original Language), Spanish (Original Language) | | Audience Rating : | NR (Not Rated) | | | BUY THIS DVD FROM AMAZON |
Customer Reviews
| Rating |  | | Date | October 24, 2004 | | Summary | Underrated historical adventure ! | Content
 | This film recalls the British defeat in nothern Africa by Arab tribemen circa in 1833 .
And the fine actings of Olivier as Mahdi and Heston as Gordon are not enough to hold the slow paced script .
There are terrific edition problems . Notice for instance the previous moment to the attack at dawn and notice the landscape , in Gordon side we have night but in the other side we have a radiant sunshine .
Basil Dearden was a talented filmmaker but not in these waters . Since Lawrence de Arabia became a hitherto in what desert movies concern , you should wait a real twist of road to avoid be compared with that David lean's giant film.
Dearden gives a theatrical approach to this film and the dialogues are very slow paced ; there are unforgettable moments as the the speech between Mahdi and Gordon in the first quarter of the film and it seems the film will fly , you feel an uncomfortable sensation of incoherence through the script .
Gordon is in a real trouble with the reduced scope of the Minister but the film lacks expression and force .
You are capable to experience the absence of the organic flow in the drama ; the battle scenes are too short and so far to be credible .
The climax ending is extremely cold and predictable.
The film will be reminded in the future as a clear management default , but definitively it is not a great film, due its inner weakness.
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| Rating | | | Date | October 01, 2004 | | Summary | THIS WAS JIHAD | Content
| The mahdi, the extremist leader of his muslim followers, said so. He called it Jihad, a muslim holy war. This story took place in Sudan in the 1880's; I believe it was filmed there too. I bet seeing this film on the big screen was something spectacular, especially the scenes of boats and sails along the Nile and the vast, dry deserts of the Sudan. The story is true, although I always wonder if Hollywood got all of the particulars correct. From the web, it looks like this conflict started around 1881, and much negotiation, events transpired before the culmination of this conflict in the final siege of Khartoum in 1884. The main characters were real people, Gordon, the British ambassador, played by Heston, and the Mahdi, played by Olivier. William Gladstone was Prime Minister at the time of the siege, Queen Victoria was Queen of Great Britain. The siege of Khartoum lasted for 5-6 months, and interestingly, as this movie shows, the Mahdi died 5-6 months after Gordon was murdered. The movie is told from a christian standpoint; the end of the movie alludes to several stories in the bible, that of Rahab when she let down the two jewish spies from her window using a scarlet cord which would also mark her and her family as friends to not be destroyed Joshua 2:18, 21, and also of Christ's arrest in the garden of Gethsemane right before his Roman style execution in John 18:6. You'll understand what I mean if you watch this movie. Given what's happening in Sudan now, it seems important to me to remember its historical precedents. |
| Rating | | | Date | September 05, 2004 | | Summary | An epic from the True Tales of the Empire period | Content
| This film had a big impact on me when I saw it as a 12 year old in 1966 at the State Wayne Theater. I am sure that I did not understand all of the political conversations, though as an adult I find them the best parts of the film. I am sure that I did not understand Gordon's motivation for going to the Sudan nor his attachment to it.
The big action scenes and particularly the famous scene of Gordon facing the mob at the end of the movie without a weapon and freezing them all in place (for a bit), always stayed with me. I liked the military considerations and was angered that the army would not get to Gordon in time.
There were any number of big movies made from tales of the British Empire. Lots of pageantry, color, war, and heroism that is bigger than life. While there are obvious things to criticize in a film that is nearly forty years old (the flooding of the protective moat is particularly obvious to today's eyes and probably were in 1966), I prefer to look at the things that work. Heston does pull off the strange charisma of Gordon, Richard Johnson is fabulous as Col. Stewart, Olivier does a characterization of the Mahdi that would not be acceptable today, but provides a clear villain for this 60s film. Ralph Ricahrdson, one of the great actors of all time, does a superb job as Gladstone and Johny Sekka was wonderful and memorable as the wise, brave, and witty Khaleel.
This is not a great film, but a pretty sound depiction of historical events that we would be better off retaining in our memories. Gordon dies, and so did the Mahdi a few months later, but Gordon was a strange and amazing man as was the Mahdi. It is a strange twist of history that brought them on a collision course. Kitchener went back to the Sudan and conquered Khartoum a couple of decades later and rebuilt it as Gordon had done earlier.
When people only criticize the British Empire they should remember the suffering and misery it tried to alleviate in places like the Sudan and balance that with perceived acts of less nobility.
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| Rating | | | Date | August 03, 2004 | | Summary | Not Terribly Memorable | Content
| This isn't Charleton Heston's best work by a long-shot. His acting is hardly convincing as General Charles Gordon. The cinematography is decent but there seems to also be an absence in character depth throughout the movie: there is also little action.
Epic movies about the colonial era in Africa are never easy: this movie just doesn't do it. The best role played in the movie was that of "The Mahdi" by Laurence Olivier, however, he is hardly a convincing Moor. All of the scenes just seem to fall short in climax or tension for this sort of drama.
The failure of the movie also lies in its attempt to simplify the complexities of the time: the script writer failed to grasp te culture of the epoch and this is made evident in the movie. As a result, the dialogue is hollow and the action dull. Perhaps worth renting for those who are admirers of either Heston or Olivier but there isn't much to own here.
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| Rating | | | Date | June 04, 2004 | | Summary | "out of the vast, hot, African nowhere..." | Content
| Though the historical events in this film took place in 1884-85, there are aspects of it that remind one of today's headlines; this is a sadly underrated film, with a fantastic cast, massive battle scenes, and a beautifully written script about an extraordinary man.
There are scenes that take "artistic license", but the film is quite accurate in its facts on General Gordon; a military genius who hated war, a deeply religious man who worked to end slavery, and who fell in love with the desolate scorching sands and the people of the Sudan.The pairing of Charlton Heston and Laurence Olivier is fabulous, and their scenes together are riveting. Heston is gaunt in this film, to closer portray the slightly built Gordon, and speaks with a subtle but excellent English accent; Olivier is the fanatic who calls himself The Mahdi ("The Expected One"), waging a holy war with his followers to destroy anyone who opposes his beliefs, with the aim of conquering the world for his fundamentalist faith.
Other wonderful performances come from Richard Johnson as Col. Stewart, Ralph Richardson as Prime Minister Gladstone, Nigel Green as Gen Wolseley, and Johnny Sekka is a delight as Gordon's servant Khaleel. After British-led Egyptian forces are massacred by The Mahdi's insurgents, the British government asks Egypt to give up the Sudan, and General Gordon is called to evacuate the European and Egyptian civilians from the Sudan; he stays to ward off the terrorists and the siege of Khartoum takes place.
The sweeping panoramas of the desert and the Nile river are sumptuous (cinematography by Edward Scaife), and the Frank Cordell score is terrific, though it owes a bit to Maurice Jarre's music for "Lawrence of Arabia"; released 6 years earlier, "Lawrence" has some comparisons to this film, as they are both about adventurous men of courage who felt comfortable in Arab lands.
This film sparked my imagination and made me want to know more about Gordon's fascinating life and the history that surrounded him, and it is one I could watch repeatedly. Total running time is 134 minutes.
"...but there is this: A world with no room for the Gordons, is a world that will return to the sands". |
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