Khartoum

Rating:
Summary: Excellent historical drama
Review: This is an exciting, even thrilling, historical spectacle. The script nicely portrays the mounting confrontation--and inevitable climax--between the British empire and Islamic fanaticism, Christianity and Islam, and the two strong-willed champions of their respective faiths. It takes some patience to watch this movie; if you're shallow don't bother with it. But if you savor powerful, in-depth historical drama with strong characters, strong acting, and great sets, you'll love it.

Rating:
Summary: SPRAWLING EPIC, DESERT DRY BUT NEAR PRISTINE ON DVD
Review: This is one of those big budget, sprawling epic motion pictures that Hollywood used to turn out en masse during the days when television was still seen as a major threat to the film industry. It stars Charlton Heston as a British general, determined to wade out and win a holy war launched against an Arab exptremist played by Sir Lawrence Olivier. The problem is that the film suffers from Olivier's performance. No matter how hard he tries, it's just Olivier in dark pancake make-up and not the Arabian savior that we see. This role would have been so much better served by Alec Guiness or Omar Shariff. As it stands the action is pretty subdued. There are a couple of enthralling battle scenes that really set the screen on fire and a really creepy face to face controntation between the two leads near the end. Ralph Richardson co-stars.
MGM has given us the film in a pretty smart looking transfer. Colors are rich and bold. There is no smearing or bleeding. Most scenes exhibit a nice sharp clarity and depth that I wouldn't have expected from a film this old, especially since no restoration work was done on the film negative. The desert scenes exhibit a spectrum of sandy, earthy colors that are impressively captured. There is some minor edge enhancement present, most notably in the latter half of the film, as well as some minor pixelization that breaks apart fine detail in some of the background information. A minimal amount of dirt, scratches and fading is detected but nothing that will distract. The sound is equally impressive for its age and is presented in 2.0 stereo, with a really nice spread, especially in the music tracks. NO EXTRAS!
BOTTOM LINE: If you like epics, this one is for you. Just keep in mind, it's NO "Lawrence of Arabia".

Rating:
Summary: Unimpressive
Review: 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.

Rating:
Summary: "out of the vast, hot, African nowhere..."
Review: 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".

Rating:
Summary: The British superpower vs Islamic fundamentalists
Review: When KHARTOUM was filmed in 1966, it was meant to be another Charlton Heston epic. While it doesn't have that sweeping grandeur, it does have plenty of attractions:


* a great role for Charlton Heston,
* an interesting colonial episode with political intrigue, heroics, and fanaticism,
* great attention to historical detail (despite some fictitious episodes), and
* sweeping battle and desert scenes.
However today, perhaps the most interesting aspect is seeing an early clash between Islamic fundamentalism and western might.

Khartoum is set in 1884 Sudan where an Islamic fanatic calling himself the Mahdi has gathering an army and started wresting Sudan from Egypt. This disturbs the superpower of that time, the British who want nothing to threaten their Suez Canal. This imperialism film shows the politics of the issue as well as the battles. British Prime Minister Gladstone is not an imperialist and doesn't want to get involved in the Sudan, but is pressured to do something because the Mahdi has annihilated a British army in Sudan. So he sends in a British hero, General Charles Gordon who has previously pacified the Sudan for Egypt. The film makes much of the personal respect but titantic clash between Gordon (Heston) and the Mahdi (Lawrence Olivier in heavy makeup).

The Mahdi is determined to destroy Khartoum as a prelude to wider conquest. Gordon is determined to get British soldiers to stop him. And Gladstone is determined to do as little as possible. Something has got to give here and this makes Khartoum different from your usual imperialism film. Some people lament how KHARTOUM doesn't compare to LAWRENCE OF ARABIA (how many films do?!), but it is quite entertaining on its own.