Khartoum

Director: Basil Dearden Basil Dearden

Overview

The late 19th-century victory of Arab tribesmen over the British in the Sudan is the focus of Basil Dearden's historical epic.

Product Details

Release Date:	11/01/2022
UPC:	0850035985595
Original Release:	1966
Rating:	NR
Source:	Sandpiper Pictures
Region Code:	1
Presentation:	[Wide Screen]
Sound:	[Dolby Digital Stereo]
Language:	English
Time:	2:16:00
Sales rank:	16,838

Cast & Crew

Performance Credits

Charlton Heston	Gen. Charles 'Chinese' Gordon
Laurence Olivier	The Mahdi
Ralph Richardson	Col. J.D.H. Stewart
Alexander Knox	Sir Evelyn Baring
Johnny Sekka	Khaleel
Michael Hordern	Lord Granville
Zia Mohyeddin	Zobeir Pasha
Marne Maitland	Sheikh Osman
Nigel Green	Gen. Wolseley
Hugh Williams	Lord Hartington
Douglas Wilmer	Khalifa Abdullah
Edward Underdown	Col. Hicks
Alec Mango	Bordeini Bey
George Pastell	Giriagis Bey
Peter Arne	Maj. Kitchener
Alan Tilvern	Awaan
Michael Anthony	Actor
Jerome Willis	Frank Power
Leila	The Dancer
Ronald Leigh-Hunt	Lord Northbrook
Ralph Michael	Sir Charles Dilke
Leo Genn	Narrator
Richard Johnson	Col. J.D.H. Stewart
Richard Jordan	Actor
Frank Cordell	Composer

Technical Credits

Robert Ardrey

Basil Dearden	Director
Julian Blaustein	Producer
Richard Parker	Special Effects
Robert Ardrey	Screenwriter
Ken Buckle	Stunts

Editorial Reviews

This film's scenario is an old one: Dig in. Take aim. Then fight to the last gasp. But director Basil Deardon's Khartoum executes the scenario on a grand scale. Set mainly in and near the Sudanese city of Khartoum between 1884 and 1885, it features massing armies, booming canons, and a desert landscape alternately beautiful and brutal. Both Charleston Heston as Gordon and Laurence Olivier as Ahmad are in top form as they define the central conflicts: Gordon's ego vs Ahmad's ego, the Christian God vs the Muslim God, and Sudanese rule vs Anglo-Egyptian rule. A memorable scene in the film is a confrontation between Heston and Olivier in the Mahdi's tent. There, they clash verbally as Olivier reveals his plan to take not only Khartoum, but also Cairo, Mecca, Baghdad and Constantinople. Although both actors infuse their characters with unyielding resolve, Olivier is the more overtly fanatical and menacing, but Heston, for his part, refuses to cower, and his always imposing film presence serves him well in presenting Gordon as larger-than-life visionary. Some reviewers, however, criticized the film for both Olivier's use of blackface make-up and for being a bit "talky." If good writing, acting and pacing constitute talkiness, then the film is indeed guilty of that offense.