I was at the opening night in Paris when 14 years old!... and who cares by the way...
And you justly would say... so what?
Well in the first place it was a CINERAMA kind of big screen and the fact that I had convinced my grandaunt (sister of my grandmother) to go there was a small colonial campaign itself... after all she married an exiled Russian noble (who didn't before the second world war.... Paris was full of them!).
OK OK OK getting to the point... it was and is a grand epic movie... seldom has Heston acted the part so well... and the disaster of Hick's pasha Egyptian army made an excellent opening...
I enjoyed immensely... then and up to now.
A pity no more scenes are dedicated to the relief column or either the Abu Klea wells battle... but life isn't perfect.
The cast is magnificent and the ambiance and exteriors true to life... the departure of Gordon from one of London's railway stations is how movies should be... (Ralph Richardson's acting is superb as usual)
An old favorite of mine.

ENJOY

ADB

Clash on the Nile
Based on a true story from the 1880s, Khartoum tells of the clash between General Charles George Gordon and "The Madhi". The movie isn't always true to history. For instance, the two men never apparently met face to face and the desert campaigns are oversimplyfied. That said, the film is magnificent. There are no less than five large battle scenes from a truely epic clash near the beginning when the Madhists wipe out thousands of Egyptian soldiers to an armed riverboat fighting its way past a town to the final epic fall of the city. Oh yes, a battle I believe meant to represent Abu Klea (and perhaps another fight) was more accurate then the recent "Four Feathers" film in that the British actually hold off the Islamic assault. The battles were done by the man who executed the brilliant stunts in the "Ben-Hur" chariot race. The musical score is appropriate for the film and the cinematography is pretty good.
The acting is really what helps the movie though. Charleton Heston presents a sympatheic though complex Gordon. Excentric, devoutly Christian, brave, at times ruthless when he feels he needs to be, and truely caring for the mostly Muslim population of the city; all of these fit the character Heston portrays. Olivier does an excellent job protraying the fanatical and ruthless "Mahdi" determined to sweep across the Islamic world in a wave of fury. The resulting clash between these two powerful men ultimately makes for a good story. I recommend it.

Oh, there are a couple of Osprey campaign series books on the Sudanese war if anyones wishes to look them up on Amazon. They are "Khartoum" and "Omdurman".

Ecellent Widescreen
This is great in widescreen at last! Had to depend on USA for that.
Well acted naturally with Charlton Heston and Sir Laurence Olivier.No comp spec effects, real people real action and good history.
To day it would have got the Pte Ryan treament, but still comes across "battle gore". Very well filmed and beautifully presented film.

Khartom
If you are a fan of history and Charlton Heston you will need to watch this movie. True to the actual facts of what happened there.

Good Buy

Z

Another Heston Epic
In the wake of Charlton Heston's death, I decided to have a marathon viewing of his films. I rewatched many of my favorites and sought out some of those I had never seen.

"Khartoum" was one I had not watched before. As he often did, Heston plays a real-life character, General Charles Gordon, who tried to defend the city of Khartoum from the attack of a Muslim fanatic, played by Laurence Olivier. It is one of those epic historical films Heston specialized in, and it does a good job of conveying that time and place.

One of the things I like about these films is that they were made pre-CGI, so they were generally shot on location and much of the spectacle was actually staged for the cameras (No computer-generated armies here).

The story focuses on the political maneuvering on both sides. It's striking how leaders are willing to sacrifice thousands of lives for some political purpose. The script is intelligent and the dialogue sharp, especially in the scenes between Gordon and the Mahdi (although Olivier's unconvincing dark make-up was somewhat distracting). Both actors do well in their roles.

Some viewers might find the film slow because there is a lot of talking and not a lot of action for a 2:15 running time. When the battle scenes come along, they are characteristically massive, but stiffly edited. And I was concerned for the poor horses that were constantly sent sprawling in the attacks.

All in all I would recommend "Khartoum" to anyone who likes Charlton Heston and big historical films. As they say, they don't make `em like this anymore.