| Khartoum | |
|---|---|
.jpg) Theatrical release poster | |
| Directed by | Basil Dearden Eliot Elisofon (introductory scenes) |
| Written by | Robert Ardrey |
| Produced by | Julian Blaustein |
| Starring | Charlton Heston Laurence Olivier Richard Johnson Ralph Richardson |
| Narrated by | Leo Genn |
| Cinematography | Edward Scaife |
| Edited by | Fergus McDonell |
| Music by | Frank Cordell |
| Distributed by | United Artists |
Release date |
|
Running time | 134 minutes 128 minutes(US) |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $6–8 million[1][2] |
| Box office | $3 million (est. US/Canada rentals)[3] |
Khartoum is a 1966 Britishepicwar film written byRobert Ardrey and directed byBasil Dearden. It starsCharlton Heston asBritishGeneral Charles "Chinese" Gordon andLaurence Olivier asMuhammad Ahmed (a Sudanese leader whose devotees proclaimed him theMahdi), with a supporting cast that includesRichard Johnson andRalph Richardson.[4] The film is based on historical accounts of Gordon's defence of the Sudanese city ofKhartoum from the forces of the Mahdist army, during the 1884–1885Siege of Khartoum.[5] The opening and closing scenes are narrated byLeo Genn.
Khartoum was filmed bycinematographerEdward Scaife inTechnicolor[6] andUltra Panavision 70, and was exhibited in 70 mmCinerama in premiere engagements. Anovelization of the film's screenplay was written byAlan Caillou.[7]
The film had its Royal World Premiere at theCasino Cinerama Theatre, in theWest End of London, on 9 June 1966, in the presence ofPrincess Margaret and theEarl of Snowdon.[8][9]
Khartoum earned Robert Ardrey anOscar nomination for Best Screenplay.[10][11] The film also earned Ralph Richardson a BAFTA Award nomination forBest British Actor.
In 1883Sudan, an army of 10,000 poorly trained but well-armedEgyptian troops is lured into the desert. Commanding the force is formerBombay Army soldierColonel William "Billy" Hicks (Edward Underdown), now a private individual paid by the Egyptian government. Hicks' armyis defeated by native tribesmen led byMuhammad Ahmed (Laurence Olivier), aNubian religious leader of the Samaniyya order who has declared himselfMahdi. The Mahdi's forces kill the troops and capture the weapons.
British Prime MinisterWilliam Ewart Gladstone (Ralph Richardson), does not wish to send any military forces to Khartoum but is under great pressure, mostly from the British press, to "avenge" the death of Hicks, a hero of previous colonial conflicts. He could send colonial military hero Major GeneralCharles George Gordon (Charlton Heston) who has strong ties to Sudan, having tried to break the slave trade there, but Gladstone distrusts him. Gordon has a reputation for strong and eccentric religious beliefs, and following his own judgement regardless of his orders.Lord Granville (Michael Hordern), the Foreign Secretary, knows this; he tells Gladstone that by sending Gordon to Khartoum, the British government can ignore all public pressure to send an army there. Should Gordon ignore his orders, the government can absolve themselves of any responsibility over the area. Gladstone is mildly shocked at the suggestion, but as it is popular with the public andQueen Victoria, he adopts it for the sake of expediency.
Gordon is told that his mission, to evacuate troops and civilians, is unsanctioned by the British government, which will disavow all responsibility if he fails. He is given few resources and only a single aide, ColonelJ. D. H. Stewart (Richard Johnson). After an attempt to recruit former slaverZobeir Pasha (Zia Mohyeddin) fails, Gordon and Stewart travel toKhartoum, where Gordon is hailed as the city's savior upon his arrival in February 1884. He begins organising the defences and rallying the people, despite Stewart's protests that this is not what he was sent to do.
Gordon's first act is to visit the Mahdi in his insurgent camp, accompanied by only a single servant. He gains the Mahdi's respect and, in the verbal fencing at theparley, discovers that the Sudanese leader intends to make an example of Khartoum by taking the city and killing all its inhabitants. TheRiver Nile city of Khartoum lies at theconfluence of theWhite Nile and theBlue Nile. A qualifiedmilitary engineer, Gordon wastes no time upon his return in digging a ditch between the two to provide a protective moat.
In Britain, Gladstone, apprised of how desperate the situation has become, orders Gordon to leave, but, as he had feared, his command is ignored. Colonel Stewart is sent by Gordon to London to explain the situation in Khartoum. Over the next several months, a public outcry forces Gladstone to send a relief force, but he sees to it that there is no urgency, hoping to the last that Gordon will come to his senses and save himself.
Gordon, however, has other ideas. News arrives in Khartoum about a relief force led byGeneral Wolseley being sent from Britain. When the waters recede in winter, drying up his moat, the small Egyptian army is finally overwhelmed by 100,000 native Mahdist tribesmen. On 26 January 1885, the city falls under a massive frontal assault. Gordon himself is slaughtered along with the entire foreign garrison and populace of some 30,000, although the Mahdi had forbidden killing Gordon. In the end, Gordon's head is cut off, stuck on top of a long pole, and paraded about the city in triumph, contrary to the Mahdi's injunctions.
The British relief column arrives two days too late.[12] The British withdraw from the Sudan shortly thereafter, and the Mahdi himself dies six months later. In the United Kingdom, public pressure, and anger at the fate of Gordon, eventually forces the British and their Egyptian allies tore-invade the Sudan ten years later, and they recaptured and colonised Khartoum in 1898.
Robert Ardrey wrote the script at the encouragement of producerJulian Blaustein. Ardrey says it took him three years "on and off" to complete the script, and then sold it for $150,000.[13] In May 1962, MGM announced they were producing the film from Ardrey's script, with the intention to be an adventure film similar to55 Days at Peking (1963) andLawrence of Arabia (1962).[14]
In October 1963, Ardrey began scouting filming locations in Africa with Blaustein.[15] Over a year later, in November 1964, Ardey toldThe New York Times: "Everybody was interested and nobody doubted the subject ... But there was strong feeling against the big picture which might gross $12,000,000 but cost $25,000,000. FranklyKhartoum is a proposition that could bust a studio if handled the wrong way."[10]
In April 1964, Blaustein announced United Artists was producing the film, withBurt Lancaster slated to star as Gordon.[16] The following month,Laurence Olivier agreed to play the Mahdi andLewis Gilbert signed to direct.[17] However, filming was delayed, and Lancaster, Olivier and Gilbert pulled out. In April 1965,Charlton Heston agreed to play Gordon.[18] By June, Olivier was back on the film withBasil Dearden to direct.[19] Heston loved the script calling it "one of only two scripts I can recall out of more than fifty that we shot largely without revision."[20]
Heston wanted Carol Reed to direct but he was not available.[21] In March 1965 he said "Ken Hughes seems the best bet for me" and wrote in his diary he wanted to make the film because "it’s a good part, presents the challenge of doing a mystic as well as the English thing. Also, it's a helluva good script."[22] Basil Dearden was suggested but Heston watched his films and felt they were "dependent... on plot rather than character.Khartoum is character over plot so this doesn't help."[23] In April the film was rejected by Guy Hamilton. "For a script as good as this, we’re taking a hell of a long time to get a good director," wrote Heston. But within a few days they had signed Basil Dearden. "We could do much worse," wrote Heston.[24] A few weeks later he wrote, " I’m still a little cool on the idea of Dearden to directKhartoum, but we’re committed on it. One thing I must learn better: Don’t commit till you’re sure. There are moral and creative considerations involved, but it’s also a simple question of people’s feelings."[25] A few days later Heston met Dearden "who impresses me about as his films do: seriously but not overwhelmingly. I guess my prime enthuasiam for this one is for the script rather than the director."[26]
Christopher Plummer was considered for Stewart but he was too expensive.[27] In July 1965,Ralph Richardson andRichard Johnson had joined the cast as Prime Minister Gladstone and Colonel Stewart, respectively.[28]
Principal photography began atPinewood Studios on August 9, 1965. Meanwhile,second-unit filming was placed underYakima Canutt.[13][29] A month later, filming relocated toCairo.[5][30] By October, location shooting had finished and the production went on hiatus to give Olivier time to be available for interior scenes.[31] The production was shut down for several weeks due to Olivier's availability.[32] When filming finished in December Heston wrote "I’ve learned not to try and deduce from my own reactions what the public and/or critical response to a film will be. However, I like this one."[33]
It was the last movie filmed inUltra Panavision 70 untilThe Hateful Eight, written and directed byQuentin Tarantino forty-nine years later.[34]
Heston saw the film in May. He wrote in his diary "Khartoum seemed to me to be a very, very good film. The script is literate, with some of the best writing of the year. All the performances are good, including mine."[35] After the Los Angeles premiere in June he wrote "I really think we may have one of my best pictures here."[36]
However commercial response was not strong. In July Heston wrote the film "is getting great notices all round, but not uniformly great business, sorry to say."[37] He later reflected at the end of 1966, "Khartoum didn’t kill ’em, but I did good work in both and was well regarded by my peers."[38]
Arthur D. Murphy ofVariety wrote the film "is an action-filled entertainment pic which contrasts personal nobility with political expediency. The colorful Julian Blaustein production builds in spectacular display, enhanced by Cinerama presentation, while Charlton Heston and Laurence Olivier propel toward inevitable tragedy, the drama of two sincere opponents."[39] Philip K. Scheuer of theLos Angeles Times praised the film, writing it "is one of the ablest pictures of its kind I've ever seen. It is a truly great spectacle, not one synthesized mainly for the sake of a wide screen in this case Cinerama. It is also exceptional in that its man-to-man confrontations in themselves have drama."[40]Bosley Crowther ofThe New York Times felt the film suffered from "the efforts of everyone connected with the picture to cram too much historical detail, too much geographical display, too many incidental characters, too many battles, too much mystery into a picture that was evidently inspired by the box-office success ofLawrence of Arabia."[41]
Clifford Terry of theChicago Tribune unfavorably compared the film toLawrence of Arabia, writing "Khartoum is nothing more than a routine desert drama, full of sand and fury, signifying very little." He blamed Dearden and Ardey, criticizing his script for failing "to grasp that however complex an individual, he nevertheless has a core, and covers up the character shallowness and story inconsistencies with grandiose gab."[42]Sight and Sound described the film as being "beautifully photographed, lavishly mounted, intelligently acted, but ultimately dull."[43]The Times praised the film for the screenplay.[44]Patrick Gibbs ofThe Daily Telegraph criticized the film for its historical inaccuracies and felt neither Olivier or Heston convey "the personal magnetism attributed" to their characters.[45] The British publicationNew Statesman also criticized the film's historical inaccuracies (for example the Mahdi did not want to kill everyone in the capital and called for killing only soldiers).[46]
On the review aggregate websiteRotten Tomatoes, 100% of 10 critics gave the film a positive review, with an average rating of 7/10.[47] In the 21st century, historianAlex von Tunzelmann criticized the film for "factual inaccuracies" and Olivier's "unrealistic accent" andblackface makeup.[48] Literature professorEdward Said criticizedKhartoum for what he described as a pro-colonial propagandistic portrayal of good versus evil by clashing "despotically violent Arab masculinity against a noble, rational Western one."[49] Conversely, editor Dennis Schwartz described the film as "a visually stunning historical epic, smartly acted and lavishly produced, that gives one a good look at that period’s political intrigues but does little to tell us about the two religious zealots–Gordon and the Mahdi."[50]
In a 1978 article forFilm Comment,Martin Scorsese wroteKhartoum was one of his guilty pleasures: "Charlton Heston... is marvelous; and Laurence Olivier has a lot of fun as the Mahdi, with a space between his front teeth. It isn't very good filmmaking, but it has a mystical quality about it. This was a holy war. At the end – when Mahdi killed Gordon, and then six months later he died himself – it was as if the two of them canceled each other out, religiously and historically. It's a story I want to be told, over and over again, like a fairy tale."[51]
| Award | Category | Nominee | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| Academy Award | Best Writing, Story and Screenplay – Written Directly for the Screen | Robert Ardrey | Nominated |
| BAFTA Award | Best British Actor | Ralph Richardson | Nominated |
| BAFTA Award | Best British Art Direction (Colour) | John Howell | Nominated |
Khartoum was released on Blu ray on 3 December 2018.[52]
Incredibly this screenplay was nominated for an Oscar.
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