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Amazon.co.uk Review
Set in the expanse of the Sudan desert in the midst of holy war, Khartoum (1966) plays like an attempt to work the Lawrence of Arabia magic on the (mostly) true story of eccentric British general Charles "Chinese" Gordon in 1884 North Africa. The magnificent opening desert battle suggests David Lean's epic sweep, at least until the film settles into a more modest story of political games, military standoffs, and a battle of wits and wiles between two fierce leaders. Charlton Heston plays the Christian soldier as cocky, unconventional maverick, and Laurence Olivier (behind heavy make-up and a thick black beard) is almost as good as his cagey nemesis the Mahdi, the Islamic holy warrior on a mission of annihilation. More talk than spectacle, the film falls short of Lawrence but is nonetheless a compelling story of colonial politics, cynical manoeuvring and the unconventional heroics of another colourful British maverick abroad. --Sean Axmaker
DVD Description
Language: German (Mono), Italian (Mono), English (Stereo), French (Stereo), Spanish (Mono) Subtitles: Danish, Dutch, French, Finnish, Greek, Hungarian, Italian, Norwegian, Portuguese, Spanish, Swedish, English, German
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
21 of 21 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Heston of Arabia,
By websurfer (Portugal) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Khartoum [DVD] (DVD)
On this 1966 epic film Charlton Heston plays the British general Charles Gordon, who died figthing the upraise of the Mahaidi muslim fanatics in Khartoum.Heston gives a very convincing portrayal of the Brithish hero and Laurence Olivier plays an impressive Mahaidi. Also with Ralph Richardson and Nigel Green, this Basil Dearden film is a very nice epic story filled with strong and interesting carachters, action sequences and beautifull sceneary. The DVD presents a 2.35 widescreen format print with very nice colors and stereo sound.At this price it's a must!
28 of 30 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
"out of the vast, hot, African nowhere...",
By Alejandra Vernon "artist & illustrator" (Long Beach, California) - See all my reviews (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)
This review is from: Khartoum [VHS] (VHS Tape)
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. 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.
6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
Great movie, poor print,
By
This review is from: Khartoum [DVD] (DVD)
I love this movie, but what I don't like is paying for a UK DVD and finding the quality of the MGM Region 2 PAL disc is poor. It's not from a restored print so there are flickering lines (scratches), dust and other foreign objects, and so on. It's also rather soft and lacking in detail. What makes this really infuriating is that the Region 3 NTSC DVD you can get in S.E. Asia looks *absolutely fantastic*. Once again the UK/European arm of a major studio greedily and lazily offers its customers 2nd best, even though a high quality version already exists. The NTSC rip I downloaded from pirate bay at no cost is better quality than the PAL DVD I just paid for. I wish that was unusual but it's normal for us suckers here in the UK. The studios apparently don't like bittorrent, but not enough that they'll stop insulting *paying* customers with 3rd rate offerings. Guess where I'm going for my next MGM classic movie.
Khartoum the movie has an exciting story, extraordinary historical characters played by a star cast, great performances, good photography and locations. It's worth 4 or 5 stars. MGM's PAL DVD is not, being something of an insult to everyone from the performers through to the people who buy and watch the DVD. If you have low expectations or a small TV screen and cataracts this DVD might appear fine, otherwise look elsewhere and try to get hold of the NTSC version.
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