"Khartoum" is a very obvious case in bizarre casting. Sir Laurence Olivier plays the Mahdi (a Sudanese man) and Charlton Heston plays a Brit! Seeing Olivier in his heavy makeup made his face look like rubber and Heston's British accent sounded a bit odd to me. I assume real Brits would find his accent silly. And, why cast a 6'3" American to portray a 5'5" British man in the first place?!
The story is about an uprising in Sudan in the 1880s. It seemed that a man called 'The Madhi' was seen as a holy man--a man who would help his people conquer and instill a government based on Sharia law. When an army of Egyptians went up against him, it was wiped out completely. So, General Gordon agrees to go to Sudan to lead a Sudanese army without much chance of success. As for the British government under Gladstone, it was hesitant to act--after all, he felt this was an internal affair and should be handled by the Africans. To see what happens in this historical film based on real characters, you can either watch this decent film or read up on it in Wikipedia! Overall, a beautifully made film with great music and locales--but the story itself is curiously unmoving and the two leads are not even close to being at their best. Perhaps this might not be true for folks in the UK--as soon after Gordon, the British government finally decided to intervene in the affair.
The story is about an uprising in Sudan in the 1880s. It seemed that a man called 'The Madhi' was seen as a holy man--a man who would help his people conquer and instill a government based on Sharia law. When an army of Egyptians went up against him, it was wiped out completely. So, General Gordon agrees to go to Sudan to lead a Sudanese army without much chance of success. As for the British government under Gladstone, it was hesitant to act--after all, he felt this was an internal affair and should be handled by the Africans. To see what happens in this historical film based on real characters, you can either watch this decent film or read up on it in Wikipedia! Overall, a beautifully made film with great music and locales--but the story itself is curiously unmoving and the two leads are not even close to being at their best. Perhaps this might not be true for folks in the UK--as soon after Gordon, the British government finally decided to intervene in the affair.