KHARTOUM: Blu-ray (Julian Blaustein 1966) Twilight Time
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Human tenacity
is always in vogue. Particularly in Hollywood, the strong male hero continues
to generate perennial allure as a catalyst for change – good, bad or
indifferent. Director Basil Dearden’s Khartoum (1966) is really the story of
two immovable objects compromised by their own religious fanaticism and set on
a collision course with destiny. The uber-Christian, Gen. Charles Gordon
(played with unexpected guileless stoicism by Charlton Heston) is pitted
against the Mahdi, Muhammad Ahmad (immense flourish from Sir Laurence Olivier);
a self-professed ‘Expected One’ of
the Muslim prophet, Mohammed. British
colonialism aside, Khartoum has more
to do – and regrettably, less to say – about these two towering figures from
history (who never actually met in real life, though they share some of the
best exchanges of dialogue in the movie). In absence of more astute
observations or even conjecture brought about by an attack of screenwriter’s
proverbial ‘creative license’, Khartoum
succumbs to another indulgence: the time-honored precepts of the big, bloated
‘roadshow’ epic.
Arguably, it
is a misfire from which Khartoum
never recovers. And yet, in its expansive Ultra-Panavision 70mm projection
(masquerading as Cinerama), with cinematographer, Edward Schaife’s luminous wide
shots of the sparse topography, Khartoum
occasionally satisfies, as a thoroughly beguiling spectacle; sumptuously
sheathed in period trappings. It’s no Lawrence
of Arabia (1962) just as Basil Dearden cannot hold a candle to director,
David Lean. But Khartoum certainly
looks the part – at least superficially – and this, it seems, is enough to hold
our attention for considerable spans of the movie’s 136 run time, complete with
intermission.
Robert
Ardrey’s screenplay is literate to a fault. It isn’t the wordiness that gets in
the way or even stalls the plot – much. But Ardrey’s prose is an exercise
mostly in expository writing; merely a way to get the audience up to speed on
the visual history lesson being taught at the expense of developing strong
characters we can either root for or despise. It’s a pity too, because producer,
Julian Blaustein has well-stocked his supporting cast; Ralph Richardson’s wily
politico, Prime Minister William Ewart Gladstone; Alexander Knox - Britain’s
ruler of Egypt, Sir Evelyn Baring; Richard Johnson as Gordon’s second in
command and Gladstone’s spy, Colonel Stewart; Nigel Green, a wooden, General
Wolseley, and, Zia Mohyeddin as Zobeir Pasha, the slave trader whose only son
Gordon executed some time ago. Tragically,
none of the aforementioned is given their moment to shine. Instead, the
screenplay introduces these characters as belabored afterthoughts with a
modicum of fanfare, only to discard each after a key scene or two; their sole
purpose merely to advance the plot.
The audience
is therefore left to invest its emotional response in the sparring between
Gordon and the Mahdi; or rather, the machinations as each man plots against the
other in secret. Only twice are these adversaries brought together: each time for
a big reveal. The real Gen. Gordon was, in fact, just as zealous in his
Christian beliefs as the Mahdi is about his Muslim faith. The screenplay does
address some of Gordon’s pious obsessions. But it is rather heavy-handed with
the Mahdi’s chronic deification of the prophet Mohammed (beginning virtually
every other sentence with a blessing upon him). We get it. Both men fervently
believe they are taking marching orders from their respective gods. Yet neither
is able to envision what abject futility lies ahead as the Mahdi’s army lays
siege to the city of Khartoum.
The great
difficulty for Khartoum – the movie
– is that it begins and ends in tragedy; a lethal concept for most any movie to
survive except, arguably, the film noir. The battle sequences, shot mostly (if not entirely) by second unit
director Yakima Canutt, are of a resplendent quality; grandiose, sweeping
master shots intermarried with tight (at least for Panavision 70) cuts to the
very heart of the action – or rather, carnage unfolding on the expansive
screen. Apart from two brief exchanges between Gordon and the Mahdi, the battle
sequences are the very best thing in Khartoum.
As if to evoke the travelogue of a classic Cinerama presentation, Khartoum opens with a series of
spellbinding aerial shots of Egypt narrated by Leo Genn. The stark, surreal beauty of these imperious
sands and timelessness of the Nile draw a parallel between the size and scope
of this ancient world with the relatively contemporary tale about to unfurl on
the screen. Unfortunately, we regress to the movie’s truer métier; an extolment
of misguided imperialism, as the beleaguered forces of Colonel William Hicks (Edward
Underdown) are devoured by the Mahdi’s preplanned assault; a complete and
thoroughly embarrassing annihilation.
It behooves
the first time viewer to reconsider some of the historical subtext and artistic
inaccuracies depicted herein. First, Khartoum
is essentially the story of Britain’s lost military position in the Sudan where
Gen. Gordon was technically appointed as its ‘Egyptian’ governor. Gordon is briefly referenced as ‘Chinese Gordon’ in an exchange between
Prime Minister Gladstone and his cabinet advisors because of a previous
campaign in China where Gordon managed a tenuous peace with nothing more substantial
than his walking stick at his side. In Khartoum,
Gordon is infrequently seen wearing the blood-red Turkish fez as Egypt was then
a tributary of the Ottoman Empire.
But Ardrey’s
screenplay takes considerable liberties with Gladstone’s position on the
Khartoum affair; postulating on a secret meeting that may or may not have
occurred and revealing the British government’s fallibility, both through its
lack of commitment to Gordon, but also to see the conflict in the Sudan
sufficiently resolved. It all works as marginally competent narrative
film-making; except that the final raid on the city of Khartoum is a complete
fabrication. In reality, the city was decimated in the dead of night; the
treachery of a few conspirators letting the Mahdi’s forces past the gates to
begin their massacre of its startled populace. One can almost sense the film
maker’s desperation in concocting their alter-reality for the movie’s end,
having begun with visions of another Lawrence
of Arabia, only to realize they’ve muddled into the quicksand of a rather depressing
tale about human defeat and self-destruction; turning the whole enterprise over
to Yakima Canutt and his second unit to stage a truly epic finale. And Canutt does not disappoint. The fall of
Khartoum is spectacular; marauding hoards scouring its byways in blood and
bodies artistically strewn about the streets; the Mahdi’s forces charging with
a singular, blindsided fallacy – that they are doing their god’s work.
Khartoum is at once both an exhilarating and frustrating epic
to sit through, primarily because it never quite makes up its mind where the
punctuation of its plot ought to be; on a blistering series of perversely
destructive conflicts between the British (who fight because they are paid) and
the Mahdi’s army (who engage them as an act of altruistic devotion to their beloved
prophet), or in the movie’s more introspective moments that never quite satisfy
or even reveal either man’s motivations. Early in the film, Colonel Stewart
informs Gladstone that Gordon will never accept such a commission to protect
Khartoum, or, if he does, it will derive from some fundamentally flawed - if
sublime – vanity; that only he can resolve the Sudanese conflict.
Gordon’s
acceptance of this fateful/fitful knight’s errand is never satisfactorily
explained away. It’s a problematic plot
point to get around, and skirting the issue only serves to perplex the audience
more. It also makes Gordon a somewhat more disagreeable character as our story
wears on. Remarkably, it never wears thin,
perhaps due in part to Charlton Heston’s built-in screen persona as a
larger-than-life man of action and integrity.
It’s just Chuck. We implicitly accept him as the ‘good guy’ and move on.
Laurence Olivier has a much more arduous task. Arguably, he is the villain of
the piece. But heavily pancaked in chocolate brown makeup and sporting a
perpetual scowl with penciled in scars on each cheek, his mascara so thick it
looks like he’s been attacked by a bevy of failed beauticians from a Maybelline
convention, not only must he rise above the absurdity of his character’s visual
design but he must also convince us he might indeed believe himself to be the ‘expected
one’ of Arabic extraction. To a large
extent, Olivier achieves this seemingly impossible miracle through sheer
willpower; his arms outstretched, his eyes caught in a perpetual half-frozen
stare that registers with great self-assurance. Olivier’s performance is at its best when he
is given Heston’s ascetic military strategist to bounce ideals and platitudes
off of; the cunning glint of equanimity reflected in Heston’s steely glare of wretched
rejection. In these moments, both actors
are well served and their scenes crackle like two pieces of fine-grained quartz
rubbed vigorously together. Regrettably, there are only two such moments in Khartoum; Olivier’s Madhi the flashier but
less observed throughout the story, leaving Heston’s Gordon to contemplate both
the Christian and Muslim faiths in tandem and often to the point of
tedium.
Our story
begins in 1883 in the Sudan. British Colonel William Hicks (Edward Underdown)
commands his poorly regimented troops, 10,000 Egyptians into the dessert on a
quest to destroy Muhammad Ahmad (Laurence Olivier). But Hicks has severely
underestimated his opponent and the Madhi’s men make short shrift of Hicks and
his army in a grotesque butchery. In
Britain, Prime Minister William Ewart Gladstone (Ralph Richardson) is utterly
appalled by Hick’s incompetence. Gladstone’s advisors implore him to reconsider
the Sudanese conflict with a commission given to Britain’s shining star – Gen.
Charles Gordon (Charlton Heston) who has exercised great fortitude in
dissolving the slave trade in the region. What the film’s narrative fails to
acknowledge is that the real Gordon was equally instrumental at reinstating the
slave trade to regain economic stability and for his own considerable profit.
Gladstone is,
at first, unimpressed by the suggestion to send Gordon off on this fool’s
errand. After all, Gordon is something of a religious fanatic, known for running
his own show. However, when Britain’s foreign secretary, Lord Granville
Leveson-Gower (Michael Hordern) reasons that by sending Gordon to Khartoum the
government can distance itself from the likelihood of his defeat by having sent
their most prominent war hero as their emissary, Gladstone agrees to entertain
the notion, although he reinforces he will publicly denounce it as even an
afterthought should his complicity in the matter ever see the light of day.
Gladstone
appoints a spy to accompany Gordon to Khartoum; a very reluctant Colonel J.D.H.
Stewart (Richard Johnson) who doesn’t see eye to eye with either Gladstone or
Gordon’s purpose or point of view. At
some level, Stewart is empathetic about the futility of their mission. But he is
unimpressed by what he misperceives as Gordon’s deification by the locals.
Indeed, as their convoy sails up the Nile, Gordon’s name is chanted with wild
praise by the inhabitants who believe him to be their savior. Gordon’s first stop is at the stately abode
of Zobeir Pasha (Zia Mohyeddin); a former slave trader whose son Gordon put to
death some years ago. The détente is
short lived and Zobeir makes a prophetic statement; that Gordon will die a
terrible death in the dessert. Not long
thereafter, Gordon and Stewart arrive in Khartoum. Gordon begins his
fortification of the city by rallying its peoples to his side, despite
Stewart’s protests.
The audacity
of Gordon’s initial act, to engage the Mahdi in discussions at his insurgent
camp, startles even Stewart. With only his faithful servant, Khaleel (Johnny
Sekka) at his side, Gordon arrives at the Mahdi’s stronghold. He attempts to
bargain with the ‘expected one’; offering him the city in exchange for being
allowed to stage an exodus for all those who wish to leave. But Gordon has
underestimated the Madhi’s purpose. Nor has he considered the Mahdi’s true
intentions to make an example of Khartoum; the first city planned to fall in
what will likely become a bloody campaign against Cairo, Mecca, Baghdad and
Constantinople to dominate the entire Islamic region under his autocratic rule.
Therefore, Khartoum’s inhabitants will all be sacrificed so that the world will
know the Mahdi as the beloved’s oracle on earth. As Khartoum is situated between the White and
the Blue Nile rivers, Gordon wastes no time setting Stewart to task; his men
digging a ditch to establish a protective moat around the city.
Meanwhile
Gladstone, having apprised just how dire the situation has become, orders
Gordon to retreat. His command is ignored. Steadily, a public outcry in Britain
forces Gladstone to reconsider his initial refusal of any military aid and send
in a relief cavalry. However, Gladstone places no urgency on this renewed
fortification, hoping against hope that Gordon will come to his senses at the
last possible moment and save himself, and thus by extension, his own face.
Gordon, however, continues in his belief that he can outlast the Mahdi’s
resolve by placing his absolute faith in God, but even more importantly in his
own destiny as a military strategist of considerable experiences. Too late,
Gordon realizes faith alone is no match for this madman.
As the Nile
waters recede, the moat designed to protect Khartoum dries up. In one of the
movie’s most suspenseful sequences, Gordon sends Stewart up the Nile in a
paddlewheel with his ring and letters to attend the British forces. For days,
Gordon awaits a reply, knowing British reserves under Gen. Wolseley’s command
are nearby, still believing that Khartoum will be spared the Mahdi’s fate.
Instead, Gordon is summoned to the Mahdi’s tent where he learns the truth; that
Stewart has been killed without ever reaching Wolseley’s army; his hand still
wearing Gordon’s ring and pickled in a vat now returned to Gordon as a morbid
premonition of things to come.
Gordon
retreats to Khartoum to await the deluge; the Mahdi’s tribesmen storming the
city’s gates at dawn on all fronts – by land and sea – and easily overpowering
its modest protective barriers. Refusing to surrender, Gordon addresses the
Mahdi’s army without even a sword in hand, observing for a pensive moment as
their charge up the steps of his government house is stunted by the sheer
resolve in his demeanor. A spear through
his heart puts an end to Gordon; the Mahdi’s cheering loyalists returning to
their leader’s tent with Gordon’s severed head protruding from a long pole. Far
from elated, the Mahdi is horrified by this bloody spectacle, ordering his men
to take Gordon’s head away. As earlier
predicted by Gordon, the Mahdi’s siege on Khartoum proves his undoing. In an
epilogue narration (also by Leo Genn) we learn Wolseley’s relief column arrived
at the city two days after the scourge, that the Mahdi – deprived of his
counterpoint (Gordon) - died a scant six months thereafter, and that Britain’s
retreat from the region was eventually overturned when they invaded the Sudan a
decade later, recapturing Khartoum in 1898.
In retrospect,
Khartoum is the last of a vanishing
breed; the historical epic having run its course – or so it seemed then. The
movie was not financially successful when it was released in 1966; perhaps due
to its’ pessimistic finale, but even more directly the result of changing
audience tastes and Hollywood’s resistance to keeping up with the times. Also,
as a roadshow, Khartoum played in
first run movie palaces at higher ticket prices. Yet seen today, with the
constant threat of Islamic terrorism at play on the world stage, Khartoum’s premise of an Anglo-Muslim
holy war has taken on an unintentional, if more vatic, meaning.
Ironically,
the film received a single Oscar nomination for Robert Ardrey’s turgid
screenplay. In fairness to Ardrey’s skills – more so as a playwright than a
screen scenarist – he does establish the philosophical similarities between
Gordon and the Mahdi with a fair degree of accuracy and clarity. If only there
were more exchanges between these two ego-driven paragons then Khartoum might have been a screen
spectacle of true distinction. Instead, what’s offered is not much better than
a moving tableau, albeit one ravishingly filling out the Ultra-Panavision
screen with blistering hot vistas of this vacant wasteland. The commanding presence of two of Hollywood’s
biggest stars – Heston and Olivier – and all the braggadocios dialogue pitting
these nearly forgotten but utterly fascinating historical figures never quite
maximizes the arch of dramatic potential. Heston’s earnest performance as General
Gordon is arguably overshadowed by Olivier’s more ostentatious turn as Muhammad
Ahmad. Interestingly, owing to a contractual obligation, Olivier never saw the
desert. All of his scenes were lensed at Pinewood Studios in England. Try as he
might, Edward Scaife’s cinematography cannot mask this deceit and Olivier’s
scenes play with a modicum of artifice and theatricality that belies the rest
of the film’s earthy textures and stark rural beauty. In the final analysis, Khartoum is a gargantuan undertaking
with minuscule results. It tries very hard to please, but generally wallows in
a strangely imposed mediocrity of its own doing.
Twilight
Time’s release of Khartoum is very
welcomed indeed. MGM’s pathetic mis-framed DVD release has been corrected in
hi-def; the film’s Ultra Panavision aspect ratio of 2.76:1 perfectly preserved.
The image is strikingly crisp and
colorful. Apart from Olivier’s walnut-colored makeup, flesh tones are
exquisitely rendered. Contrast is bang on. Fine detail is superbly handled with
only hints of age-related damage scattered throughout. Otherwise, this is a
reference quality 1080p transfer that will surely not disappoint. Less exciting
is the 2.0 DTS stereo surround mix. Still, Frank Cordell’s sumptuous score
comes to life as never before. Dialogue is
well placed too. Regrettably, extras are
reserved to a comprehensive audio commentary featuring producer/historian and
Twilight co-owner Nick Redman, film historian Julie Kirgo, and screenwriter Lem
Dobbs. We also get a 2.0 isolated score and Khartoum’s original theatrical
trailer, plus a brief promo piece for MGM’s 90th Anniversary. Once
again, Julie Kirgo has made some astute observations about the movie in review
in a lavishly appointed six page booklet.
Bottom line: Khartoum looks
fantastic in hi-def. It’s not a great
film, but this transfer makes it at least seem like a very palpable one.
FILM RATING (out of 5 – being the best)
3.5
VIDEO/AUDIO
4.5
EXTRAS
2.5
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