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Anybody seen the film KHARTOUM starring Charlton Heston and Laurence Olivier? I remember seeing about 20 minutes back in the 80s...I was baffled by it and turned the channel. I think you don't see it often on the telly because Olivier wears blackface. I noticed the Guardian had a pretty scathing review of the film.
While this film seemed pointless and irrelevant back in the 80s (to me) it is now very relevant indeed. It's about "Mahdism" - the rise of the Mahdi in Sudan and his band of followers ; probably about 30,000 men at the start of the film. The Egyptian army, fighting with British mercenaries, are slaughtered at the start of the film.
Back in GB, the question asked by Gladstone is, "How can a modern army with guns and cannons be defeated by a ruthless band of savages armed with spears and swords?"
Does any of this sound familiar?
It's the same TYPE of scenario in Iraq and Syria today, with I.S. providing the same type of "Mahdist" threat ; they too have a leader who has declared a caliphate. This film is well worth watching IMO as it mirrors today's situation. BTW - at no point could the Egyptian army cope with the Sudanese threat and Britain was utterly reluctant to intervene...only the Suez Canal mattered back then...
While this film seemed pointless and irrelevant back in the 80s (to me) it is now very relevant indeed. It's about "Mahdism" - the rise of the Mahdi in Sudan and his band of followers ; probably about 30,000 men at the start of the film. The Egyptian army, fighting with British mercenaries, are slaughtered at the start of the film.
Back in GB, the question asked by Gladstone is, "How can a modern army with guns and cannons be defeated by a ruthless band of savages armed with spears and swords?"
Does any of this sound familiar?
It's the same TYPE of scenario in Iraq and Syria today, with I.S. providing the same type of "Mahdist" threat ; they too have a leader who has declared a caliphate. This film is well worth watching IMO as it mirrors today's situation. BTW - at no point could the Egyptian army cope with the Sudanese threat and Britain was utterly reluctant to intervene...only the Suez Canal mattered back then...
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Trouble is, this ruthless band of savages are armed to the teeth with the latest weapons looted from the Iraqi 'Army', provided by USA.
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The Sudanese Mahdists defeated the Egyptians and British, then took their rifles and cannons...they eventually beheaded General Gordon and stuck his head on a tree...kids would throw stones at it.
It's all relative as the Americans have superior weapons to I.S. |
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I also haven't seen this for years (80s also I think), and agree that it's worth a fresh look. I remember Olivier's Mad Mahdi performance being a bit ott, but that was him getting into the part.
A few years ago I read an article about Mahmoud Ahmadinejad (known on here as I'm-adinnnerjacket) who believed he was the new Mahdi. That one appears to have been a non runner. That's maybe the next piece in the sh1tty jigsaw, ISIS proclaiming a mahdi. Who knows, he could be from Bradford this time? |
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Kenny?
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Gordon was doomed !I remember reading that the British Relief Column's travel was arranged
by Thomas Cook !? Another film about the massacre was East of Sudan starring the marvellous actor Anthony Quayle |
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yes with a cat on his coat of arms
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H H Sultan - there are a few comments on YouTube, Lord Ham of Hammington, etc...Olivier was OTT but I suppose he had played Othello in the theatre...he made Charlton Heston appear understated, which takes some doing.
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yes he was very like Othello!
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I think The Four Feathers deals with the time after General Chinese Gordon.
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The Muslims won that one
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Charlton Heston as El Cid defeated the Moslems at Valencia so Khartoum was an equaliser.
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Jack Woltz saw it's head in his bed.
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I prefered Carry On Follow that Camel.
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Well, if you liked that, can I recommend a vintage TV series? Title escapes me at the moment but I do recall a lad called Corporal Jones going on and on and on and on about fighting the "fuzzy wuzzies"...might be right UP YER street...they don't like it UP 'EM. Do they?
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Corporal Jones was at the battle of Omduran 1898
The British force uder Kitchener had modern rifles, machine guns and artillery Around 10,000 Mahdists were killed, 13,000 wounded and 5,000 taken prisoner. Kitchener's force lost 47 men killed and 382 wounded, the majority from MacDonald's command. One eye-witness described the appalling scene: They could never get near and they refused to hold back. ... It was not a battle but an execution. ... The bodies were not in heaps—bodies hardly ever are; but they spread evenly over acres and acres. Some lay very composedly with their slippers placed under their heads for a last pillow; some knelt, cut short in the middle of a last prayer. Others were torn to pieces ...[3] Controversy over wounded Mahdists killed after the battle began soon afterwards.[4] Churchill thought Kitchener was too brutal in his killing of the wounded.[5] not so much a battle as a massacre |
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Again, don't quite recall the source material - possibly Gilbert's biography of Churchill? - but "they..."(the savage enemy)..."were Armed to the teeth with dried guava halves and sharpened mangoes."
Also, the Sudanese sledged the Scots regiments something rotten. |
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DEBARK CLAD
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What is needed is to supply 'our side' with uniforms made of PLARKOTEX.
The new advanced PLARKOTEX is the new kid on the block in technologicackle/kemmicackle weaponry. It emits an invisible shroud around women and kids under the age of consent, but ignores all men. After 12 hours, a MAHOOSIVE air strike will be ordered, and in Japanese style they will attack from the direction of the Sun, or the Daily Mail, and even the Raybans wearing enema won't see them coming. PLARKOTEX wearers, as well as them wot is covered in its invisible shroud, will survive anything, but as for the rest, they will all be 'BROWN bread'. |
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Only a man who looks and sounds like CARLOS MONZON could suggest such things...of course, whether or not he can box like CARLOS MONZON is another matter.
NO MONZON !!!!  |
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It was the unacceptable face of The Black And White Minstrel Show.
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For those interested in the NHS pre-Thatcher, CARRY ON MATRON - STV 10.45am.
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