East of Sudan
East of Sudan | |
---|---|
Original cinema poster | |
Directed by | Nathan H. Juran |
Produced by |
Nathan Juran Charles H. Schneer |
Written by | Jud Kinberg |
Starring |
Anthony Quayle Jenny Agutter Sylvia Sims |
Music by | Laurie Johnson |
Cinematography | Wilkie Cooper |
Edited by | Ernest Hosler |
Production company |
Ameran Films |
Distributed by | Columbia Pictures |
Release date | 1964 |
Running time | 85 mins |
Country | United Kingdom |
East of Sudan is a 1964 British adventure film directed by Nathan Juran and featuring Anthony Quayle, Sylvia Syms and Derek Fowlds.
Plot
In late 1884, during the height of the Mahdist insurrection in the Anglo-Egyptian Sudan, the Mahdist forces attack Barash, a British outpost 200 miles upriver from Khartoum.
Four people escape from the attack in a riverboat: Private Richard Baker, a soldier in the British army; Murchison, an inexperienced subaltern in the army; Asua, the daughter of the local Emir; and Asua's British governess, Margret Woodville.
Over the course of the journey, the group find themselves in perilous dangers on the Nile and its banks. Facing off against nature, Arab slavers and a beleaguered Negro tribe the slavers prey on, they are saved by King Gondoko's missionary-raised brother Kimrasi, who then joins them.
Soldiers Murchison and Baker frequently clash, while Baker and Margaret fall in love.
Once in Khartoum, they find the revolt has reached it and the men join the fight...
Cast
- Anthony Quayle as Private Richard Baker
- Sylvia Syms as Miss Margaret Woodville
- Derek Fowlds as Murchison
- Johnny Sekka as Kimrasi
- Jenny Agutter as Asua
- Derek Blomfield as Second Major
Production
Anthony Quayle and Sylvia Syms were signed in February 1964. It was Quayle's first film since Lawrence of Arabia.[1]
All of the large-scale action scenes are taken from the 1939 film The Four Feathers, and the 1956 films Odongo and Safari.[2][3]
Reception
The film was released in the US on a double bill with First Men in the Moon (1964), also directed by Juran.[4]
The Monthly Film Bulletin called it "shamelessly unoriginal hokum with Anthony Quayle as a poor man's Stewart Granger and Sylvia Syms as a ditto Deborah Kerr, some laboured tongue-in-cheek humour and an inordinate amount of stockpile animal footage. Nathan Juran could direct this sort of thing blindfolded and for once would appear to have done so."[5]
References
- ↑ 'East of Sudan' The Christian Science Monitor (1908-Current file); Boston, Mass. [Boston, Mass]13 Feb 1964: 4.
- ↑ HIGH ADVENTURE IN THE SUDAN: [3 STAR Edition] Crosby Day of The Sentinel Staff. Orlando Sentinel; Orlando, Fla. [Orlando, Fla]26 Aug 1990: 4.
- ↑ Swires, Steve (May 1989). "Nathan Juran: The Fantasy Voyages of Jerry the Giant Killer Part Two". Starlog Magazine. No. 142. p. 58.
- ↑ Moon Shot Successful in Feature Los Angeles Times (1923-Current File); Los Angeles, Calif. [Los Angeles, Calif]19 Nov 1964: D13.
- ↑ EAST OF SUDAN Monthly Film Bulletin; London Vol. 31, Iss. 360, (Jan 1, 1964): 134.
External links
- East of Sudan on IMDb
- East of Sudan at BFI
- East of Sudan at Colonial Film
- East of Sudan at TCMDB