A l'est du Soudan

Derring-do in the desert, re-teaming Anthony Quale and Sylvia Sims, who previously appeared together trekking across the desert in "Ice Cold in Alex" (1958). Along for the ride are Derek Fowlds (from "Yes Minister") and a young Jenny Agutter, whom viewers may remember from "Logan's Run" (1976). This time, however, instead of trying to stay one jump ahead of "Jerry" in the Western Desert, Tony and Sylvie are on the run from Dervishes, Arab slavers and Fuzzy-Wuzzies in 1880's Sudan.

Most of the action sequences are lifted straight out of the 1939 film version of "The Four Feathers." However, that is not a bad thing, since "The Four Feathers" was one of the greatest action-adventure films ever produced and, unlike the dreadful 2002 remake, actually was filmed entirely on location in the Sudan, something which would be impossible today.

Anthony Quale plays an experienced British "Squaddie" trying to escape to Khartoum after his entire unit has gotten the chop. En route he falls in with a green young Lieutenant (Fowlds) along with a prudish British governess (Sims) and her Egyptian charge played by young Jenny Agutter in her first film role. Quale quickly demonstrates that he is the only one of the mismatched group who is able to distinguish his sphincter from his medial brachial joint. However, his principal difficulty is in persuading his upper-class companions to accept the leadership of a mere "prole". This film may not quite be up to the quality of "The Four Feathers", nor even of "Ice Cold in Alex", but it is an entertaining journey nonetheless.

Adventure set in Sudan in the 1880s where the British are fighting the Mahdi forces attempting to end the slave trade.

With Khartoum under siege, two British soldiers help a governess and her charge to safety. On their adventurous journey down the river Nile, they encounter wild animals, native tribes and even romance.

The stock footages and the fact it was shot in a studio is obvious, but it's not a boring film. It's an old-fashioned adventure film that invokes the child in us. Plus it's got the underrated Anthony Quayle who stars in a role that would've been tailor made for Stewart Granger. Nice action sequences rounds up this colourful romp that Nathan Juran knows how to make.

I do not recall seeing a film which derives not only background shots but most of its action from stock shots and parts of another feature,including the climax.So virtually all of the action comes from The Four Feathers(1938)This film looks as if it has been made on a shoestring.For example there are shots of charging elephants and you have the actors shooting at them from in front of a process screen.It is so clear that they have not been anywhere near the Sudan.At the climax you have Anthony Quayle on a small set on the left of frame with the main action fromThe Four Feathers either put in by a process screen or an optical printer.The acting is not up to much ,the only exception being the dependable Anthony Quayle.So all told rather a disappointment.

A couple of years before KARTHOUM, this good small budget British adventure yarn is very agreeable, as also was FLIGHT OF THE LOST BALOON, SIEGE OF THE SAXONS from the same director Nathan Juran, an American film maker. The mid sixties will be the moment where UK film industry will definitely stop their production of adventure movies, which was a testimony, a mark, of the colonialist past, history of England, the widest empire in the world, all over the planet. The end of British colonialism will also provoke the collapse of the British adventure film genre. It will be replaced by the social "kitchen sink" mode, with directors succh as John Schlesinger, Lindsay Anderson, Karel Reisz, Tony Richardson.... So this very one is pretty enjoyable to watch, but light hearted, for the whole family. However, I highly prefer the awesome KARTHOUM, directed by Basil Dearden. Far darker, violent, much much more powerful.

Aside from the fact that much of this seems to have been cannibalised from "The Four Feathers" (1939), it makes for quite an entertaining action adventure with Anthony Quayle ("Baker") and Sylvia Sims ("Miss Woodville") trying to help smuggle the young daughter of the Emir of Barash "Asua" (Jenny Agutter) through the lines of the Mahdi's army that is challenging the British in the Sudan. It's a cheap and cheerful adventure, with a minimal budget and some rather static indoor sets that let it down rather - and Quayle was always a much better stage actor than he was on screen, but that said there's a little chemistry on screen between the two leads and just enough action to keep the thread from unravelling. Not a film you are likely to recall seeing, but it is still watchable in a boy's own adventure sort of way.