7.1 | / 10 |
Users | 3.8 | |
Reviewer | 3.5 | |
Overall | 3.7 |
After an Egyptian army, commanded by British officers, is destroyed in a battle in the Sudan in the 1880's, the British government is in a quandary. It does not want to commit a British military force to a foreign war but they have a commitment to protect the Egyptians in Khartoum. They decide to ask General Charles "Chinese" Gordon, something of a folk hero in the Sudan as he had cleared the area of the slave trade, to arrange for the evacuation. Gordon agrees but also decides to defend the city against the forces of the Mahdi - the expected one - and tries to force the British to commit troops. Filmed in Anamorphic 70mm.
Starring: Charlton Heston, Laurence Olivier, Richard Johnson (I), Ralph Richardson (I), Alexander KnoxWar | 100% |
History | 77% |
Drama | Insignificant |
Adventure | Insignificant |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 2.75:1
Original aspect ratio: 2.75:1
English: DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 (48kHz, 24-bit)
Music: DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 (48kHz, 24-bit)
English SDH
50GB Blu-ray Disc
Single disc (1 BD)
Region free
Movie | 3.0 | |
Video | 4.5 | |
Audio | 4.0 | |
Extras | 2.0 | |
Overall | 3.5 |
There’s probably a reason I often find myself struggling to remember important facts like the date of my anniversary or my children’s names—it’s because my head is stuffed to the breaking point with completely useless memories. Case in point: NBC’s Saturday Night at the Movies was a regular viewing habit for me as a child, and I especially loved when the movies would end before their allotted two hour time slot and the network would fill the remaining time with either promotional videos or extended trailers tied to various upcoming broadcasts. For some bizarre reason, I can still clearly remember watching a trailer for Khartoum, which must have been produced after the roadshow engagements had ended, for it contained the typical “now at popular prices” label emblazoned over scenes from the movie. But what I really remember about the trailer was a breathless pull quote from some trade publication like The Hollywood Reporter or some such rag, which “folded” onto the screen and veritably screamed in breathless alacrity “Charlton Heston is staring down the throat of another Oscar!” For some reason, that image simply struck me as downright funny, and I dissolved into helpless giggles. Khartoum would indeed seem to be yet another of the big budget historical epics that were a major part of the actor’s career, but in a way the film is quite different from some of his other outings, in both positive and negative ways. Heston was always a bit of a wooden actor (or a “martinet” as the commentary track on this Blu-ray states), but here, essaying the historical role of General Charles Gordon, Heston does rather nuanced and appealing work, even if the film’s version of Gordon strays rather notably from the actual record. In other ways Khartoum is too talky for its own good, with long sections of exposition delivered in various elegantly monotone voices by a coterie of British character actors. That leaves Laurence Olivier, who seemed to have a habit of appearing in so-called “Egyptian” makeup during this period (Othello was released just a bit prior to Khartoum), to chew the scenery rather rabidly as Muhammed Ahmad, who was the self- appointed Mahdi, a title signifying a leader prophesied by Mohammed (the founder of Islam). (Christians might think of this along the lines of Jesus having prophesied that he would return some day—as another person.) Khartoum is an incredibly handsome film, but it’s a strangely dispassionate one, especially when one considers that the impending collision of religious cultures that provides much of the subtext for the film is so rife with dramatic possibilities.
Khartoum is presented on Blu-ray with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 2.74:1 (our specs above need to be updated and will be soon). This is a near perfect looking transfer that boasts impeccable fine detail, lush and accurate looking color, and a crisp image that has absolutely no artifacting or compression issues. So why "only" 4.5 stars? There are some recurrent density issues that eagle-eyed viewers will spot, especially in the opening "travelogue" sequence, but also occasionally later, that are especially apparent when the frame is filled with a bright blue sky, which therefore tends to flicker rather dramatically in the background. It's actually fairly distracting in the early going, but mitigates substantially as the film proceeds. The Ultra Panavision 70 process provides exceptional depth of field which is exploited magnificently in the film, and this new high definition presentation makes things like far off soldiers or camels, which were basically nothing much more than blobs of color on the DVD, suddenly bristle with detail.
Khartoum is presented with "only" a DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 mix, which Nick Redman avers was the only thing available, though recent reportage seems to indicate (rightly or wrongly) that fairly recent 70mm screenings of Khartoum contained the original 6 track mix. What's here may not have the depth and separation that would have really brought the battle scenes (and Frank Cordell's score) fully to life, but taken on its own merits, it's really rather vivid sounding, with excellent, full bodied support over all frequency ranges. The track has no damage to report and while audiophiles will no doubt wonder why a 5.1 mix (or at least a 4.0 mix) couldn't have been sourced properly for the release, there shouldn't be any other major complaints with what's on the disc.
Khartoum is not in the top tier of historical epics, and pretending otherwise is probably a losing proposition. This is not to say the film doesn't have its own peculiar pleasures, for it certainly does. Olivier and Heston are excellent, and the scenery is often stunning. But the film really could have been a much more explicit investigation into religious fanaticism of all kinds—though that kind of exegesis would have probably seemed quite foreign to a 1966 audience. The technical merits of this Blu-ray are top notch, even without a surround track, and Khartoum comes Recommended.
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