East of Sudan

A very poor man's 'African Queen' that must have seemed old-fashioned in it's patronising treatment of the natives even when it was originally made. Dashed off in three weeks at Shepperton by producer Charles Schneer and director Nathan Juran for the bottom half of a double bill with their main feature 'First Men in the Moon', it has the vices of Schneer's films with Ray Harryhausen enumerated by the late Bill Warren as "underfinancing, pandering to the 'appropriate' audience, a slightly cheesy air" all present and correct (plus a truly awful score by Laurie Johnson) without the redeeming input by Harryhausen himself.

Fortunately, more by luck than judgement Schneer has gathered together an extremely attractive quartet of actors, including an unrecognisable 11 year-old Jenny Agutter as a blue-eyed Indian princess (initially taken for a boy by Anthony Quayle when he first meets her), while director Juran keeps the camera on the move during the hilarious studio exteriors that resemble something out of 'Ripping Yarns' on to which they have been corralled and into which colour footage has been spliced from 'The Four Feathers' and various fifties jungle pictures.

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.

A grand old slice of stiff-upper-lipped adventure, set during the glory days of the British Empire. The first thing noticeable about EAST OF SUDAN is the cheapness of its production – this is one of those films that relies heavily on stock footage and footage borrowed from other films, most notably the 1939 version of THE FOUR FEATHERS. The 'new' scenes, building a framework of narrative around these borrowed set-pieces, are clearly shot on a studio backlot at Shepperton and never have more than a few actors on screen at the same time.

As for the story – don't go looking for one, and you won't be disappointed. Burly soldier Baker (Anthony Quayle, today forgotten but then riding high on a number of successes) escapes from a city besieged by the Mahdi's forces and finds himself travelling the Nile with a disparate group of survivors. There's the lovely Sylvia Sims, playing one of those dated parts - a feisty, independent woman who nonetheless ends up a damsel in distress during key sequences and keeps having to be rescued and carried away by the men. Derek Fowlds, better known for his television work in YES, PRIME MINISTER and HEARTBEAT in later years, is fairly bland as a nondescript soldier but a youthful Jenny Agutter, swathed within an ill-fitting black wig, shows glimpses of her star presence as an orphaned child.

All of the clichés of this era are present and correct – stock footage crocodiles, rhinos, elephants, and copious back projection. None of it is remotely convincing, and nor are the climactic siege sequences set in Khartoum, where footage from THE FOUR FEATHERS pretty much takes over the film. Such moments are, however, highly amusing. EAST OF SUDAN's one saving grace is the presence of director Nathan Juran, formerly of JACK THE GIANT KILLER. Juran is one of my favourite directors – his movies were inevitably colourful romps (even the black and white ones!) and this is no exception. There's something resolutely old-fashioned and thrilling about the tough characters and survival scenarios, and if you take the dated scenes involving angry natives with a pinch of salt you might just find yourself enjoying it.

EoS has been screened several times recently on British TV and the synopsis seemed promising. It turned out to be a mix of "Ice Cold in Alex" (Anthony Quayle and Sylvia Syms escaping from a beleaguered town), "North West Frontier" (heroic Brit, governess and child escaping from a beleaguered town), "The Four Feathers" (much stock footage) and several travelogues (stock footage of various animals and native dancing).

Other reviewers here on IMDb have already commented on the amateurish mixing in of the footage of charging animals. I am resigned to the heroine in films of this vintage apparently having access to make-up and hairdressing facilities as she undergoes various privations, Miss Woodville continuing to look glamorous at the end. And Murchison's rapidly falling in love with Miss Woodville is par for the course, though usually in films such relationships develop into a three-way romance with rivalry between the two men. In EoS his passion seems to have fizzled out as quickly as it appeared.

But there were at least three risible scenes. The first was when, after Baker had rued the small stock of ammunition, Murchison fires his revolver several times in enemy country to stampede a herd of animals to delight Asua. Then he sets off the signal fire when he sees a boat on the Nile. Not even the most callow officer would be so stupid. Thirdly, when the fugitives are hiding from the slavers they are barely concealed by a few fronds of foliage; they are fully visible to the camera - and thus to the men searching for them inches away who do not notice them.

One might also think Baker very well-spoken for a private soldier who had been demoted from sergeant several times, but, as other films ("Beau Geste", "Under Two Flags") have shown, "gentleman-rankers" did exist.

East of Sudan is a simple adventure movie from 1964, depicting the fall of Khartoum but without any actual falling that the viewer can discern. That's because we are only informed of it, that General Gordon is defeated and his head is displayed on a spike. Don't worry, we don't see any of that.

What footage of the battles are obviously lifted from other films as this entire production was shot in the studio. Clips of wild animals are used with back projection, allowing actors to stand in front of a screen and shoot at them or wave their arms about, amusingly I might add, it's so ineptly directed.

I thought about giving this one star but raised it to three because, strangely I enjoyed some of it. For a start there is the gorgeous Sylvia Syms at the height of her fame, that fine actor Anthony Quale who does his best with an atrocious script, Derek Fowlds who I know people remember fondly from Yes Minister on TV and little Jenny Agutter looking about ten years old but just as pretty as when she grew up, even though she's hopelessly miscast as an Indian princess with a black wig. Unfortunately her skin is white as Snow White.

It kept me watching in spite of it's flaws and making me wince from time to time as it zips along at fairly brisk pace. Children who wouldn't notice these bloopers might well enjoy it so I mustn't be too harsh although I did feel a bit sorry for Anthony Quale who deserved better material.

OK to watch with a young family on a Sunday afternoon.