too late. The British withdraw from the Sudan shortly thereafter, and the Mahdi himself dies six months later. In the United Kingdom, public pressure, and anger at the fate of Gordon, eventually forces the British and their Egyptian allies to re-invade the Sudan ten years later, and they recaptured and colonised Khartoum in 1898. Cast Charlton Heston as General Charles Gordon: military governor of Sudan, commander and an engineer. Laurence Olivier as Muhammad Ahmed, the Mahdi Richard Johnson as Col. John Stewart: Gordon's aide. Ralph Richardson as William Ewart Gladstone, Prime Minister Alexander Knox as Sir Evelyn Baring, Consul-General of Egypt Johnny Sekka as Khaleel Nigel Green as General Wolseley: a British Army officer. Michael Hordern as Lord Granville, the British Foreign Secretary Peter Arne as Major Kitchener: a British Army officer. Hugh Williams as Lord Hartington Zia Mohyeddin as Zobeir Pasha: former slaver. Ralph Michael as Charles Dilke Douglas Wilmer as Khalifa Abdullah Edward Underdown as William Hicks Alan Tilvern as Awaan Roger Delgado, George Pastell and Jerome Willis also had parts. Production Development Robert Ardrey wrote the script at the encouragement of producer Julian Blaustein. Ardrey says it took him three years "on and off" but once he did it he sold it for $150,000. In May 1962 MGM announced they would make the film from Ardrey's script. It was to be an adventure movie in the vein of 55 Days at Peking and Lawrence of Arabia. In October 1963 Ardrey scouted locations in Africa with Blaustein. "Everybody was interested and nobody doubted the subject," said writer Robert Ardrey. "But there was strong feeling against the big picture which might gross $12,000,000 but cost $25,000,000. Frankly Khartoum is a proposition that could bust a studio if handled the wrong way." In April 1964 Blaustein announced he would make the film for United Artists and that Burt Lancaster would star as Gordon. The following month Laurence Olivier agreed to play the Mahdi and Lewis Gilbert signed to direct. However filming was pushed back meaning Lancaster, Olivier and Gilbert had to pull out. In April 1965 Charlton Heston agreed to play Gordon. By June Olivier was back on the film with Basil Dearden to direct. In July 1965, it was announced that Ralph Richardson and Richard Johnson would join the cast as Prime Minister Gladstone and Colonel Stewart respectively. Shooting Filming took place in Egypt, Pinewood Studios and London. It