East of Sudan

In late 1884, during the height of the Mahdist insurrection in the Sudan, Mahdist forces attack Barash, a British outpost, located 200 mi (320 km) upriver from Khartoum.

Four people escape in a riverboat: Private Richard Baker, a British soldier; Murchison, an inexperienced army subaltern; Asua, the daughter of the local Emir; and Asua's British governess, Margaret Woodville. They hope to reach Khartoum.

Over the course of the journey, the group face danger on the Nile and its banks. Facing off against nature, Arab slavers and a beleaguered African tribe the slavers prey on, they are saved by King Gondoko's son Kimrasi, who then joins them as they head for Khartoum.

Soldiers Murchison and Baker frequently clash, while Baker and Margaret fall in love.

Once past Khartoum, they find a battle between the Mahdists and the British in progress, and the men join the fight. Murchison's knowledge of the nearby Mahdist held fort enables them to blow up the arsenal and save the day. Murchison is commended for bravery, and while Baker is arrested for desertion, Margaret confirms her love for him.

• Anthony Quayle as Private Richard Baker
• Sylvia Syms as Miss Margaret Woodville
• Derek Fowlds as Murchison
• Jenny Agutter as Asua
• Johnny Sekka as Kimrasi
• Derek Blomfield as Second Major

Producer Charles Schneer made it after a series of fantasies with Ray Harryhausen. This and Siege of the Saxons were made over 15 days using stock footage. "Columbia had a lot of unused footage in their library", said the producer. "If 10 percent or less of a film made in the United Kingdom was comprised of stock footage, you received a government subsidy. I decided that would be a good commercial opportunity, so I made both pictures that way. I took the big action sequences out of Columbia's library." The action sequences of East of Sudan used stock footage from Beyond Mombassa,[1] Odongo and Safari (all 1956), and The Four Feathers (1939).[2][3]

Anthony Quayle and Sylvia Syms were signed in February 1964. It was Quayle's first film since Lawrence of Arabia,[4] and the film debut of Jenny Agutter,[3] then aged eleven.

The film was released in the US on a double bill with First Men in the Moon (1964), also directed by Juran.[5]

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."[6]

• East of Sudan at IMDb
• East of Sudan at BFI
• East of Sudan at Colonial Film
• East of Sudan at Letterbox DVD
• East of Sudan at the TCM Movie Database