COLONIAL HEROES (1845-1914)
Movies and TV series exploring the era of colonial empires. A controversial time when civilizations gave the best and worst of themselves.
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- DirectorBasil DeardenEliot ElisofonStarsCharlton HestonLaurence OlivierRichard JohnsonIn the Sudan, in 1884 to 1885, Egyptian forces led by British General Charles "Chinese" Gordon (Charlton Heston) defend Khartoum against an invading Muslim Army led by a religious fanatic, Mohammed Ahmed el Mahdi (Sir Laurence Olivier).
- DirectorNathan JuranStarsAnthony QuayleSylvia SymsDerek FowldsDuring the Mahdist insurrection in the Anglo-Egyptian Sudan, veteran colonial Private Baker teams up with freshly arrived gentleman Murchison, trying to evacuate from southern Barash the Emir's daughter Asua and her English governess, Miss Woodville. It's a perilous journey on the Nile and its banks. They must face crocodiles, Arab slavers, and a backward Negro tribe they prey on, where King Gondoko's missionary-raised brother Kimrasi saves and joins them. Once in capital Khartum, they find the revolt has reached it and the men join the fight.
- DirectorMerian C. CooperLothar MendesErnest B. SchoedsackStarsRichard ArlenFay WrayClive BrookWhen British officer Harry resigns from his regiment, he is labeled a coward by his family and friends. Harry receives four white feathers as a mark of a coward. In order to redeem himself and win the heart of his fiancé back and the love of his best friend, Harry sets out to return the feathers to the pockets they came from.
- DirectorZoltan KordaStarsJohn ClementsRalph RichardsonC. Aubrey SmithA British Army officer resigns, burning his last-day summons to war in the Sudan. Accusing him of cowardice, his girlfriend and three friends give him white feathers. To gain redemption, he shadows his friends to save their lives.
- DirectorZoltan KordaTerence YoungStarsAnthony SteelLaurence HarveyJames Robertson JusticeA British officer resigns his commission on the eve of his regiment's departure for war in Sudan. Accused of cowardice by his friends and the woman he loves, he sets out to prove his courage to them. A remake of "The Four Feathers" (1939).
- DirectorDon SharpStarsBeau BridgesRobert PowellSimon WardWhen British Lieutenant Feversham resigns his commission rather than fight in the 1882 Sudan war, his army pals present him with the four white feathers of cowardice.
- DirectorShekhar KapurStarsHeath LedgerWes BentleyKate HudsonA young British officer resigns his commission just before his regiment is sent to battle and soon receives four white feathers from his friends and fiancee as symbols of what they view as his cowardice.
- DirectorHerbert BrenonStarsRonald ColmanNeil HamiltonRalph ForbesMichael "Beau" Geste leaves England in disgrace and joins the infamous French Foreign Legion. He is reunited with his two brothers in North Africa, where they face greater danger from their own sadistic commander than from the rebellious Arabs.
- DirectorJohn WatersStarsGary CooperEvelyn BrentNoah BeeryA desert-bound member of the French Foreign Legion exposes a betrayer to the Legion. He is then sent on a mission among the Arabs to conclude the signing of a crucial peace treaty.
- DirectorHerbert BrenonStarsFrank McCormickRalph ForbesLester VailAn American joins the French Foreign Legion in order to rescue a boyhood friend.
- DirectorWilliam A. WellmanStarsGary CooperRay MillandRobert PrestonThree adopted English brothers join the French Foreign Legion in North Africa after one of them steals their adoptive family's famous heirloom sapphire.
- DirectorDouglas HeyesStarsGuy StockwellDoug McClureLeslie NielsenIn 1906, two American brothers join the French Foreign Legion and, led by a sadistic Sergeant-Major, they defend a fort against Berber and Tuareg attack.
- DirectorMarty FeldmanStarsMarty FeldmanAnn-MargretMichael YorkAn aging Sir Hector Geste (Trevor Howard) takes a young greedy wife who's after his famed Blue Water sapphire, but his sons hide the gem and join the French Foreign Legion in North Africa.
- StarsBenedict TaylorJonathon MorrisAnthony CalfThree brothers of a well-to-do English family join the French Foreign Legion.
- DirectorTod BrowningStarsPriscilla DeanJames KirkwoodJohn DavidsonAn English nobleman, known only as Victor, arrives in Algiers and joins the French Foreign Legion as a private without revealing his true identity. He attracts and is loved by Cigarette, a French-Arab girl and "daughter of the regiment," but does not return her attentions. She is at first furious, and when she learns Victor's past and the name of his true love she goes to the Princess Corona with the intention of killing her. But Cigarette's hate turns to admiration, and she reveals Victor's identity to the princess. Learning of Sheik Ben Ali Hammed's plots against Victor and Algiers, she gives evidence that clears him of treason, makes a wild ride ahead of the Arabs to warn the troops, and dies in Victor's arms after shielding him from the executioner's bullet.
- DirectorFrank LloydStarsRonald ColmanClaudette ColbertVictor McLaglenSergeant Victor comes to the French Foreign Legion after taking the blame for his brother's crime. Cigarette falls in love with him though Major Doyle is in love with her. Doyle sends Victor on dangerous assignments to be rid of him. He falls in love with Lady Venetia Cunningham, a visitor to the garrison.
- DirectorJosef von SternbergStarsGary CooperMarlene DietrichAdolphe MenjouA cabaret singer and a Legionnaire fall in love, but their relationship is complicated by the results of his womanizing and the appearance of a rich man who wants her for himself.
- DirectorColbert ClarkArmand SchaeferStarsJack MulhallRaymond HattonFrancis X. Bushman Jr.Tom Wayne rescues Clancy, Renard and Schmidt in the Arabian desert and they join him in going after El Shaitan, a bad guy who is never seen as he tries to wipe out the Foreign Legion.
- DirectorHamilton MacFaddenStarsRalph ForbesBen AlexanderHala LindaBob Carter, a member of the Foreign Legion, is glad to see his brother, Don, for the first time in ten years but is sorry that Don has joined the Legion. Bob, Don and Bob's buddies, Muggsy and Bilgey, go to a café and there Don falls for Nina, a singer in love with Bob. Bob doesn't know this and thinks she is Garccia's girl, and warns Don to have nothing to do with her. Don disregards the warning and Garcia discovers Nina and Don together and provokes Don into hitting him. Don is arrested and thrown into the company brig. Nina, with the aid of an Arabian sheik, Ul Ahmed, helps Don escape. Bob, Muggsy and Bilgey follow but are captured and taken to Ul Hamid's headquarters. The sheik tortures Don to force Bob to work some captured machine guns for him. Ah Hamid and his tribe attack the fort, but Bob manages to turn the machine guns against his captors, and the fort is saved.
- DirectorRobert FloreyStarsGeorge RaftMarie WindsorAkim TamiroffAfter escorting an Emir's daughter to her father's stronghold, French Foreign Legion Captain Gerard's unit joins an isolated Moroccan outpost facing imminent attack by rebel Bedouin tribes.
- DirectorGavin LambertStarsCatherine LaceyAhmed Ben MohammedLee MontagueAfter a puritan youth, a young English woman discovers her sensuality in North-Africa.
- DirectorJohn GuillerminStarsRichard AttenboroughJack HawkinsFlora RobsonAnachronistic strict Regimental Sergeant Major Lauderdale (Sir Richard Attenborough), on a remote colonial African army caught in a local coup d'etat, must use his experience to defend those in his care.
- DirectorJohn MiliusStarsSean ConneryCandice BergenBrian KeithA Berber chieftain triggers an international incident, drawing the involvement of Theodore Roosevelt, when he kidnaps an American widow and her children in 1900s Morocco.
- DirectorDick RichardsStarsGene HackmanTerence HillCatherine DeneuveDuring the 1920s, French Foreign Legion Major William Foster's (Gene Hackman's) unit is protecting an archaeological dig, but the discovery of an Arab sacred burial site prompts the angry Arab tribes to attack Foster's small garrison.
- DirectorAlain CorneauStarsGérard DepardieuPhilippe NoiretCatherine DeneuveYoung army officer of peasant origin becomes a war hero battling in the Sahara while seducing a young woman from the aristocratic class.