In Desert and Wilderness (1973 film)
Desert and Wilderness (Polish: W pustyni i w puszczy) is a 1973 Polish film directed by Władysław Ślesicki. Adapted from the 1911 novel In Desert and Wilderness by Henryk Sienkiewicz,[1] it tells the story of two kids, Staś Tarkowski and Nel Rawlison, kidnapped by the rebels during Mahdi's rebellion in Sudan.
In Desert and Wilderness | |
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Directed by | Władysław Ślesicki |
Written by | Władysław Ślesicki, Henryk Sienkiewicz (novel) |
Produced by | Studio Filmowe (d. Zespół Filmowy) Iluzjon |
Cinematography | Bogusław Lambach |
Music by | Andrzej Korzyński |
Release date | 1973 |
Running time | 193 minutes |
Country | Poland |
Language | Polish |
The film is 193 minutes long and is composed of 2 parts which were shown separately in theaters. Work on it started in 1971. It was filmed in Egypt, Sudan and Bulgaria,[2] with an international cast and crew. At the same time, a four-part miniseries was made.[3] It is similar to the film but has some additional scenes as well as some altered scenes. Another adaptation was released in 2001.
The film remains to this day the second most-watched Polish film in cinemas in history with 31 million viewers seeing the film only in the period of the Polish People's Republic (until 1989).[4]
Cast
- Monika Rosca .... Nel Rawlison
- Tomasz Mędrzak .... Staś Tarkowski
- Emos Bango .... Kali
- Malia Mekki .... Mea
- Edmund Fetting .... George Rawlison (Nel's father)
- Stanisław Jasiukiewicz .... Władysław Tarkowski (Staś's father)
- Zygmunt Hobot .... Kaliopuli
- Zygmunt Maciejewski .... Linde
- Ahmed Hegazi .... Gebhr
- Ahmed Marei .... Chamis
- Ibrahim Shemi .... Idrys
- Abdel Menam Abu El Fatouh .... Mahdi
- Hosna Suleyman .... Dinah
- Stefania Mędrzak .... Madame Olivier
- Fatma Helal .... Fatma
- Jerzy Kamas .... Tarkowski's voice (uncredited)
- Abbas Fares, Mohamed Hamdi, Bogumił Simeonow, Gawrił Gawriłow and others.
References
- Biography and Book Database of Henryk Sienkiewicz Archived 2012-06-27 at the Wayback Machine - Culture.pl (EN)
- Film (2 parts) - FilmPolski.pl (PL)
- Miniseries (4 parts) - FilmPolski.pl (PL)
- Kot, Wiesław (2016). Manewry miłosne. Najsłynniejsze romanse polskiego filmu. Poznań: Wydawnictwo Poznańskie. p. 238.