''Mountains of the Moon'' is a 1990 American biographical film depicting the 1857–1858 journey of

Richard Francis Burton Sir Richard Francis Burton (; 19 March 1821 – 20 October 1890) was a British explorer, writer, orientalist scholar,and soldier. He was famed for his travels and explorations in Asia, Africa, and the Americas, as well as his extraordinary kn ...

and

John Hanning Speke Captain John Hanning Speke (4 May 1827 – 15 September 1864) was an English explorer and officer in the British Indian Army who made three exploratory expeditions to Africa. He is most associated with the search for the source of the Nil ...

in their expedition to Central Africa, which culminated in Speke's discovery of the source of the Nile River and led to a bitter rivalry between the two men. The film stars

Patrick Bergin Patrick Connolly Bergin (born 4 February 1951) is an Irish actor and singer perhaps best known for his leading role opposite Julia Roberts in '' Sleeping with the Enemy'' (1991), the title character in Robin Hood (1991 film), terrorist Kevin ...

as Burton and

Iain Glen Iain Alan Sutherland Glen (born 24 June 1961) is a Scottish actor. Glen is best known for his roles as Dr. Alexander Isaacs/Tyrant in three films of the ''Resident Evil'' film series (2004–2016) and as Ser Jorah Mormont in the HBO fantasy t ...

as Speke. Delroy Lindo appears as an African whom the explorers meet. The film was directed by

Bob Rafelson Robert Jay Rafelson (February 21, 1933 – July 23, 2022) was an American film director, writer, and producer. He is regarded as one of the key figures in the founding of the New Hollywood movement of the 1970s. Among his best-known films as a ...

based on the 1982 novel '' Burton and Speke'' by William Harrison.

Cast

* Richard E. Grant as Larry Oliphant * Fiona Shaw as Isabel Arundell *

John Savident John Savident (born 21 January 1938) is a retired British actor, known for his numerous television roles, including his portrayal of Fred Elliott in the soap opera '' Coronation Street'' from 1994-2006. He is also known for his performance as ...

as Lord Murchison *

James Villiers James Michael Hyde Villiers (29 September 1933 – 18 January 1998) was an English character actor. He was particularly known for his plummy voice and ripe articulation. He was a great-grandson of the 4th Earl of Clarendon. Early life Villie ...

as Lord Oliphant *

Adrian Rawlins Adrian John Rawlins (born 27 March 1958) is an English actor best known for playing Arthur Kidd in ''The Woman in Black'' and James Potter in the ''Harry Potter'' films. In 2019, he starred in ''Chernobyl'' as Nikolai Fomin. Early life Rawlin ...

as Edward *

Peter Vaughan Peter Vaughan (born Peter Ewart Ohm; 4 April 1923 – 6 December 2016) was an English character actor known for many supporting roles in British film and television productions. He also acted extensively on the stage. He is perhaps best know ...

as Lord Houghton * Delroy Lindo as Mabruki *

Paul Onsongo Paul Onsongo (born 21 July 1948) is a Kenyan actor. He is most notable for the roles in the films ''Mountains of the Moon'', ''Küken für Kairo'' and ''The Flame Trees of Thika''. Personal life He was born on 21 July 1948 in Mombasa, Kenya. Ca ...

as Sidi Bombay * Bheki Tonto Ngema as King Ngola * Martin Okello as Veldu *

Bernard Hill Bernard Hill (born 17 December 1944) is an English actor. He is well recognized for playing King Théoden in ''The Lord of the Rings'' film trilogy, Captain Edward Smith in ''Titanic'', and Luther Plunkitt, the Warden of San Quentin Prison in t ...

David Livingstone David Livingstone (; 19 March 1813 – 1 May 1873) was a Scottish physician, Congregationalist, and pioneer Christian missionary with the London Missionary Society, an explorer in Africa, and one of the most popular British heroes of t ...

* Matthew Marsh as William *

Richard Caldicot Richard Caldicot (7 October 1908 – 16 October 1995) was an English actor famed for his role of Commander (later Captain) Povey in the BBC radio series ''The Navy Lark''. He also appeared often on television, memorably as the obstetrician de ...

Lord John Russell John Russell, 1st Earl Russell, (18 August 1792 – 28 May 1878), known by his courtesy title Lord John Russell before 1861, was a British Whig and Liberal statesman who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1846 to 1852 and a ...

Christopher Fulford Christopher Fulford (born 1955) is a British actor who is best known for his supporting roles in many British TV shows, one of the earliest being punk Alex in the short lived sitcom '' Sorry, I'm A Stranger Here Myself'' (1981–82). Career Ful ...

as Herne *

Garry Cooper Garry Cooper is an English actor. He was born in Hull, East Yorkshire, on 2 June 1955. Garry trained at Drama Centre, London and has worked extensively in film, television and theatre. Filmography External links * {{DEFAULTSORT:Coope ...

as Stroyan *

Roshan Seth Roshan Seth (born 2 April 1942) is a British-Indian actor, writer and theatre director who has worked in the United Kingdom, United States and India. He began his acting career in the early 1960s in the UK, but left acting the following decade ...

as Ben Amir *

Anna Massey Anna Raymond Massey (11 August 19373 July 2011) was an English actress. She won a BAFTA Award for the role of Edith Hope in the 1986 TV adaptation of Anita Brookner's novel ''Hotel du Lac'', a role that one of her co-stars, Julia McKenzie, h ...

as Mrs. Arundell * Omar Sharif as Sultan (unbilled)

Music

The original music was composed by

Michael Small Michael Small (May 30, 1939 – November 24, 2003) was an American film score composer known for his scores to the movies '' Klute'', '' The Parallax View'', '' Marathon Man'', and ''The Star Chamber''. Personal life Small was born in New York ...

, who incorporated genuine traditional African music into a traditional orchestral palette. The soundtrack album was released on

Polydor Records Polydor Records Ltd. is a German-British record label that operates as part of Universal Music Group. It has a close relationship with Universal's Interscope Geffen A&M Records label, which distributes Polydor's releases in the United States. ...

, but is long out of print. There are two major themes, one for Burton and the other for Africa. There is also a love theme for Burton's relationship to his wife

Isabel Burton Isabel Burton (née Arundell; 20 March 1831 – 22 March 1896), later known as Lady Burton, was an English writer, explorer and adventurer. She was the wife and partner of explorer, adventurer, and writer Sir Richard Francis Burton (1821–189 ...

(portrayed in the movie by Fiona Shaw).

Availability

The film was released in a

pan and scan Pan and scan is a method of adjusting widescreen film images so that they can be shown in fullscreen proportions of a standard-definition 4:3 aspect ratio television screen, often cropping off the sides of the original widescreen image to focus ...

VHS edition from a

widescreen Widescreen images are displayed within a set of aspect ratios (relationship of image width to height) used in film, television and computer screens. In film, a widescreen film is any film image with a width-to-height aspect ratio greater than t ...

laserdisc and is currently available as both a

and

DVD.

Reception

Peter Travers Peter Joseph Travers (born ) is an American film critic, journalist, and television presenter. He reviews films for ABC News and previously served as a movie critic for ''People'' and ''Rolling Stone''. Travers also hosts the film interview prog ...

described ''Mountains'' as "an epic of sweep and intimacy", and Siskel & Ebert gave it two thumbs up. Ebert wrote, "It's the kind of movie that sends you away from the screen filled with curiosity to know more about this man Burton." In ''

Newsweek ''Newsweek'' is an American weekly online news magazine co-owned 50 percent each by Dev Pragad, its president and CEO, and Johnathan Davis, who has no operational role at ''Newsweek''. Founded as a weekly print magazine in 1933, it was widely ...

'', critic

Jack Kroll John Kroll (''ca.'' 1926 – June 8, 2000) was a ''Newsweek'' drama and film critic. His career spanned 37 years – more than half the publication's existence. Biography Kroll was born in Manhattan. His mother was an Earl Carroll showgirl and ...

wrote, "The exploits of Sir Richard Francis Burton make

Lawrence of Arabia Thomas Edward Lawrence (16 August 1888 – 19 May 1935) was a British archaeologist, army officer, diplomat, and writer who became renowned for his role in the Arab Revolt (1916–1918) and the Sinai and Palestine Campaign (1915–191 ...

look like a tourist." ''Mountains of the Moon'' holds a rating of 65% on

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...

based on 17 reviews.

References

Bibliography

*Edward Rice, ''Captain Sir Richard Francis Burton: A Biography'', Da Capo Press (June 5, 2001) *Mary S. Lovell, ''A Rage to Live: A Biography of Richard and Isabel Burton'', Norton & Company (1998)

External links

* * * * * *
''Mountains of the Moon: The greatest river in the world''
Movie clip at

Jinni Jinn ( ar, , ') – also romanized as djinn or anglicized as genies (with the broader meaning of spirit or demon, depending on sources) – are invisible creatures in early pre-Islamic Arabian religious systems and later in Islamic mytho ...

{{Bob Rafelson 1990 films 1990s adventure drama films 1990s biographical drama films American adventure drama films American biographical drama films Films set in Tanzania Adventure films based on actual events American epic films Films directed by Bob Rafelson Films with screenplays by Bob Rafelson Films scored by Michael Small Films set in 1857 TriStar Pictures films Carolco Pictures films Cultural depictions of David Livingstone Films set in pre-colonial sub-Saharan Africa 1990 drama films 1990s English-language films 1990s American films Epic films based on actual events